Beck's Burn Walk and The Curling Pond

This is the old Curling Pond up near the Beck's Burn. You could not Curl on it now but in the early and mid 1900s it was regularly used as a Curling Rink. We must have had far more frosty days then than we do now. Its completely man made so a lot of work must have gone into making it then.  

Just along from the Curling Pond they have planted hundreds of new trees so this will be a great place for wild life in a few years time. 

The purpose of our visit to Beck's was to inspect the walk after it had extensive forestry operations by Buccleuch Estates. There is less mud now than there was a few months ago but there is still work to be done to get the walk back to what it used to be. 

The steps down to the burn. Its ok at the top but down at the bottom of the steps the rail and steps need repairing. 

Broken rail and dangerous steps. I have contacted Buccleuch Forestry and sent them photos. They promised to sort the walk a year ago so they have a bit more to do and if they don't do it I will report them to D & G Council Access Officer.

The bridge over the Beck's Burn. Its a totally different landscape now the trees have been felled

This bridge needs a safety rail

Two Walks in a Day

It was only John and myself for our Wednesday walk today so we stuck to a local one round Broomholmshiels via the road slip on the Tarras road. This happened in December 2015 and it wont be repaired until 2019 sometime so must be the longest closed road in the UK

The road could easily slip again. One wonders if it really needs to be done and maybe the road should just close and the £2 million could be spent on our horrendous potholes in the area. 

In the afternoon I joined Catherine Lithgow on Walk 1 of The Langholm Walks network - Beck's and Gaskells walk. The rain started and it continued throughout the walk. 

Catherine was joined by Diane Hope on this walk and then at 5.30pm they both continued on Walk 8 which is Target Burn and Whita Hill. I shall be walking with Catherine on Sunday afternoon when she completes her 88 mile project by walking No 7 Jenny Nobles Gill. 

Walk 1 - Becks and Gaskells Walk

These photographs are taken from Walk 1 of the Langholm & Eskdale Walks Booklet and are to be used by the E & L as part of a feature on a regular basis of the 14 waymarked walks in this booklet.