Martin's Birthday Walk in Dalkeith Country Park

Martin choose Dalkeith Country Park for his Birthday Walk and what an excellent place it is. There were loads of paths and plenty to see. The weather was perfect for walking and the company excellent. Everybody arrived within minutes of each other and Martin was the perfect guide and had done his homework about the place so we were all well informed. 

There were horses everywhere and this one was particularly friendly with Peter and Ken

Like Langholm the river is the Esk and there are two of them the North and South Esk with plenty of bridges to cross.

This is the Meeting of the waters where the North and South Esk meet. Not as spectacular as where the Black and White Esk meet up in Eskdalemuir but it was rather nice. 

Time for a lunch break and a seat on an old Oak tree.

This is Dalkeith House owned by the Duke of Buccleuch and rented out to the University of Wisconsin 

The South Esk 

The Park is famous for its forest of ancient Oaks with some of them over 700 years old so these are a few photos of these famous trees.

We think this is the oldest Oak tree in the park

The trees were heavily coppiced many years ago so the bases of the trees are much older than the trunk.

There are many hollow trees

This one looks very delicate but still in reasonable health hopefully.  

This is Montagu Bridge and was given by the Montagu family to the Queensberry family in 1792 to celebrate a marriage. It was designed by William Adam.

This is a new shopping area with cafe and restaurant. The shop according to Aileen is one of the best in Edinburgh and very expensive. Our meal was excellent in a lovely dining area. 

A Misty Tarras Valley

John chose the route for this walk as he had to visit Tarras Lodge so when we planned it we thought the weather would be good but today proved different as it was very misty and at times we could hardly see more than 20 yards ahead. We started at the car park near Tarras Lodge where this photo was taken. 

The idea was to walk the 2.5 miles up the valley to Lodgegill and then walk back. The mist was at its worst at Lodgegill

This is the old farmhouse at Lodgegill which was destroyed by fire a few years ago. We had hoped to see plenty of wild life on this walk as the Tarras valley is famous for it, but we saw nothing and heard nothing. The bonus was the conversation we enjoyed on our walk with just the odd argument. We ended our walk with lunch at Whitshiels Cafe where as per usual we are very well looked after.

Potholm Mud

Todays walk was the postponed one from last week round Potholm to check out the Umbrella Walk route which takes place  on 23rd March. There has been a lot of rain lately and the road out of Langholm has loads of water running from the hill onto it.  

This is just opposite the Potholm road turn off

Tom at Potholm Bridge with his Tea Cosy on his head as per usual. It keeps him warm on what was a very chilly morning.

On the inward section of the walk we soon came to the bit near Potholm where they are felling trees and its an absolute quagmire with mud everywhere.

A new seat has been placed where an old wooden one used to be 

The worst part is about 150 yards of deep mud. We finished the 5.2 mile walk in i hour 45 minutes as Tom had to be in Canonbie for 12 noon so there is a bit of life in us old buggers yet.