Langholm's 12 Bridges with John & Marion

The purpose of our walk round Langholm's 12 Bridges today was to show Marion & John Glover a walking route for a Walking Club visit to Langholm at the end of February. Marion will lead this walk so we did a practice run through it today. Our first bridge was The Sawmill Bridge. 

Bridge no 2 The Jubilee Bridge 

Bridge no 3 The Duchess Bridge and the oldest cast iron bridge in Scotland

This wood sculpture by Robin Waitt will go down very well with the visitors when they come.  

Bridge no 4 The Highmill Bridge and the scene where John and Marion rescued a couple in their car 30 years ago after an accident that had the car go into the field and catch fire. Prompt action by John and Marion and another person managed to rescue the couple from the car just before it was engulfed in flames.  

Bridge no 5 The Rugby Club bridge

Bridge no 6 The Langholm Bridge one one that Thomas Telford worked on as an apprentice 

Bridge no 7 The Kirk Bridge

Bridge no 8 The Park Bridge

Bridge no 9 The Becks Burn Bridge 

Bridge no 10 The Auld Stane Brig

Bridge no 11 The Skippers Bridge 

Bridge no 12 The Suspension Bridge formerly called The Boatford Bridge. Although this was our last bridge there are another bridges in the town. The bridge over the Dam in Wauchope Street next to Mr. Tootlepedals house should be included. It is hopefully being repaired this week but it is a Langholm Bridge and should be included. The other bridge is on the A7 at Whitshiels over the Whitshiels Burn so that actually would make 14 bridges in the square mile of the town. We finished our walk with a lovely lunch at Whitshiels Cafe.

A Bridge Too Far

Our original plan for todays walk was to do a route in Hawick but the forecast for this morning was bad so we postponed it until 12.30pm and instead opted for the Bridges of Langholm. Unfortunately due to various other commitments we could only do 10 of the bridges and the bridges at Becks, Auld Stane and Skippers were not done.  

The Duchess Bridge which is the oldest cast iron bridge in Scotland

The High Mill Bridge built in 1821 

The Rugby Club bridge built by the Royal Engineers in 1985

This bridge at Whitshiels is disputed but it goes over the Whitshiels Burn so should be included as a genuine Langholm Bridge.

The Sawmill bridge recently renovated after a tree fell on it during a storm

The Jubilee bridge and somehow Tom has acquired two dogs 

The main Langholm bridge built in 1776

The Suspension bridge originally called the Boatford bridge which collapsed with the weight of people on it when it was opened in 1871

The Parish Kirk bridge and by now only Tom wants his photograph taken 

The final bridge of our walk is the Park Bridge from where we headed to Ardlui for coffee and biscuits in the garden