A Cold start to January

Since my last blog on 8th January we have had a spell of dry but cold weather that has enabled me to walk almost every day and on the sunniest day I headed out to The Langholm Moor and the upper Tarras Valley. This Wild Feral Goat was very close to the road and happy to pose for me. 

One of the Gulls posing on the fence posts at the Kilngreen

The upper Tarras Valley

More Feral Goats

The Meeting of the Waters Ewes and Esk

Mr. Tootlepedal on one of his daily walks during this cold spell as he is unable to cycle at the moment except of course on his bicycle that goes nowhere in his garage.

The Langholm Monument on Whita Hill

The Meeting of the Waters on the coldest morning

The Ewes at the Kilngreen

 

A Wet Summer Fortnight

Since my last blog two weeks ago the weather has been pretty awful and I have just done local walks in the rain with maybe a couple of long ones on the few decent days. This was on Monday 20th July when I headed up to Glendinning in the Meggat Valley. The purpose of my visit was to visit Meg who works at The Buccleuch Centre and she lives in the Meggat Valley, but is on Furlough at the moment and I have to contact her every month. It's such a pleasure to walk up Meggat and to be able to get a chat and a Coffee with Meg is just a great bonus. There are a few little bridges on the river and this one is very dangerous and not to be crossed.

This is for the sheep and was crossed by this pair of sheep before I had a chance to catch them on mid bridge 

I walked about 1.5 miles up the valley and then headed back down again. All the time I was walking their were Buzzards flying about and their cry was constantly heard.

I had been unable to photograph the pair of Buzzards as they flew about overhead but just as I went past this plantation of trees they settled in them and I was at last able to get a good photograph.

The perfect pose just as it landed on the tree

And a few seconds later

On my way back down I met the shepherd and his dogs and had a grand crack for 10 minutes

At the end of my walk up the Meggat Valley I visited Thomas Telford's memorial cairn

A selfie.

On Friday night it had been very wet and my intention was to walk round jenny Noble's Gill on Saturday 25th July but I only got as far at just beyond The Skippers Bridge where this huge tree had blocked the road. It looked as if another tree might come down as well as the embankment above it was a bit precarious. The road was not eventually reopened until late on Sunday.  

You can just see the fence at the top where the Langholm Walks footpath takes you so I decided not to go up there in case it was dangerous.   

The Esk on either side of The Skippers Bridge 

At The Kilngreen Mr Grumpy The Heron was conducting a choir of Mallard Ducks in a Common Riding song.

The Meeting of the Esk and Ewes rivers 

When I go my regular walk I try to come past this garden at the top of Walter Street which is always perfect and a real splash of colour. 

On Sunday evening Centre Stage had lit up the Parish Church the celebrate what would normally have been The Kirkin of the Cornet and with the accompanying music this was spectacular except for the millions of midges that had also come along. 

Week 11 and Getting out of Langholm (But not very far)

Another week and as my knee improves so does the miles walked. I started this week with a walk round Jenny Nobles Gill and was able to see the damage done to many beech hedges by the frost of a couple of weeks ago. This one is not as bad as many others around Langholm 

All the trees in the Parish Kirk grounds have been felled and when I went past this on Monday I thought it might be going to be made into a wood sculpture but it has since been cut right down to the stump.

On Tuesday I was back up in the Tarras valley and a most enjoyable walk from this bridge up to Lodgegill  

This is a lovely spot for swimming just next to the holiday cottage at Tarras Lodge

The upper reaches of the Tarras near Lodgegill

My route on Thursday took me to Castle O'er near Eskdalemuir and an early morning walk through the forest. This is just near the spot where the Black and White Esk meet and shows how much has been felled recently. 

The second half of this walk is along the B road to Eskdailmuir and it is very quiet and has lots of interesting places to see.

A natural amphitheatre at Over Rig that was used up to 2000 years ago for gatherings.

After my walk I had my Coffee break at a stone circle on the Prehistoric Trail

My Saturday walk was a 5 mile circuit at Canonbie to take in The Meeting of the Waters where the Esk and Liddel rivers meet.  

There was plenty of wildlife to be seen but only the Heron stays still for long enough to get a photo

During the walk I met the local farmers father and had a most enjoyable chat with him. He was not like most farmers and did not have any moans, except perhaps maybe a little more rain but he was having a good season as you can see by this crop of spring sown Barley. 

The river Liddel on the second half of my walk and perhaps my favourite stretch of both rivers. 

The Liddel railway viaduct in the distance

The Meeting of the Waters and a lovely place to sit for a while

I always sit in the seat put there by Langholm Rotary Club in memory of my good friend Alastair Davies who died far too early and would have gone right to the top in World Rotary. 

Canonbie Kirk

My week finished on Sunday morning with a walk along Lower Tarras. This area is much different from Upper Tarras and is quite marshy in places. It is much more enclosed and therefore there are many more different types of birds present.  

This marshy area near Lower Tarras bridge was earmarked a good number of years ago by Dr. Cat Barlow of the Making the most of the Moorland Project to be made into a pond. There were too many issues regarding planning permission but if the Tarras Valley Nature Reserve comes to fruition if and when we buy The Langholm Moor then this may be resurrected. Its a fabulous project and hopefully we will secure the funding. 

This is a fabulous reed bed and an interesting habitat for Reed Warblers and similar birds.

A fabulous old wooden suspension bridge and an old man

The river Tarras running crystal clear