A ride, a walk and a song

Today’s guest picture comes from Mary Jo in Manitoba.  Her hostas have been frozen but still offer some golden colour to brighten up her garden.

It was another mercifully dry day here, but it was grey and chilly with the temperature well in single figures at breakfast.

I was in no hurry to get up and rush about as I was expecting Sandy for a cup of coffee and a biscuit.  He arrived on cue and we considered the camera club meeting and electric cycling.  It turns out that strong cross winds are as unwelcome to an e-biker as they are to an old fashioned pedal pushing pensioner.

We walked out into the garden and picked up a good number of walnuts for him to take with him when he went on his way.

When he had gone, I polished off the crossword and went out for a pedal.  If I had gone out earlier instead of socialising, it would have been colder but stiller.  As it was, the temperature was creeping up but so was the wind and I had a familiar battle up hill and into the wind to start my ride.

I didn’t rush things and went steadily round my usual Canonbie 20 mile circuit, safe in the knowledge that I would get a good push home from the wind.

I was pleased to see the Canonbie coos back in the field,  They come in black…

…brown…

…and reddish.

It felt rather cold in the wind and as it was too grey for cheerful views, I didn’t stop until I came across this telephone pole.  Mrs Tootlepedal is a great telephone pole enthusiast so I thought that she would like the significant runes on this one, not to mention the curious attachment to the side of the pole.

In the field nearby, there was littler sign of autumn leaves drifting anywhere.

When I got back, I added another rose to the late October in the Garden collection…

…ate the last of the celery and Stilton soup for a late lunch, had a shower and then took the car down to the garage to obey a helpful injunction from the dashboard to do something about my tyre pressures.

Mrs Tootlepedal came in the car too and having inflated, we drove eight miles down the road to the old coal mining village at Rowanburn.  Here we parked the car beside this tribute to the village’s past…

…and walked off down the old railway line towards the border with England.

The was the first time that Mrs Tootlepedal had been on this walk for some time.  It used to be heavily wooded so she was surprised when we came out of the first section of the walk….

…and she found that the trees had been cleared.  It is a transformation….

 

…and a lot of broom has taken advantage of the light to spring up beside the track.

We walked along until we came to the last farmhouse in Scotland and we could see the far bank of the Liddle Water which marks the border at this point.  Those are English trees that we were looking at.

We could have walked across the old railway viaduct to England…

…if it hadn’t been for the stout fence barring our way.

The little notice on the fence tells those interested that in accordance with the Highways Act of 1980, The British Railways Board hereby gives notice that this way is not dedicated to the public.

As I have a rotten head for heights and the viaduct is quite high…

Picture taken on a visit in 2013

…I was grateful to the Board.

There are a great many piles of timber beside the track at one point and on the way back, I stopped to note the fungi on the ends of some of the logs.

There was a good deal less than I had expected.

I had hoped for some fine autumn colour but there was very little, apart from occasional patches….

…and one good beech hedge near the village.

A sheep found us very interesting.

There was more colour to be seen near the road where the car was parked.

We got back to the car after a very enjoyable two mile stroll along a flat and generally dry path, Mrs Tootlepedal’s idea of a perfect walk these days.  It was chilly though and a little sun would have been welcome.

Our newly inflated tyres carried us home safely but such was the general gloom of the weather, I was too late to catch a flying bird of the day.  There were still a lot of birds about but they had finished flying and were sitting in the holly tree, chattering loudly to each other.

While they were chattering away, Mrs Tootlepedal and I put in some practice on some of the songs that we are going to sing at a concert in Glasgow on Saturday.