I apologise for today’s guest picture but it is another from the St Bees Sportive and I have put it in because I paid good money for it so I am going to use it.
I also apologise for breaking my own rule about how many pictures I should put in a post. I was surprised by the weather today and took far more photographs than I thought that I would and then had some difficulty in choosing which ones to throw away so if you are pushed for time, look away now. I will keep the words to a minimum.
I started the day by scarifiying the front lawn. I did the proposed paths yesterday and the proposed meadow parts today, using a more ferocious blade.
After the scarifying, Mrs Tootlepedal and I did a lot of reorganisation in our upstairs rooms following the end wall work. Mrs Tootlepedal managed to get a saw and resize a desk in no time. She says she is never going to do a major reorganisation again…ever.
After this the sun came out and I went out too.
After lunch, Mrs Tootlepedal went off to an Embroiders’ Guild meeting and I lounged around.
After she came back, she went into the greenhouse to plant seeds and I went for a walk. It immediately started to rain.
I kept going regardless and as I walked up the Kirk Wynd past the golf course, I could see distant sunshine.
I paused in the rain to capture two prickly subjects…
….had another look at the prospects…..
…took my courage in both hands, ignored the rain and walked up onto the open hill. As I got there, the rain stopped and the sun came out.
The rest of my walk was in perfect sunshine and I will put the pictures in from it without comment for the most part.
It is a grand walk for views of the town.
Even the sheep were looking from the viewpoint.
As I walked along the track I spotted what I think is a raven circling above my head and giving out discordant calls.
My immediate target was the wall at the quarry.
I clambered over the wall using a stile and then followed the track down to the path to the Round House.
I came to the round house.
Even the walk along the road when I got to it was very pleasant, as it was rich in roadside flowers.
I walked back along the river hoping to see a goosander. I did…but it flew past me as such speed that I couldn’t catch it. I had to make do with more static targets.
As you can see, it was a perfect evening by the time that I got home and warm enough to walk without a jacket on.
If you have lasted this long, I hope that you have enjoyed coming along with me on the walk. You can probably see why I took so many pictures today.
I didn’t have a very good time trying to get a flying bird of the day today but I nearly got a very good one.
A regular chaffinch in one of the gloomier moments of the day will have to do.
Tootlepedal's Blog 
Nice gallery! 🙂
It was a glorious day to be out and about.
I can feel the effort of riding up that hill! What glorious views of the countryside. Your area is much more open than where I live. It can be difficult to see so much surrounding land unless you are at a lookout or the top of a hill or mountain. Quite often my walks involve enclosed forest. It is likely that when my eldest son finishes his PhD at the end of 2016, that he will be researching/working at a university in Scotland so I am quite excited about that as of course being a good mother, I will have to visit him. 🙂
As any mother would. I hope your son does find a research place at a Scottish University.
It was obviously a fine day for getting photos of the country side. I wonder if most of the townsfolk know what beauty they’re surrounded by. I think few would realize it here.
I like that dark colored tulip.
It is probably Mrs Tootlepedal’s favourite variety. I think that Langholm folk do really appreciate their countryside. They are great walkers and cyclists.
The photos are all beautiful. No worries about posting too many! What lovely countryside you live in!
When the weather is kind!
I loved all your photos, I’m glad when you post a whole bunch of them. The sheep and lambs are very pleasing, and I don’t see them here; if I went to the farms I might, but few people raise sheep nearby, and in fact there are very few farms in my area.
In spite of quite a lot of commercial forestry round about, we are still basically a farming area.
My money would be on its being a raven. It’s the deep wedge tail wot does it.
Thank you. Help is always appreciated.
Your photos of the Scottish landscape bring back lovely memories from a trip some years ago when celebrating my birthday by hiking the green Scottish hills. Remember all those cute lambs all over, like tiny snow patches in the grass and the yellow bushes (broom?) growing along the hill sides. Thanks for sharing!/ Meggie
The yellow bushed might well be broom but in this case they are gorse. We are waiting for the broom to appear.
You are giving me a hard time to choose one of your country side pictures as a wallpaper of the week on my computer. As for the raven: I’m fairly certain it’s a common or northern raven (Corvus Corax). It’s my choice for a FBoD.
I didn’t like to put it in as FBoD until I knew for certain what it was.
You can go over the limit any time that you want when they’re photos like these! The lambs are cute, the flowers and landscapes beautiful, as well as the birds, a great day.
It would be hard for me to find a better day for a spring walk.
A splendid picture atop the blog,
Great selection of views, I can see why you did not want to leave any of these out. Loved the lamb of course,
As others have already noted, it’s no wonder you had trouble editing photos from this selection. I especially liked the paths up the hill and the lines/shadows in the photo of the soon-to-be-green trees. I’m looking forward to watching the transition of the lawn to a meadow.
We are stepping into unknown territory here so we are interested in what happens too.
I thoroughly enjoyed your walk. The scenery is beautiful in your neck of the woods, and I’m always in awe of the distance you cover, both on bicycle and by foot. Really beautiful pictures!! Thank you for walking in spite of the rain… it paid off!
A rare example of a good decision and all the more welcome for that.
Great picture of you cycling furiously up a steep hill. Loved going with you on your walk and have every sympathy with Mrs T and her feelings about reorganisation.
They are beautiful photos Mr T and I especially love the pigeons fluffy pantaloons 😄
I like them too.
What a beautiful day! Thanks for taking us along on your walk 🙂
Always a pleasure to have discerning virtual walkers beside me.
Definitely a raven. I too love the look of the grassy path winding round the hillside and the flowers and views are glorious.
Hard to beat as a walk in a sunny day.
Great photos, especially the lambs. It’s sad to see you have vandals too. The round house looks like it would have been ideal on a damp windy day.
These were Victorian vandals not present day ones.