A Day out at Kelso Races

 Gaye and I were invited by David and Alix to their box at Kelso for todays's National Hunt meeting. The box was situated just past the winning post and gave us a superb view of the whole coarse. We wined and dined in style but managed to back only 1 winner. That I should add was a 3 horse race and Tom, Gaye, and I each backed a horse with my one winning so could not be classed as a genuine winner. We did however have a superb day in excellent company with the photograph of Gabrielle showing how good the situation of our box was.

The first race of the day with my money on the horse without the rider as he was unseated at about the third fence. Definately the pattern for the day with most of my horses either coming in last or falling. It is a good job it was only £2 a race I was betting. 

Holiday Walk

 Our Wednesday walk this week was a bit shorter than usual as it was a bad forecast and also because we were joined by Ken & Susan who had a busy schedule. We decided to go roung the Potholm but went the wrong way as the wind was in our face along the Potholm road and it was like walking through treacle with the strong wind in our faces. We were lucky however as it remained dry and Tom and I learnt a lot about the Power Industry as Ken works for Scottish Power and is involved in the Wind Turbine industry and daughter Susan works for EON and is in power generating with special responsibility for the Lockerbie Biomass Power Station.

 Ken, Susan, and Tom on the Jubilee Bridge

Boxing Day Visitors

 Fiona's friends Graham & Luke arrived from Glasgow to see us all on Boxing Day so a walk to feed the ducks was in order and then round by Langholm Castle on the Ty Pennington Walk.

 No visit to Langholm can be complete without a visit to feed the ducks.

Back home and another chance to see Thomas the Tank Engine on Grandad's I Pad. Two redheads and a blonde.

Christmas Day

 Hannah & Leo start to open their presents left by Santa under the Christmas Tree. Leo says "not another Thomas the Tank Engine" but he is really very happy receiving anything to do with Thomas and his friends.

 Hannah is very happy with her new Dressing Gown

Cousin Susan is in great demand as a story teller.

Tom wakens from his pre Christmas Dinner Nap.

Hannah at Moorland Bird Feeding Station

 One of my jobs during the Christmas holiday is to fill up the feeders at the Moorland Feeding Station while Dr. Cat Barlow is on holiday. As Hannah is in Langholm on holiday she helped me to do this valuable job. we were assisted by son in law Mario and my cousin Susan.

 Hannah & Susan fill up a feeder

 Hannah was determined to get the last bit of seed out of the bag



Bothy at Greensykes up Meggat Water

 The purpose of todays Wednesday walk was to visit the new Mountain Bothy opened at Greensykes up Meggat water. It has taken several years for the volunteers from the MBA to get this opened but it is a superb Bothy and well worth a visit. We parked the car at the Thomas Telford Memorial Car Park at Glendinning and headed up the Forestry road to the east of the Meggat and up the valley of the Hairgrain Burn which is a total of 7.5 miles circular.

 After about 4.5 miles the Bothy comes into view and it has been well roofed and re built, although there is still a bit of work still to be done especially clearing up outside as they have knocked down some of the outhouses.

 In this photograph the Bothy looks perfect but hidden from view is all the rubble outside which is still to be cleared.

 Inside it is fairly basic with 3 rooms. This is the first room you enter and when we arrived we found the room to be very warm and then realised the wood burning stove was still on. On looking at the visitors book we discovered two people from Edinburgh had spent last night in the Bothy and just left a few hours before we arrived. We stuck a couple more logs on the excellent Wood Burning Stove and enjoyed our packed lunch in real style in cumfortable chairs and with a grand fire giving off a good heat. The other two rooms are bedrooms with sort of platforms for beds and in one of them there is an open fire and two comfortable chairs. There is of course no electricity although plenty of candles and plenty of wood stacked and drying for the fires. At the moment there is no toilet but that will be built next year. In the visitors book we were amazed to see how many people have stayed there in the few months it has been open.  

Some of the visitors to the Bothy have been Mountain Bikers as there are superb forestry roads in the area and this must make it very attractive for Bikers. The comments left by last nights visitors was that it was an excellent escape from Christmas shopping. If I had to stay the night I think you would need a nice bottle of whisky to help you sleep as the beds looked a bit hard.

Outside the Haig Maternity Hospital in Hawick

This is the Video of Tom giving the story of David's 70th Birthday

David & Tom's Birthday Walk

 This was supposed to be David's Birthday Walk a week ago but unfortunately he has back problems and his physiotherapist has advised him to rest for a few weeks so he was unable to be with us. Tom's birthday is December so we decided to make this his walk. We started at the old Haig Maternity Hospital in Hawick where David was born 70 years ago. Tom gave a very interesting speech to Absent Friends which I have recorded but the file seems to be too large for my blog. We then headed out to Hawick Golf Club too meet up with Ian Landles from Hawick who was going to give us a conducted tour of the Vertish Hill. Ian is a well known Hawick & Scottish personality and is in great demand as a Public Speaker.

 Ian recited the poem by David Hill called "The Vertish" on the actual Vertish Hill at Hawick Golf Club at the very Tee where Bill MacLaren hit a hole in one to score an Albatross a good few years ago. Ian also recited a poem of his own about his own exploits on Hawick Golf Course. This was extremely funny and I must admit it is a great pleasure to listen to poetry delivered by the author of the poem at the very place he is refering to in his poem.

 Ian Landles parted company with us after about 90 minutes and we headed on round the route the riders take on Hawick Common Riding Day. The wind was very strong and in our faces so we made slow progress in very boggy ground and are photographed above and below at the Cairn where the Burgesses Roll was called in the early days of Hawick Common Riding.

The journey back to Hawick from here via the Hawick Moor Racecourse was much easier with the strong wind on our backs we were fair blown along and we finished our excellent Birthday Walk at the Drum Cafe in Hawick with a great bowl of soup followed by Cakes.