My Grandchildren in the Icy Lake

Eleanor on her Paddle Board on Icy Lake near Lake Tahoe in Northern California. Fraser and the family have gone for a couple of days break and discovered nobody else there. 

The Kayakers with Thomas 

Week 13 and a Furry Friend

I invested in a new camera this week as the magnification on my old one was only x4 so the new one is x30. It makes my Wild Life photos much better. This one if the Goosanders was taken from at least 300 yards away.

I love a Beech Hedge and this one near Canonbie is excellent.

The Esk at Knottyholm Farm

Another good magnification although it will take me a while to get used to the new camera.

A family of Mallards on the Esk near Hollows Bridge

This is much better than I could have done on my phone or old camera.

This baby rabbit appeared in the garden on Thursday and it has been visiting daily since then.

Two rabbits and the big one is called Tom

We finished the week with a short run round by Newcastleton and Rowanburn. Gaye has not been out of Langholm for 3 months apart from one short journey to Canonbie Post Office. We had a flask of tea and a biscuit at Lang Sandy and a grand blether with Pat and Eck Young.

And the highlight of the week was an Ice Cream from Pelosi’s Ice Cream van on the Kilngreen this afternoon. Such luxury and wonderful. I regret only small photos on this blog as Google have changed their Blogger system of posting and I am really struggling to get my way round the system. You would think it would be easier but it’s much more difficult.

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

Week 11 and Getting out of Langholm (But not very far)

Another week and as my knee improves so does the miles walked. I started this week with a walk round Jenny Nobles Gill and was able to see the damage done to many beech hedges by the frost of a couple of weeks ago. This one is not as bad as many others around Langholm 

All the trees in the Parish Kirk grounds have been felled and when I went past this on Monday I thought it might be going to be made into a wood sculpture but it has since been cut right down to the stump.

On Tuesday I was back up in the Tarras valley and a most enjoyable walk from this bridge up to Lodgegill  

This is a lovely spot for swimming just next to the holiday cottage at Tarras Lodge

The upper reaches of the Tarras near Lodgegill

My route on Thursday took me to Castle O'er near Eskdalemuir and an early morning walk through the forest. This is just near the spot where the Black and White Esk meet and shows how much has been felled recently. 

The second half of this walk is along the B road to Eskdailmuir and it is very quiet and has lots of interesting places to see.

A natural amphitheatre at Over Rig that was used up to 2000 years ago for gatherings.

After my walk I had my Coffee break at a stone circle on the Prehistoric Trail

My Saturday walk was a 5 mile circuit at Canonbie to take in The Meeting of the Waters where the Esk and Liddel rivers meet.  

There was plenty of wildlife to be seen but only the Heron stays still for long enough to get a photo

During the walk I met the local farmers father and had a most enjoyable chat with him. He was not like most farmers and did not have any moans, except perhaps maybe a little more rain but he was having a good season as you can see by this crop of spring sown Barley. 

The river Liddel on the second half of my walk and perhaps my favourite stretch of both rivers. 

The Liddel railway viaduct in the distance

The Meeting of the Waters and a lovely place to sit for a while

I always sit in the seat put there by Langholm Rotary Club in memory of my good friend Alastair Davies who died far too early and would have gone right to the top in World Rotary. 

Canonbie Kirk

My week finished on Sunday morning with a walk along Lower Tarras. This area is much different from Upper Tarras and is quite marshy in places. It is much more enclosed and therefore there are many more different types of birds present.  

This marshy area near Lower Tarras bridge was earmarked a good number of years ago by Dr. Cat Barlow of the Making the most of the Moorland Project to be made into a pond. There were too many issues regarding planning permission but if the Tarras Valley Nature Reserve comes to fruition if and when we buy The Langholm Moor then this may be resurrected. Its a fabulous project and hopefully we will secure the funding. 

This is a fabulous reed bed and an interesting habitat for Reed Warblers and similar birds.

A fabulous old wooden suspension bridge and an old man

The river Tarras running crystal clear

Week 10 and a Birthday

Last weekend the garden took a bit of a beating from high winds and my Peony Rose took a battering but Gaye managed to get them staked and they are looking beautiful. 

For the first time in 8 weeks I headed out of the town for my morning walk which was from Hollows Bridge round by Canonbie. I love a Beech Hedge and this is a beauty

I came back via the Maverick Bird Hide which is now closed due to all the trees being felled. Hopefully we can re open it sometime again in the future.

Another Beech Hedge and a lovely tree

On Thursday it was my 73rd Birthday so on a beautiful evening we were able to have a glass of Whisky and Wine with Tom, David, and Alix and sat in the garden for an hour at safe distance from each other. 

A most enjoyable hour

David and Alix returned home on their Electric Bikes

On Thursday at 10.00pm The Langholm Monument was Illuminated for an hour in honour of the NHS.

Fiona and family had bought me a 500 piece Jigsaw as a Birthday Present so I have managed to complete it in 3 days doing about 4 hours per day. The last time I did a Jigsaw was in 1992 when we were in Skye for a week with Fraser and it rained all week so we did a huge Jigsaw.