More faltering steps

Today’s guest picture is a small bridge across one of the ditches on the River Derwent flood plain that my brother crossed on his walk.  The low sun ensured that his shadow never got far away from him!  (I am open for new guest pictures.)

We had a slightly colder and slightly greyer day today but it didn’t halt the very gentle progress towards recovery.  I am fine as long as I take things very slowly but Mrs Tootlepedal is still pretty flat and spending time in bed.

In another first though, I got the car running in the morning and drove down to the Co-operative Store  to do a little shopping, more for the sake of checking that the car was OK after a week of idleness than the urgent need for provisions.  We have been eating so little that we have both lost weight.  Under normal circumstances a bit of weight loss would have been very welcome but we don’t recommend catching flu as a sound dieting method.

As well as the shopping, I made some bread and cooked a pan of soup so I didn’t have much time to look at the birds.  This was no great loss as there were very few birds about today even when I did look.

The poor light led to poor pictures…

…so I didn’t waste a lot of time.

I had to go and open up the Day Centre for an Embroiderers’ Guild meeting after lunch as Mrs Tootlepedal would normally do this.

I cycled up to the town to unlock the door and then cycled off up the Wauchope road  to keep my legs turning over.  It was a bit colder and windier than yesterday so I just went a bit slower today and got on not too badly.  Once again, I stopped from time to time to give my breathing a break.

I like the way that trees grow out of the banks of the small burns on the hillsides at a jaunty angle.

I had parked the slow bike on the bridge when I walked up to take the tree picture and when I went back to it…

…I was very struck by the combination of lichen and moss on the bridge parapet.

Life’s a jungle.

Further up the road, I was brought to a halt by a perfectly upholstered stone in the wall beside the road.  It is most unusual.

While I was stopped, I had a look at the next few metres of the wall.  It was a good place to spend a few minutes.

The colour of the day prize definitely went to a lichen with this very striking burst of yellow.

It was so vivid that I might have thought that it was a paint spill at first sight but a closer look…

…showed me that it is probably xanthoria parietina, a lichen I more usually see on concrete fence posts.

Another elegant clump of moss could be seen and …..

…a striking but pale lichen rounded off my inspection.

I could have picked many more lichens and mosses within a few yards but I didn’t want to stay standing around for too long as it wasn’t very warm.

I cycled up the Cleuchfoot road and lifted my eyes up from moss and lichen to admire the scenery.

I went through the farm yard and took a picture just to show that not all our bridges are made of beautifully cut stones.

I like the valley beyond Cleuchfoot farmhouse.  There is something very restful about it.

It is possible to ride up a track across the hill below the larch plantation which you can see ahead of me and come back to join the Wauchope road further along……

…but that would have required more time and energy than I had so I turned round and eased gently back down the hill into town.  A circuit of the New Town brought my distance up to to 10 miles and I don’t know when I have been more pleased with a 10 mile cycle ride at 8mph.

And that, as they say, concluded the entertainment for the day.  I am going to see if I can sing tomorrow.

A perching bird of the day today.