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Today’s guest picture shows sunset over the Mersey. My brother is in Liverpool.
It was a calm day with a good forecast so when Mrs Tootlepedal went off to sing with the church choir, I got the fairly speedy bike out and made good use of some light Sunday traffic by cycling up the main road to Hawick and back again.
There were some rather fierce looking black clouds about which delayed my start a bit but they passed over and by the time that I got to Fiddleton, there were glimpses of sunshine…
…and the rest of the ride was mostly sunshine or fluffy clouds. I was in a bridge sort of mood so I stopped quite a few times to record bridges over the Teviot, the river which I followed down from Mosspaul and into the heart of Hawick.
The main road has meant that some of the Teviot road bridges are quite modern….
Once I got into the town, I had to get off my bike and walk onto a smart new pedestrian bridge….
…to look back on the third bridge that I crossed.
The last bridge that I passed…
…is now reserved for pedestrians but I wouldn’t have crossed it anyway as I stayed on the left bank of the river and continued pedalling along the river until the road ran out and changed into a rather nice looking pedestrian walk.
As my bike computer said that I had done more or less exactly 25 miles, I took this as a sign and stopped to eat a roll and a banana and then turned and headed for home on the same route.
There is only one hill between Langholm and Hawick with a summit at Mosspaul but as you can see from the elevation for the ride….
…it involves a steady 10 mile climb up to Mosspaul and then a longer 15 mile drop into Hawick. Of course the homeward trip involves the longer and shallower climb first and then a good brisk whirl back into Langholm.
I only stopped once on the way up to Mosspaul on the return journey and this was to admire the little church at Teviothead….
…and check out the things to be found on the graveyard wall on the other side of the road.
…though I did pause for a moment at the Mosspaul summit…
…to have a banana before dashing gratefully down the hill to Langholm at an average speed of 19mph for these last ten miles.
I had had a light wind in my face on the outward trip and although it was still helping a bit on the return journey, it had died away to almost nothing by the time that I got back to Langholm. You can’t win them all and at least it hadn’t changed direction.
I got home in perfect time to watch the end of the first stage of the Tour of Britain bike race which finished in Castle Douglas, a town about 55 miles away from us to the west. It is fun to watch cyclists on familiar roads. They are setting off from Carlisle tomorrow.
After a shower and a refreshing cup of tea, Mrs Tootlepedal and I had a walk round the garden.
…and then she went off to collect some muck from her new manure mine and I set off on the slow bike to check out the riverside bird life. I covered two miles at an average speed of 6mph and stopped for many photos and a Pelosi’s ice cream on the Kilngreen on my way.
I saw a single collared dove, and many black headed gulls and wagtails by the waterside.
I enjoyed the trees on the Castleholm catching the evening sunlight.
…and I rounded off the trip by going to Pool Corner to visit the slow worms.
There was just time when I got back to mow the front lawn before we sat down to a splendid meal of roast chicken and vegetables from the garden.
The flower of the day is one of the dahlias in the front beds…..
…and the flying bird is a herring gull which kindly flew up and down in front of me several times until it was sure that I had got a reasonable shot.
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A lovely Sunday excursion with bridges, flowers, birds and views. Love the herring gull photo with its feathers all defined and making such a pretty pattern – it actually looks quite smug being so perfectly turned out.
It was complaining loudly about something as it went up and down, probably me.
I liked seeing all the different bridges in the first half of this post and the little church is very attractive. The second half is brighter with the astilbe and that wonderful dahlia. Nice to see the Painted Lady, the trees on the Castleholm and the young gull.
The ride was pretty bright too but not very scenic.
You added a number of good bridges to your collection, and the astilbes was beautiful. But, the dahlia and the gull are the winners in this post.
The astilbe came out well and perhpas looked better in the picture than it does in real life.
I like the sunbeam shining down into the center of the natural bowl in the first photo. Sunbeams always make me wonder what they’re highlighting.
I think the twin arch bridge is my favorite. We have two or three like it but the stone isn’t as well dressed on ours.
The color of the astilbe reminds me of your lobelia and the last dahlia is a beauty!
I have a sneaking regard for the new pedestrian bridge which is very elegant.
You can’t beat some good lichen 🙂
My thoughts entirely.
I think you missed eight bridges
Possibly. But I didn’t cycle over the Teviot eight times!
Glad the gull was so thoughtful.
Another energetic day!
Beautiful painted lady in colour matching flower.
We’re always in bridge mood – love yours. What a considerate gull.
My kind of bird, no unnecessary flapping.
Tiers of billowing trees on the Castelholm – absolutely lovely, thank you!
A pleasure.
The trees look really nice in the evening light and the dahlias are gorgeous, including painted lady.
The trees did look. Spring and autumn are the best times but evening in summer can run them close.
Beautiful photos of wildlife and flowers, and the countryside is inviting. A road that peters out into a pedestrian walkway is a treasure!
Though not necessarily for a cyclist who wouldn’t have minded another mile or two.
Gorgeous green scenic photos today and good bridges. Our astilbes are long over. I’d like to see those slow worms.
They are striking lizards with a lovely sheen on their skin.
I agree with Jerry. All the shots are great, but the last two, the dahlia and the gull are my favourites. I would love to be able to get such sharp detail in flying bird shots. I hope you are also pleased by your fine efforts, Tom.