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| Santa brought us a Mermaid |
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| and a Star Wars Stormtrooper with a Light Sabre |
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| A Boxing Day walk with John & Tom |
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| Finishing up in the Market Place viewing the storm damage to the Town Christmas Tree blown over by storm Barbara and the Hot Chocolate in the Eskdale |
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| This was a combined Birthday Walk for both Tom & David and it was a nice and easy 7 mile walk along the Tweed from Melrose to Abbotsford and then back along country roads to Melrose. We had Coffee and Mince Pies on the veranda at the Bistro at Abbotsford as Bowman was not allowed in but they made us very welcome and the weather was beautiful so we did not mind sitting outside. |
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| Martin and Sandria took the lead but it was not long before Bowman got in front of them and stayed in the front all day. |
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| Ken and Tom bringing up the rear. Ken finds it hard to talk and walk at the same time so he is often bringing up the rear. Tom of course has no problem walking and talking. |
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| Come on in boys the water is not cold |
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| Well maybe it is a wee bit cold |
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| The Borders Railway bridge over the Tweed at Galashiels |
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| Tom had to go up onto the bridge to see if their was a train coming so everybody followed and a train sped by just after this photo |
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| Our walk ended up back at Melrose and we had a lovely late lunch in a nice Bistro |
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| We were invited to stay for the weekend with John and Sandria in Edinburgh so while the girls went shopping John and I walked 6.5 miles of the John Muir Trail from Portobello to Musselburgh. It was a reasonably nice day and an excellent walk along a route I had never been before. We waited 5 minutes at Preston Lodge Bowling Club at the end of our walk and got a bus back to Sandria's house in Portobello. Linear walks are very enjoyable when you can get a bus back so easily. The photo above is the start of the walk at Portobello beach |
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| This is Fisherrow Harbour near Musselburgh |
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| The river Esk as it enters the Forth |
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| The sports pavilion at a famous Edinburgh Public school called Loretto. |
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| Edinburgh in the distance and Arthur's Seat |
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| This arrow was here to assist trainee bomber pilots to line their aircraft up for targets in the Firth of Forth during the Second World War. |
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| Our Wednesday walk today took us to the Parish of Canonbie and two of its more famous Burns the Byerburn and the Rowanburn. It was just a 6 mile section of The Canonbie Walk from the Langholm & Eskdale Walks Booklet. It took in the Fairy Loup which was in spectacular form today as the burn was in flood. |
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| The Fairy Loup |
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| My little bauld patch showing on this photo |
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| The road up through the Fairly Loup was well carpeted in autumn leaves |
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| From the path above Rowanburn Head farm the Langholm Hills in the distance were well covered in snow. |
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| Tom crosses the Rowanburn and is still managing to walk with a tea cosy on his head. |
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| A Buzzard keeps an eye on us from a tree near the path |
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| In a field next to this cottage at Rowanburn were these sheep. I am not sure what kind they are but they were very friendly. |
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| This hen followed us and eventually Tom fed it with some small bits off his Apple. It looks a fine example of a free range hen in excellent condition and very friendly. We had a coffee at Lang Sandy in Rowanburn and then followed there old railway line down to Rowanburnfoot and back into Canonbie but my phone camera battery had run out so no more photos. We ended up in The Buccleuch Centre for lunch. |
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| It was only Tom and myself available today as the others are either abroad or unavailable so Tom decided we would go a bit further afield and do a walk from last weeks Cumberland News near Keswick. The weather was perfect and we set off and parked at the Theatre by the Lake car park at the exorbitant rater of £7.50 for 4 hours parking. Sheer daylight robbery. The walk however was superb and the instructions given by the author Vivienne Crow was excellent. We went the whole walk without falling out once over directions so they must have been good. Tom is walking along a flood protection embankment for the river Derwent. |
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| The river Derwent from the suspension bridge. |
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| Almost at the half way point. The smoke in the distance was from a group of volunteers cutting gorse on the banks of the Newlines Beck. The river bank has been overgrown with gorse and these volunteers have a tough job on hand getting rid of it but they are doing a great job. |
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| Derwent Water in the distance |
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| Walking down the road to the village of Stair. |
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| An old Bridge over the Newlines Beck |
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| A gamekeeper has been busy getting rid of vermin |
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| This is a new bridge just completed over the Newlines Beck and they have made an excellent job of it. It's good to see there are still some craftsmen about. |
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| During the course of the walk we were buzzed several times by Trainer Jets, Fast Jets and just as we got near the end of the walk this Military Cargo Plane which was the only one I managed to photograph. |
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| Today's walk took us to Gretna and along an old B road to the village of Redkirk where we walked along a country lane down to the Solway shore. We were fortunate to meet Dougie Norden an old school friend of John and myself and he kindly took this photo of the four of us. Peter is putting a brave face on but he has a problem with his knee and was in a lot of pain during the walk but soldiered on like the brave trooper he is. |
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| Tom goes to great lengths to tell us about this area behind the fence which used to be where the Council recycled rubbish when he worked for them. As usual his commentary was listened to by the 3 of us but not taken in. |
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| The river Kirtle |
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| A lovely country lane leading to the seashore |
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| A flock of Geese passing overhead. |
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| Normally at this time of year this lane would be very muddy but the ground was dry and it was a pleasure to walk along it. |
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| Peter & Tom bringing up the rear |
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| It was difficult walking along the shore and got considerably worse for a short section of the shore when we had to scramble along a very rocky foreshore. |
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| It looks easy walking but you had to watch where you put your feet as there were many holes and ditches you could fall into. |
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| Tom scrambling under a barbed wire fence. Once upon a time we would just jump over them but not now. It was a most enjoyable walk and after we finished we headed to Whitsheils Cafe in Langholm for a late lunch. |
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| It's not very often David manages to find time to walk with us so it was a real pleasure to have him and the dogs with us today up Eskdalemuir. We chose a walk round The Black Esk Reservoir as it was easier to keep an eye on Ruger who tends to wander off if a Pheasant is disturbed. It was his first time at Black Esk so that was a bonus. It is a nice 5.5 mile walk on forestry road without much climbing so as we get older its becomes very acceptable. |
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| Did somebody say BISCUIT |
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| Its not a huge reservoir but very remote and we never saw another person the whole walk |
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| The Dam |
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| Tom and David with Bowman and Ruger walking along the Dam. We finished up at Edkdalemuir Hub for lunch. We had Tom back in Langholm in time for him to go to Flanders & Swan at the Buccleuch Centre. Just as we got home the rain started so we were very lucky with the weather. |
