Rotary Soup Kitchen in aid of "On Call Africa"

It was the Rotary Soup Kitchen this morning in aid of the Charity "On Call Africa" and we raised the magnificent sum of £1000. Leo looks at the choice of sweets with eager anticipation.

The Menger family enjoying their soup. Notice how Mario has a lovely black eye caused by an unfortunate accident on the Quayside, Newcastle on Friday evening when he fell of his bike while on the way home from work. He was carted away in an ambulance to the RVI but thank goodness no real damage was done and he should be back in the saddle soon.

President Mark with Past President Frankie and Vice President Tom

Dr. Simon Tolmie and Dr. Kirsty Luecher the Founders of "On Call Africa"
We were delighted they were able to attend and Dr. Luescher will be attending Langholm Rotary Club on Thursday to give the club an update on the work of the charity.

Another River Esk Walk

As we all had meetings to attend at some time today we decided not to travel far for our weekly walk. John indicated he had never walked the River Esk from Canonbie to Langholm so we set off at 9.00am to Canonbie. It was cold but sunny so if wrapped up warm then a perfect day for this lovely walk. It is the intention of Langholm Walks Group to make this a way marked walk to add to the 14 already in our Langholm Walks Booklet. In my opinion it is the nicest walk in the area and will be a very popular walk with both visitors and the many locals who have never been on this part of the Esk before. The photograph above is Irving House in the distance. This is the most beautiful section of the walk with the path quite spectacular beside the river.

Irving House which is empty at the moment. It would make a fine Country House Hotel. This area in the front of the house used to be Tennis Courts.

Tom & John near Byreburn Cottages. The local Fishing Association have done great work in improving the river bank for fishers so let's hope they have an excellent fishing season which will begin in April.

This is the old walled garden at Irving House and is now rented by Ian Waldie for his garden vegetable business. He was clearing one of the walls to enable another Polly Tunnel to be built against the wall. It is good to see this old garden back in use again after all these years. 

Ploughed Fields near Kelso

It was a grey overcast day but the forecast said there would be no rain until about 5.00pm so Peter, Tom, and I set off for the village of Smailhome near Kelso and a meeting with John & Ken who were coming down from Edinburgh. We were setting out on an 8 mile circuit which would take in Smailhome Tower which you can see in the background above. It was 2 weeks since we had been in this Borders area when the ground had been so muddy we found it difficult to walk and our boots and clothes had been filthy. What a difference from part of the Southern Upland Way we had been on then. The ground was dry and in many of the fields the farmers had completed their spring ploughing. 

One of the many ploughed fields which will probably be planted with Barley. There is nothing nicer than a well ploughed field.

Smailhome Tower with a small loch in front of it. The building was in superb condition but it was closed until Easter so we never got to see inside.

A large boulder left after the Ice Age with loads of smaller boulders round about it.

A closer view of the Tower.

Peter and John beside yet another plowed field. It was a superb walk and it is great to get home and not need to clean my boots for the first time for many a long week.

Clifton & Lowther Park Walk

This weeks Wednesday walk started at the village of Clifton in Cumbria. We started just close to this Pele Tower called Clifton Hall which is a 16th Century building maintained by English Heritage. John, Peter, and Tom could not decide which door to use to gain entrance. The weather was absoultely glorious and during the course of the 4 hour walk we all peeled off several layers of clothing as the temperature rose.

This is Low Gardens Bridge in the Lowther Estate. The bridge is now closed to all but walkers and a new bridge has been built a few yards downstream.

At the half way mark on the walk we stopped at Brougham Hall which is a 13th century fortified manor house, founded by Gilbert de Broham. A range of craft workshops, a tea room and a gift shop have been established within the impressive outer walls. When we arrived there was no other visitors as it was of course out of season but the cafe was open and we decided it was such a lovely day an ice cream would be most acceptable. It is a beautiful place and well worth a visit.

This is the outer wall of Brougham Hall

Cross Fell in the distance and the highest point on the Pennine Way. Our walk passed through several fields and a couple of them were being ploughed by a contractor who was making fast progress. When we stopped for a chat he explained that 2 weeks ago many of these fields would not have been able to take his heavy machinery as they were so wet but the last couple of weeks have been perfect and they are now able to get on with the work.

This Oak tree has one of the largest girths of any I have seen.

This is Hugh's Crag Viaduct which we passed under on our way through the Lowther Estate. watching the West Coast Trains speeding over it is quite spectacular as 2 of them passed over while we were sitting below it enjoying our picnic lunch.

At the end of our walk we reached St. Cuthbert's Church and it is well worth a quick look round.
It had been one of the nicest walks we have done recently in superb weather and in excellent company.

Melrose Walk

What a difference a week makes. Last Wednesday we had loads of snow and our visit to Melrose was cancelled and we made do with a local 5 mile walk in the snow. We have now had a few good sunny dry days and although it was not sunny today it was dry and good walking weather. The ground is still very wet and for half of today's walk we had to plough through a load of mud.



On the Chain Bridge accross the River Tweed.



The finest Rugby ground in Scotland and maybe one of the most scenic in the world. It is of course the Greenyards at Melrose the home of the oldest 7s Tournament in the world.

A Walk in the Snow

We had planned to do an 8 mile walk at Melrose but this has been postponed until next week. However not to be done out of a walk we decided to walk round Broomholmshields in the snow. Tom, Peter, John, and myself set off at 11.00am after coffee at No 63 and after a debate about postponing for another couple of hours but John and I won the debate so we headed off into the snow.

Near the Round House on the path from Broomholmshiels.

The Tarras road at Broomholm and we doubt if any traffic will use it at all today as the snow is quite deep in places and no sign of a snowplough.

A Walk Round Thirlmere

Another Wednesday and another good walk, this time in the Lake District with a walk round Thirlmere. This was opened in 1894 to provide water for Manchester and these Victorian engineers were really clever as it heads downhill to Manchester by force of gravity so no pumping is required. The water takes 24 hours to reach Manchester and provides them with superb water.

Tom and Peter on the Dam at the head of the Lake. Notice Tom's footwear as he was adamant that he would need his snow spikes and the more Peter and I told him he would not need them the more he insisted he would.



Close up of Tom's fancy footwear. It is worth noting we saw neither snow or ice on our walk, except of course the snow on the mountains, but Tom wore them for 10 miles.

Looking down the Lake from the Southern end.

 A view of the Lake from the Forestry road. Very little of the walk was on decent tracks and as a result of this by the time I had walked about 8 miles my hips were playing up and very sore so I decided to wait at a car park about two miles from the finish until Peter and Tom came back for me. After they left me I should have walked along the main road to the car as I became very cold once I had cooled down from walking. I was so pleased to see them an hour later and it was only when we got close to Langholm that I began to feel quite warm again.

Lovely clear, cold water.