Second Week of Self Isolation

Our second week of self isolation started on Sunday with a Mothers Day afternoon tea provided by The Buccleuch Centre and paid for by Fiona. It was excellent and we enjoyed it at home.

At the start of the week I was still continuing to travel a few miles for my morning walk and this was near Rowanburn 

I have met very few people on my morning walks and those I do meet we keep a good distance apart. On this walk at Rowanburn I met an old friend George Steele and his daughter Georgia. George was in The Boys Brigade for many years when I was Captain and we had many enjoyable times together on BB Camps and sporting occasions. 

Because the weather has been so good on Wednesday Gaye and I sat in the Sitooterie in the garden and played 7 Card Rummy. Gaye has never played it before but she managed to beat me. It was great fun and I got my revenge on Saturday when we played again in the Conservatory at Birkwood 

Todays walk was round Jenny Nobles and it was nice and dry but a biting cold wind. I had to take my regular photo from The Skippers Bridge and will show the various changes in the season there during our enforced isolation.  

Canonbie Kirk from the banks of the Esk 

This pair followed me thinking they were going to be fed 

Daffodils at Lands End on the outskirts of Langholm. From Tuesday I have now stopped travelling out of town for my walks so this coming week I will try and do a different walk each day and yet never be more than about a mile and a half from Langholm

Our First Week of Self Isolation

On Tuesday we started our enforced Isolation on instructions of the Government. I still plan to walk every day but will just do it in the remote areas round Langholm of which there are plenty. We visited Rowanburn, Terras Valley, and Westerhall Estate. The weather has been excellent and Gaye joined me on two out of the four walking trips. She met the Tin Man at Rowanburn.

A flood damaged bridge on the Terras river near Cooms Farm

Westerkirk Parish Church

Some of the Daffodils on Westerhall Estate. They will be at their best in another week or so

The remotest part of Terras Valley with Lodgegill in the background. The house was destroyed by fire a few years ago but The Langholm Moor Purchase Group would like to turn it into a Bunkhouse and Outdoor Adventure Centre if they succeed in raising the money to purchase the 10,000 acres 

The garden of Westerhall House

One of several statues in the grounds of the estate

The river Tarras

Rowanburnhead Farm

A tree carving in the grounds of Westerhall estate 

The upper stretch of the river Tarras 

A Toad laying its spawn in a pond at the quarry on the Newcastleton road a couple of miles out of Langholm

A Day out in Ae Village

I originally posted this blog on Wednesday afternoon after our walk but for some reason several of the photographs did not upload. I deleted the original blog and have reposted the photographs but wont write much of the blog. This was a lovely walk at 7 Stanes in Ae Village.

This is the prickliest tree I have seen on our walks 

A lovely fancy seat

The Bridge over the river Ae

A lovely couple 

Sandria and Elizabeth enjoying a good catch up

A large wind farm from the highest point of our walk

There is an exhibition of old forestry ploughs with some of them almost 100 years old.
It was a lovely walk and we managed to avoid most of the rain with it only raining on the last mile. We finished with a lovely lunch h in the cafe at the bike shop. The food was excellent.

Back at Stobs Camp After Eight Years

Our Wednesday Walk this week headed to Stobs camp near Hawick. We met John in Hawick and then the 3 of us  took the Newcastleton road to the Camp. On the entrance to the camp there is this memorial and if you look closely it is for the 1914-1919 War. John who is the font of all knowledge tells me it was because for another year after the 14-18 World War 1 we had troops in Russia fighting against the Communist uprising.

Tom and John at the entrance to Stobs Camp. The 10,000 acre Stobs Estate was purchased by the War Office in 1902 as a military training ground. It became a Prisoner of War camp with about 6000 German troops interred there during World War One and a smaller number during World War Two. After the War it was a resettlement camp for Polish Forces before their repatriation and then a training camp for the Territorial Army until it closed in 1959.

There used to be huts there and I think the mounds would protect them from the weather. It must have been a terrible place to live for any length of time never mind for 4 years.

The largest of the 2 reservoirs further up the valley

This is the smaller of the two reservoirs

From the highest point of our walk the view accross the Border Hills is spectacular with the Eildons in the distance. We finished our walk with a nice lunch in The Damascus Drum.

Sharon's First Visit to Silloth

Sharon has a day of work on a Thursday and she asked me to take her on walks at places she has never been before. This will become a monthly excursion during the summer. On this occasion her son Luke joined us and Gaye also came to explore the shops of Silloth. Neither Sharon or Luke had ever been to Silloth before so it was good that the weather was so sunny. It was also very cold but we were well wrapped up so not a problem. This is a fabulous statue on the seafront and is very popular for people to stop and sit beside the man and his dog. 

A very friendly passer by took this photo of the 3 of us.

This is taken at Grune Point at the farthest point of the spit of land going into the Solway Firth. The masts in the background are at Anthorn on the Cumbria Coast and are special  VLF and LF radio transmitters operated by Babcock International.

Sharon loves taking the obligatory selfie. We finished our walk with a lovely lunch in Mrs. Wilsons Cafe in Silloth. This was in the old Bank Building and Mrs. Wilson was the famous singer Kathleen Ferrier who married the Bank Manager in Silloth in 1933. It is rumoured that the marriage was never consummated and they parted in 1940 when he left to join the army. Gaye had a grand time visiting Silloth's Charity Shops and came away with some bargains.

River Annan Walk to Newbie and the Solway Coast

Annan Harbour with the only boats on show a couple of ageing wrecks just like Peter and Tom

Crossing the River Annan on the pedestrian bridge below the main Annan Bridge

The River Annan from near Cochran Boilers Factory 

The view from the pedestrian bridge towards the main bridge and the town.

The offices of Cochran Boilers. I started dealing with them in 1984 when they had about 750 employees and that will be reduced to less than 200 now. They were a great customer and in my time with Atlasair, Transglobal, Wilson Logistics, and EMS Cargo (Carlisle) Ltd we must have shipped thousands of consignments of Boiler Spares to every corner of the world. The most challenging was Ships Boiler Spares in Transit when a vessel with a Cochran Boiler was arriving at a port in some obscure part of the world and we had a window 48-72 hours to get the spare parts for it's boiler there before it moved on to its next port of call. They were an absolute pleasure to deal with and I have such happy memories with dealing them and especially their Shipping Manager Mario Motroni who was a real gentleman. 

A short seat beside the sea but we did not linger as it was a cold wind. Tom is back wearing his tea cosy hat, which we thought we had seen the last of.

Snowed off in Selkirk so Broomholmshiels Instead

We decided last night to postpone our Selkirk walk as the forecast for the area we were planning to walk was for severe snow storms. We were delighted however that Peter made it up from Carlisle to walk with Tom and me. They are admiring the Dragons in Buccleuch Park

Enough snow to make it look good in a photo but to be honest we have been lucky and missed the worst of it. Peter says there was none in Carlisle.

Tom wishes he was back in Barbados and after a few good arguments so do we

We do enjoy going for our lunch at Whitshiels and always get an excellent welcome. They have almost finished the new Log Cabin and are now improving the look of the Cafe.