Gavin Graham's Blog

Wednesday, 18 October 2023

A Visit to The Bill McLaren Exhibition in Hawick

Tom and I met up with John in Hawick this morning, firstly for a walk round Wilton Park followed by lunch in The Pavilion Cafe and then a visit to Wilton Museum to see The Bill McLaren Exhibition.

A nice walk round Wilton Park

Some of Bill's famous comments during Rugby matches

Could only be Doddie Weir he was talking about

A replica of Bill's study

His famous information sheets for each match he commentated on. The amount of detail in there is huge. It is a wonderful exhibition and well worth a visit. Its open until 27th November and its free but we left generous donations.

Friday, 6 October 2023

A Few Days in Newcastle

We have spent the last few days in Newcastle visiting Fiona and family. On Tuesday Fiona was not working and Hannah and Leo had a day off school due to it being an in-service day so Fiona took us to South Shields. In all the 23 years we have been going to see Fiona in Newcastle we have never been on the promenade on South Shields so this was a treat and the weather was perfect.

It's not an easy journey to get there as you either have to head into town or go through the Tyne Tunnel so in this instance Fiona took us over the Tyne Bridge.

The entrance to the River Tyne and the other side is Tynemouth

We stopped at a beachfront cafe for a toast and a drink and these Starlings were very tame

Hannah is great company and is soon going to explore more Dutch universities on a trip to The Netherlands with her dad and brother Leo later this month.

On Wednesday my son in law Mario was going to collect groceries from Asda which is next to The Rising Sun Country Park so at 7.30am he dropped me of there so I could walk back to the house along the Waggonways and Bridlepaths. It was a 4 mile walk and only the last 200 yards along Teviotdale Gardens was on a public road. The paths through the Rising Sun Country Park were lovely and quiet and you would never realise you were in the middle of a city.

My walk passed Newcastle United Training Ground and even at that time of the morning fans were gathering to see the team arrive for light training. They had a big match that evening in The Champions League against Paris SG and won it in great style 4-1

These are the Waggonways which were used many years ago to transport coal from the many small mines to the River Tyne to be loaded onto ships.

On Wednesday afternoon I took Gaye to Whitley Bay for a Coffee and Scone in the Cafe frequented by Vera in the TV series of that name. It was a big disappointment as the Cheese Scone was almost uneatable. We did however manage a nice walk along the promenade afterwards.

Gaye outside the new Spanish City which used to be a fun fare but is now more upmarket Cafes, Restaurants, and Shops.

The beach at Whitley Bay. Some of these photos are not the size i wanted by my Laptop did not upload some of the photos from my phone so this blog was started on my Laptop and finished on my I-Phone.

Friday, 8 September 2023

A Walk on the Ullswater Way

Yesterday we headed to the Lake District and Ullswater for our Thursday walk. Mike, Charlie and myself left Langholm at 9.15am to be in Pooley Bridge in time for the 11.05am Ferry to Howtown. We allowed plenty of time to get a parking spot and were lucky that we managed to get a spot, but in another 15 minutes or so they would all have been taken. A quick Coffee at the Ferry Pier and then 25 minutes on the boat to Howtown. It was almost full with visitors and their dogs.

Ullswater from the Ferry. The sun never got out all day and at times we had a few spots of rain, but it was always very warm.

Mike and Charlie on the Ferry.

Once we were off the ferry we left all the people behind and soon we were walking along the side of the lake and maybe a couple of hundred feet above the lake level. This was a mountain stream that came through a small gap in the drystone dyke.

Ullswater and our Ferry disappearing in the distance.

Plenty of drystone dykes.

A very interesting and high stone stile in the dyke. Mike as usual leading the way.

The very small gate on the other side of the stile.

An interesting little valley we passed by on our walk.

Wednesday, 6 September 2023

A Visit to Dumfries House in East Ayrshire

For many years Dumfries House in East Ayrshire has been on my Bucket list of places to visit and at last today we managed to get to visit it with Niall and Elspeth. It's under 2 hours to get there from Langholm and well worth the trip. The weather was glorious and it consisted of a 90 minute guided tour of the house with an excellent young guide followed by a visit to the Walled Garden. The gardens are extensive and you could never get round the whole garden so we concentrated today on the Walled Garden and it was well worth the couple of hours we spent in it. We were not allowed to take any photographs inside the house but it was spectacular and full of Chippendale Furniture. The following photos are of the gardens and Walled Garden so often no explanation is needed. I apologise there are so many of them but it really was a spectacular Walled Garden and in particular I loved the many Apple trees which were laden with fruit.

The Walled Garden is assisted by many young people doing training schemes at Dumfries House and also school children from local schools get involved as well.

A nice place to sit in the sun on such a hot day as it was 26C.

There were loads of vegetables and all will be used in the catering establishments in the grounds.

one of the nicest Apple Trees

The Walled Garden was a mass of colour

Lots of areas in the Walled Garden are planted with wild flower seeds and they are spectacular at this time of year and especially on such a sunny day.