Week 14 and a Visit to Winterhope and The Meggat Valley

Another week of fairly good weather. My week started with a 5 mile walk on the Old Drove Road from Old Irvine to The Ker Wood and back. It was a lovely walk with lots to see and hear. My new camera is performing well as this bird was a hundred yards away 

There were loads of flowers next to the track

This is the old Drove Road and it is as straight as a die for over 2 miles

The following day we headed up to Winterhope to see Jean and Wattie Rutherford. It was the first time Gaye had seen her friend Jean for 3 months 

Wattie keeps a lovely garden with a bit of everything on show here 

I particularly like this tub of flowers 

He also loves keeping hens and this is one of his favourites

Another part of his lovely garden

They have a very friendly cat who just loves to sleep in this old pot in a corner of the garden 

Their house is just below the reservoir and the water level is quite low at the moment but not yet at the stage where water rationing will be required

His noisy Cockerel who is very popular with the neighbours early in the mornings

My Wednesday walk took me up the Copshaw road with a stop off at the old Quarry to see the last remaining pond of Tadpoles and Newts. They are surviving well and the water level seems ok. 

From the road I headed across Whita and down the road to the Golf Course where I met Denis and Tom enjoying 9 holes of Golf. 

At the end of my Wednesday walk I met Jack and Daphne Irving and their daughter Trish at Brooklyn. Jack is another keen garden and has done wonders with the massive garden at Brooklyn.

After a short walk on Thursday I went up to the Benpath area on Friday to visit one of the Buccleuch Centre Staff who is currently on Furlough. She lives in the Meggat valley and I combined my visit with a walk up the valley and back. It is a beautiful and peaceful valley. 

A lovely field of either hay or silage near to Meg's house

Further up the Meggat valley

This Roe Deer crossed my path a hundred yards or more in front of me

Our Grandson Thomas in California was 9 on Wednesday. He loves sport and the outdoor life. They had been kayaking on The Ice Lake in northern California this week and just loved it.

A selfy taken at The Round House on Saturday morning 

This Grey Squirrel posed for a photo on my walk round Jenny Nobles Gil on Saturday

Foxgloves 

And finally Demelza the young Rabbit that has been visiting us every day for a week. She was called Demelza by Gaye as we have been watching Poldark regularly during Lockdown

Week 12 and the End of a Glorious Spring

The week started with my fence getting painted at long last. It was very hot and I had to finish at 1.00pm to get ready for my first game of Bowls this season. I never got any more done to the fence this week as I bowled on Monday and Tuesday in glorious weather and then the weather changed dramatically for a few days. Our spring was the best ever with almost 3 months of dry sunny weather. It certainly helped our Lockdown to be more bearable.

Due to Corvid-19 our Bowling season could only start this week so we have lost at least 6 weeks of play. The rules are that we can only play singles and only 3 rinks can be used at the same time. The clubrooms and toilets are closed and no spectators are allowed. It's better than not playing but I do miss the fun of Pairs and Triples. I managed to beat Tom fairly convincingly after a slow start.

On Wednesday I headed down to Rowanburn for a 4 mile circuit of Rowanburnhead, Rowanburnfoot and the old railway line. This is the workers repairing all the power lines in our area. It is I believe a 2 year job.

A lovely field of Buttercup next to the old railway line near Rowanburn.

Lang Sandy at the garden in Rowanburn

On Friday I headed out to Winterhope for my morning walk and also to see (at a distance) our friends Jean and Wattie who have been isolated up this lonely valley for almost 3 months. The reservoir there is quite low but not near water rationing levels yet.  

Winterhope Dam

Wattie's vegetable garden looking immaculate as per usual. He loves his garden and together with his lovely hens seems to be very happy there.  

We had a grand blether and a coffee and cake 

My walk on Sunday was up to Potholm but this time I took the new route through the forest above the main track to Potholm on the Langfauld. 

On the new route you go along a narrow track through the forest

The start of the new route and a track suitable for 4 wheel drive vehicles

Near Potholm the area has been used by Mountain Bikers at the Muckle Toon Adventure Festival

A Walk up Winterhope with Afternoon Tea at Jean & Watties

Only 3 of us walking today but it was a beautiful day for a walk up to Winterhope Reservoir. This was a first for Peter as he had never been up this valley before. The weather was excellent for walking. The plan was to finish the walk at Jean & Wattie Rutherfords for afternoon tea but we also called in on the way up the valley. This is our route up the valley.

Since I last walked on this road it has been resurfaced and is much better than it used to be

Our host Wattie showing us his hens

Loads of Irises on the edge of the Reservoir 

Our hosts Wattie & Jean in their lovely garden. We had a superb afternoon tea.

An Aborted Walk to Minska Wind Farm

Tom decided last night that today's walk would be to the Minska Wind Farm as he has never been to it despite passing it many times. We took the Lockerbie road and parked the car at the gated entrance to the service road at Paddockhole. We climbed the gate and walked steadily up the hill for about a mile when a farmer a few hundred yards away working in a field cutting hay started shouting at us. The gist of his conversation was that he would not allow us to walk any further. There was cattle on the road but we intended to give them a wide berth. We decided to avoid conflict and return down the road to access the wind farm from the other side of the hill. 

What a glorious day but our problems were about to start

The wind farm on the skyline and the angry farmer in the field to the left. The cattle would not have been a problem as we would have given them a wide berth. I wanted to continue but agreed eventually that it was better to return to the car and access the hilltop from the other side. 

We headed over to Minska farm and parked up at the entrance to the farm road leaving the car in what we thought was a very safe parking place. 

The entrance to the farm is very nice with these Eagle statues at the road end.

Tom was very confident that we would soon make it to the top of the hill. Prior to this we had a very close call on a single track road with another car coming the opposite way too fast. Tom almost ended up in the ditch and stalled the car in the process. It would not start but lucky for us we were on a downhill bit of the road so we managed a jumpstart and got going again. Life is never dull with Tom taking us in his car.

This is a close as we got to the wind farm as we were stopped by a very abusive farmer.

This is the farmer in question and I know his name but wont publish it until I have checked if some of his statements have been checked out with the Dumfries & Galloway Council Access Officer. He was very abusive and told us if we continued up the road he could not guarantee the safety of our car as there were loads of vandals in the area and it would certainly be damaged when we returned. This was a definite threat to us and rather than cause further conflict we decided to turn back. He offered us an alternative walk but we decided to head to Winterhope for a cup of tea with Wattie Rutherford.

A Visit to Winterhope

Hannah & Leo love to visit Winterhope to see all Wattie & Jean's hens and ducks. This is a new addition to their family a bantam and here she is on the point of laying an egg for Hannah's breakfast tomorrow morning.  

Hannah is reunited with her friend Quackers a Calling Duck who she met for the first time last July. 

The pond was full of Newts and Hannah soon was handling them without any bother. 

Leo soon discovered the swing.

And he was soon giving Wattie a hand in the garden with the wheelbarrow.

We went for a walk and Hannah was given a great welcome by one of the Collie's from the farm 

On the way home we went to the Kilngreen to feed the ducks and Mr. Grumpy the Heron who thinks it is a duck.