Today’s guest picture comes from Bruce, who by coincidence passed me when I was out cycling this afternoon. He had visited a distillery on his recent highland tour and was wondering whether he had imagined the rainbow when he came out but his wife confirmed that it really was there.
There was no chance of a rainbow here today as the sun shone steadily from a clear blue sky from dawn to dusk .
It wasn’t very windy and it was decidedly warm for the time of year so it was definitely a day for cycling. I had had only one outing on my bike in the past fortnight and as a result I didn’t want to overdo things so I was more than happy to start the day with coffee and scones and a catch up with Dropscone.
He has had a busy time lately so there was a lot of catching up to do.
As the sun stays lower in the sky at this time of year, it takes some time until it gets round to shining in our garden so a breakfast shot of the feeder makes it look chillier than it actually was…
…but by the time that Dropscone left, the garden was full of sunshine…
…though some flowers were still in the shade.
This was my favourite shot of the morning.
The delphinium seems determined to go on flowering as long as possible. (The lawn needs mowing again!)
I got my new bicycle out with enough time left in the day for a reasonable ride and set out to see where my legs would carry me.
The green hills around us are definitely brown now….
..but it would be hard to find a better day for cycling in October than this one.
My legs turned out to be in a very co-operative mood and with the wind coming from the south east, I was able to have an easier start than usual and got to Eaglesfield in good time. Thereafter, I took a route along familiar roads but with variations of direction and combinations of routes that made the ride interesting for me. I snapped away as I went along.
I was hoping for autumn colour but it was sporadic…
…and it was warm enough for a bovine paddle near Ecclefechan.
I went through a good variety of road side scenery from the enclosed…
…to the wide open. The sun glinting off the Solway was dazzling.
There is no shortage of peel towers in our area. This one is beside the Annan to Kirkpatrick Fleming road…
…which I left to follow the small back road down to Rigg and Gretna. I stopped just before Rigg.
The Gretna to Dumfries railway uses the arched bridge in the foreground while the new main road uses the modern concrete bridge behind, to cross the Kirtle Water.
From Gretna, I followed the course of the River Sark to Milltown of Sark. This picture shows Scotland in the foreground, the river which constitutes the border and then England beyond. A lot of bloodshed and diplomacy went into creating this mighty barrier between nations.
On my way to Milltown, while I was in England for a few miles, I passed the migrating geese which feed in the fields near Englishtown farm. There were thousands of them and my camera could only catch a fraction of them at a time. They were too far from the road to get a shot of an individual goose.
I had chosen a route with some fine beech hedges on the way, in the hope of getting some good autumn colour but the hedges were a disappointment and I had to wait until I got to the river Esk near Langholm to find something worth stopping for.
My knees are a bit creaky at the moment so I resisted the temptation to ’round up the decimals’ and settled for stopping after 47 miles at a suitably relaxed pace to match the benign day.
It was such a lovely day that I did think of a walk when I got home but for some reason got no further than the garden where a lone red admiral butterfly was to be seen ignoring the sedum.
There was a contrast in clematis – ‘out there’ and ‘in there’.
A poppy catching the low sun was the pick of the flowers this afternoon.
After tea, I went off to sing with the Langholm Community Choir and had a good time. I think that my first singing lesson is helping already. We are singing music from shows as well as Christmassy stuff and there is plenty of work for the basses so there was no sleeping on the job today.
A phone call to see how Mrs Tootlepedal is getting on at her mother’s rounded off the day and I was pleased to have made good use of the best day for some days to come with threats of a new storm hanging over our heads at the weekend.
The flying bird of the day is a chaffinch coming into the evening sun.
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The geese do the same here in just harvested cornfields.
That’s another beautiful shot of the poppy. I can’t see a thing about it that I’d change.
It looks like you’re having a colorful fall, at least along the river. Water seems to have a lot to do with it.
Splendid views on your cycle ride and I loved that flying bird picture in the evening light.
The photo of the poppy looks like it’s a painting. Very lovely.
I concur with the poppy painting. The chaffinch also looks like a painting.
Beautiful photographs. I had to look up Peel Towers – they remind me of the fortified Signal Towers the British built here in the Eastern Cape, South Africa.
Superb
A glorious day to bright out all the colours available.
That first picture is a stunner. Had to look up peel tower as I had never of the term. So, learned something new today.
Hollows Tower which often appears on the blog is another example.
The poppy photo is a winner! Lots of lovely photos to enjoy on a beautiful sunny October day.
It was a most enjoyable day on which to take photos.
Great photos from both during your excursion on the bike, and from the garden. Loved the flying bird of the day along with the flowers from the garden, and all the fall colors from during your ride.
A bit of sunshine helps a lot.
That low sun on the poppy is absolutely delightful. Great catch!
Serendipity.
I love the delphinium/self portrait and the poppy photo is a stunner.