Tom Moves House After 83 Years

John and Sandria are Down for a couple of days to help Tom move house, but as Tom was resting this morning after a hectic day yesterday we had a lovely 4 mile walk this morning with Mike Tinker. While we were walking Gaye and Sandria were shopping at Latimers.

This afternoon we went down to his new house in Waverley Road to celebrate his move. He was ready for us with cakes and a bottle of Prosecco (non alcoholic). Tom has lived in Walter Street all his life and he will be 84 in December. This move has been quite dramatic for him, but he has been very organised and his planning has been perfect. He now has to find somewhere for almost 5000 books.

Good luck in your new house Tom

 

Boy's Day out at Melrose

A few weeks ago John and I planned a day out at Melrose and a walk on the river Tweed. That day arrived and what a glorious day it was. Tom and I met Martin, John, and Ken at Tweedbank Station on the train from Edinburgh and we headed to Melrose to start our 4 miles walk.

This is just past the Greenyards Rugby ground the home of Melrose

 This is the Greenyards and in my opinion the most beautiful sighted rugby ground in the country. 

The main square in Melrose. It was a very busy day in the town with loads of visitors.

We soon headed up river and this is the footbridge we will cross at the end of our walk when we return down the other side of the river.

It was a perfect day. Cold at first and no wind but in the sun it became quite warm

There were a few fishermen about but none using the boats

The fastest flowing bit of the river

One of the fishermen just above the footbridge

Heading up river

The footbridge from the other bank near the end of our walk

Time for a rest and a posed photo. Tom, Gavin, Martin, Ken, and John. Good friends for many years and in the case of John and myself for 66 years when I moved to Langholm from Rowanburn and we ended up in the same class at school.

Tom and Ken bringing up the rear. Ken used to love bringing up the rear with Peter Bart-Smith who sadly died in April and they talked mostly politics so Tom is taking over Peter's roll.

These sheep were enjoying the shade

Ken and John, both retired pharmacists.

A lovely stretch of calm water

After the walk we visited a walled garden and orchard next to Melrose Abbey

Martin wanted to see the Apple trees

Still plenty of Apples on them. We enjoyed a lovely lunch after our walk and then took the Edinburgh contingent back to Tweedbank railway station for their 3.20pm train back home. A perfect day out in good company.

 

A Welsh Get Together at Kippford

 On Wednesday we travelled to Barend Holiday Chalets to meet up with Doreen and Norman Southwell our friends from South Wales. They book a chalet there almost every year, but this may be the last time there as the journey north is now very tiring. This is the view from the balcony of their chalet. We usually go for a long walk when we are there with them but Norman had a bad back and I had problems with my achilles tendon. A sign we are all getting old. Tom as the oldest was in fine fettle and managed to enjoy  the day including drinking red wine plus several other drinks. He has much more stamina than Norman and myself.

It was a beautiful day so we headed down to Kippford for a drink at the Anchor and then a very short walk along the path beside the Urr estuary. Finlay the Golden Labrador is now 13 years old and very slow, but well looked after and a very happy dog. 

Tom with Doreen, Gaye and Norman.

Gaye and Doreen were friends and neighbours from their time in Dalbeattie and then after we were married Doreen came over for a Langholm Rugby Club weekend at the time Bryn Wanderers from South Wales were visiting LRFC and she met Norman. The rest as they say is history as she eventually married him and moved to Wales to live. 

While the men went a short walk along the shore Doreen and Gaye enjoyed a seat in the sun shelter looking onto the estuary and an out-going tide. 

Looking up the Urr estuary

Screel in the distance

Looking down the estuary to Rough island which you can walk to when the tide is out as there is a causeway. It is a spectacular walk that I have done many times over the 50+ years I have been visiting Kippford. 

A large Gnome looking at many other small Gnomes

Three old men who have been friends for many years 

After we had a very nice lunch back at Barend, Gaye and Doreen went to see Gaye's cousin Dora who was 80 that day. A most enjoyable day in good company and excellent weather. 

A Busy Few Days

It's been 2 weeks since we returned from California and I think it must have rained every day. It took a week for us to get over our Jet Lag. Last weekend we had a visit from John who says it has been the longest time between visits to The Muckle Toon. Despite the bad weather we managed to get a walk on Saturday and Sunday. This is our Sunday morning walk from the Laverock Bird Hide to Perterburn and back, a distance of 5 miles and we avoided the rain. I have recently had this Recycled Seat placed at the bridge in lower Tarras. We met the couple from Rashiel Cottage as they walked their rescue pony along the road. She loves the seat and uses it to climb on the back of her Pony after its daily walk and then rides it back to the cottage.

The road from the Bird Hide down to the Tarras river with John and Tom.

This was Saturdays late afternoon walk along Gaskell's walk and looking down to the river Wauchope which is in full flood.

The Auld Stane Brig and at last a bit of blue sky

Sunday morning and the Rashiel seat.

Gaskell's Walk.

This is the rescue pony belonging to the couple who live in Rashiel Cottage. They say it had been badly treated and was in a terrible state when they got it 2 years ago. They have lived at Rashiel for 7 years and absolutely love it there.

Today we had a visit from Jackie from Carlisle. She worked for me for 22 years with Atlasair (UPS), Transglobal Air, Wilson Logistics, and finally at EMS Cargo (Carlisle) Ltd. That is such loyalty and such an excellent worker over good and some difficult times. 

Jackie has weathered the years much better than me. It was so lovely to see her again and we had some good laughs about the pleasant times we had working in Carlisle and Longtown.

 

A Walk Round Potholm after Storm Arwen

It is now 12 days since we had Storm Arwen and life is beginning to get back to normal in Eskdale, although the B709 road from Langholm to Benpath is still officially closed. You can however get through if you take extreme care and it's perfectly OK for walkers. We were planning to go Keswick yesterday for a walk along the old railway line to Threlkeld as it has been reopened after the bad floods of a few years ago. This was postponed due to Storm Barra which delayed John's arrival in Langholm and it was forecast to be very wet in the Lake District. This is a photo of one of the many uprooted trees on the Langfauld but it was fortunate they did not block the road due to the wind coming out of the North East.

A view from the Langfauld across the Esk to the Potholm road

A line of many fallen trees along the Langfauld

John and Tom along the Langfauld

One of the trees covered in moss

This is the B709 road to Bentpath and although the fallen trees have been cleared there are still electricity cables and telephone lines to be cleared from the road plus a lot of debris from the storm.

Tom and John on one of the worst stretches of the road. We finished our walk with a trip through Langholm Rugby Club ground where more damage was evident and then had a lovely lunch at Whitshiels Cafe. A most enjoyable 7 mile walk.