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. 

Another Wet Wednesday and a Landslip From 3 Years Ago

It is 3 weeks since I last blogged as we have had wet Wednesdays on our last 2 walks and it was just not worth taking photographs. It was very wet this morning so we cancelled our Canonbie walk and headed down to inspect the Landslip on the B3618 which is the longest B road in Britain. It stretches from The Skippers Bridge to Heddon on the Wall near Newcastle. The landslip is a mile from the Skippers Bridge and the landslip happened exactly 3 years ago today when storm Desmond hit the country.  

The D & G Council have at last sorted a contractor to repair the road at a cost in excess of £1.5 Million. My own opinion is that the road has been closed for 3 years and only a few people have been slightly inconvenienced by it so that money could have been used for much more worthy projects in the area. The only reason it is being repaired is because the road will act as an emergency road if the A7 is ever closed, and I suppose that is a good enough reason.

Trees are being felled and at last work is commencing.

It is the last road in the country affected by Storm Desmond to be still closed. 

On our way home we passed by our friend Bruce's old home which has been up for sale and hopefully is now sold. Bruce still owns the adjoining land and decided to build a shed on it to store some effects from the house. He might eventually build on his land but at the speed he takes to make decisions I wouldn't bank on it. We finished our 5.5 mile walk with a nice lunch at Whitshiels  Cafe where we are always made very welcome.

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.