Walking the Hawick Flood Protection Scheme (Part 2)

Tom and I decided to complete our visit to Hawick to walk the entire length of the Hawick Flood Protection Scheme. Today we walked the section from where the River Teviot and Slitrig meet to Wilton Park on both banks of the river. This is the Call near where the Pringle factory used to be and it was probably created for the factory many years ago. I used to visit Pringle regularly in the 80s and early 90s for UPS and secured almost all of their international business. The factory no longer exists and a Care Home is built on the site as far as I know.

Two Heron's stand guard at the Salmon Ladder 

Looking up river from the new bridge on the Teviot

The new bridge

The flood barrier on the left bank of the Teviot

The meeting of the Slitrig and Teviot. The gable end of the building next to the wall used to be a much larger building which was washed away in a flood several years ago.

The flood barrier next to the large main car park with a gate that will be locked when a flood alert happens.

The area where Pringle used to have their main building. and next to it in the building which has the tower is another empty knitwear factory.

The Call on a very quiet river day, but when it is in full flood this can be a frightening area.

The main road into Wilton Lodge Park

The Hawick Museum. well worth a visit. 

It's been a good autumn for Fungi.

The most beautiful tree on our walk.

River Teviot from the bridge at the Cafe

A nice tree in front of the museum. We have now walked both banks of the Teviot where the new Flood barrier has been built. Hopefully Hawick will now be protected from the severe flooding it has experienced over the years. 

 

A Walk at Irving House Before it Changes for Ever

Todays Thursday walk took Mike, Charlie, and myself to Irving House just 4 miles south of Langholm. We decided we wanted to have a last good look at it before Buccleuch Estates starts building 142 Chalets there for a holiday complex. It is up for planning permission at the moment so if passed work will probably commence next year and it will change for ever. It should be successful as it is a lovely place and it will help Langholm to prosper. This is the river Esk passing by the front of the old house.

The fishing at Irving House is probably one of the best stretches on the Esk.

Irving House has stood empty for over 15 years so it is good that it will be occupied again in the future. The House will be the head office of the complex and also a restaurant.

This used to be where a line was attached to a boat that was used for fishers

The path running between the river and the house and gardens is beautiful so hopefully the public will still be able to use it in the future.

Lovely stone steps leading from the lawn which used to be a tennis court down to the river

The river Tarras joins the Esk at this place.

Charlie on the steps from where the Tennis Court used to be.

Mike discovered this Fungi called Clavaria amethystina which grows in old lawns and parks between July and November. It is quite rare and very unusual.

The old house which despite being empty for so long is still in a fairly good condition.

Two old Ewe trees forming an arch on the path near the house.

The path was covered in  Acorns from the many Oak trees

One of the huge Oak trees in the field where 71 chalets will be built so we hope they don't get rid of this lovely tree which must be many hundreds of years old.

 

A Walk Near Kelso With The Last of the Summer Wine Walkers

Todays walk with my walking friends started at the village of Sprouston near Kelso. The first section of the walk headed down to the river Tweed and we followed it downstream for over a mile. One car with John, Sandria and Ken came from Edinburgh. Niall and Elspeth brought Gaye and the ladies were dropped in Kelso for a morning of shopping. Tom and I drove direct to Sprouston and we all arrived within a few minutes of each other. This photo is taken at the War Memorial in Sprouston.

I had forgotten to take my tripod to get all of us in on one photo so Tom took this one.

The first stretch of the Tweed

A couple of fishermen

We saw about 5 of these boats moored by the bank of the river, but none of them were in use.

One of several fishing huts beside the river

Another fisherman. We saw 5 fishermen in the mile long stretch of river

A Swan leading its 4 youngsters. There was lots of bird life on the river including Swans, Geese, Herons, Ducks, and a Cormorant, but they flew off as soon as they saw us.

The only place we had a problem was on a stretch of the river bank that was impassable due to thorny bushes. We had to crawl through the bottom part of a barbed wire fence. Gone are the days when we could easily put one foot on the top of the barbed wire and just leap over. Ken getting through quite easily here.

Tom making heavy weather of getting under the fence

He made it with plenty of laughs

Loads of Apples on this tree

Now walking beside the fields making it much easier

The next stage was a long lane across fields

Harvest all safely gathered in

An interesting fungus on the side of a tree

The lovely lane between the fields

The last section of the walk was the old railway line that stretched from Kelso to Berwick upon Tweed. It opened in 1849 and closed in 1948

Views from the old railway line. Its an excellent walking footpath and looks to be maintained for the benefit of walkers

The well maintained old railway line

Loads of trees and bushes laden with berries

This was Sprouston station with the remnants of a platform. We headed back to Kelso after our walk and met up with Elspeth and Gaye for a lovely lunch in The Cobbles Inn just of the square in Kelso