Today’s guest picture comes from my sister Mary. She visited the Rose Garden in Regents Park after playing tennis on Saturday..

More good weather and a fairly active day led to too many photographs being taken. Today’s post is heavy on galleries to enable judicious skipping for busy readers.
I started the day by preparing this month’s Langholm Initiative newsletter for publication, and then went for a look round the garden where subdued colours caught my eye.


Mrs Tootlepedal has been looking after some tiny willow seedlings for the Tarras Valley Nature Reserve, and as we had volunteered to water the trees at the reserve’s tree nursery today, we put the tray of willows in the back of the car and drove to Cronksbank.
The trees in the nursery are doing pretty well but watering is needed because of the current dry spell. It took a bit of time to go round the thousands of trees. Across the Little Tarras valley, a vapour trail made us wonder if the pilot had had more coffee than was wise before setting off on his flight. On the other side, we could see the vans of the road menders who are repairing the many deep potholes on the hill road, and there is a lot of natural regeneration going on without any help from us.




It was time for lunch when we got home.
Then I changed into my cycling shorts and single top layer, ready to go out for a pedal on a really good day for cycling. I was naturally tempted to have a walk round the garden before setting off. The sun made everything look very cheery, and it has brought on the first flowers on the Roseraie d’Hay



I went round the Crosssdykes windfarm on my e-bike, passing fine may blossom, and having to wait at Paddockhole Bridge to let two huge lorries inch their way across in front of me. My little Lumix chose this moment to fatally seize up, and by the time that I had got my phone out, the lorries had crossed the bridge.
I took the rest of the pictures on my outing with my phone. I don’t know what the yellow flowers in the verge are. Any help in ID would be appreciated. The gallery ends with a splendid view of the Gates of Eden. (To enjoy the views at full size, click on a picture)











Wind turbine technology has improved a lot in recent years, and the turbines were very quiet as I stood not far away from them.
I must be getting back to full health because I went round the 26 miles at much the same speed as I achieved when I did the same trip last autumn.
I had time for a cup of tea and a sprint round the garden in the afternoon sunshine. . .





. . . before we had a Zoom meeting with our son Alistair and his daughter Matilda. She has been in the wars and had a sore foot and a sore hand to show us, but she was very cheerful all the same.
After the meeting, Mrs Tootlepedal and I walked round the garden again, and sat on the bench at the end of the lawn to enjoy the sights and smells. New roses are coming out and the alliums are starting to go over.




There were birds above our heads.


Then we went back in to have another Zoom meeting, this time with my brother and sisters. They had some good flower pictures to show us.
After that meeting, Mrs Tootlepedal prepared our evening meal, while I cleared up a bit more of the back path. When the meal was finished, I published the newsletter and paid a last visit to the garden where I was fortunate to catch a diving blackbird, intent on seeing off a rival, as the flying bird of the day.

I append a map of today’s ride as I know some readers like to see them. It shows a route that is not excessively hilly but which hardly has any flat sections in it.
