Today’s guest picture comes from my Somerset correspondent Venetia. She has been busy visiting National Trust properties in her neighbourhood now that such visits are allowed. She found this inviting bridge at Fyne Court, a National Trust property in Somerset.

We had another perfect summer day here today. Unfortunately just as we are getting used to this sort of thing, a glance at the weather forecast for next week suggests that such days will soon be only a memory. It was just as well that I made good use of the day.
Well, to be honest I should say that I made good use of much of the day as I wasted the gap between breakfast and coffee by sitting around taking far too long to do a crossword.
However, I made amends for the slow start by drinking coffee in my cycling gear and getting out on my bicycle before the others had finished sipping and talking.
Since it was Saturday and lorry traffic was liable to be very light, I started off going south down the main road with the wind in helpful mood pushing me along to Gretna Green at well over 15mph.
I kept an eye out for the Solwaybank windfarm and I could see that the third turbine now has its blades fitted.

The turbines in the background are on the Ewe Hill site. We are not short of windfarms round here.
I stopped at the fifteen mile mark to have snack and a drink and saw farming life on both sides of the road.

From Gretna, which seems to be getting busier every time I go through it, I headed down into England and passed a fine crop of wild flowers on a banking…

…which is a testament to the amount of work the landscapers put in when they built the new motorway here….

…and makes pedalling along beside the motorway a pleasure.
I next crossed the mainline railway at a level crossing, and cycled down to Rockcliffe, where I walked my bicycle down this track…

…which leads to the River Eden.
This was a good spot to be today. The river was lovely…

…the riverside woodland was looking delightful…

…and there were wild flowers…

…with seed heads…

…and interesting butterflies.

Research when I got home leads me to think that the butterfly might be a Wall Butterfly. If this is true, it is the first time that I have knowingly seen one.
It would have been a grand place for a picnic and a stroll but I only had time for half a ham sandwich before climbing back up the path, restarting the bike computer and heading onward, past Rockcliffe Church…

…until I came to the motorway again at Harker.
Here, the nature of the ride changed and having enjoyed a wind assisted 23 miles, I crosssed the motorway and turned into the wind. My average speed dropped sharply for the next seven miles as I headed across country towards Scaleby. Luckily there were ample distractions to take my mind off the hard work….

…and soon after passing under these fine trees…

I turned onto to the Brampton to Longtown road.
Much to my surprise, I found that the wind was now completely behind me and I whizzed up the road to Longtown at a dizzy and unexpected eighteen miles an hour.
Before I got to Longtown, I noticed this good looking crop of corn, which farmers grow as cattle feed here, through a gap in a hedge…

…and although I didn’t have an elephant to hand to help me judge, I thought that it looked quite high, and it certainly was a beautiful day. I hummed a tune as I went along.
I thought that I would be bound to meet a headwind when I got on to the road to Langholm after crossing the Esk in Longtown, because the wind had helped me on the way down. Much to my delight, it was mostly helpful and never more than across me on the way back and I kept up an excellent speed (for me) all the way into Langholm
I hadn’t quite got my distance planning right and had to go a mile up the Wauchope road and back to bring my total up to a neat 50 miles for the outing. Thanks to the perfect temperature, the lovely sunshine and the very friendly wind, I ended up averaging 14.7mph for the ride, far faster than my usual efforts. Furthermore, I arrived home without feeling tired at all. I wish all days could be like this one. It knocked about five years off my age.
Mrs Tootlepedal and I enjoyed a slice of tarte tatin and a cup of tea, and then I went out into the garden to sieve some compost and look at the flowers.
The white lilies are producing what can only be described as a floral fanfare.

I am dead heading the cornflowers in an effort to keep them coming.

And the dahlias are surviving and replacing themselves very well.


The seed packet for Mrs Tootlepedal’s sunflowers said that they would grow to about five or six feet. This has proved to be quite an underestimate…

…and we will need a step ladder to appreciate the flower on this one which is already miles above my head.
Once again, there were no interesting butterflies in the garden (though quite a few white ones are fluttering about) and visiting birds were scarce too. I did see a pigeon…

…but hardly anything else.
The nifty wax filled devices that lift the greenhouse ventilators had failed on one side of the greenhouse after many years of service. Mrs Tootlepedal had ordered replacements and we fitted them after tea. We will have to check tomorrow to see if they work properly.
I took a final picture of some nicotiana…

…and then we went in to watch the highlights of the day’s stage Critérium du Dauphiné bike race, the first bike racing we have watched this year. We thoroughly enjoy watching these supermen at work in lovely countryside and are looking forward to the delayed Tour de France at the end of the month (with our fingers crossed that all goes well and it does actually take place).
In the absence of a flying bird a siskin is sitting in as a substitute today.

Poor ‘uninteresting’ white butterflies…
They are hard to photograph.
Nothing like a good show tune to spur you onwards😊
Great effort on the bike today and an average speed to be proud of.
My ride today was the opposite of yours.
The first half into a headwind which didn’t bother me to much as I was expecting a tail wind for the last six mile slog uphill. It wasn’t the case the wind had inexplicably changed direction into another headwind, ah well,but I still enjoyed the ride.
Lovely shots of the riverside woodland and the road under the “fine trees “👍
I have had your sort of treacherous wind more often than the helpful one I had today!
You had a lovely day for a bike ride, and have enjoyed the scenery and all the beautiful flowers! The white lily trumpets loudly proclaim a perfect summer day in your part of Scotland. The riverside area looks inviting.
I just looked out the window at the porch thermometer, where it is currently reading slightly over 100 degrees. A moderate wind from the west is blowing. A few cirrus clouds are about, but nothing substantial enough to block or filter the sun. I watered the garden early today.
91 here at the beach!
Too hot for me.
We are without a drop of rain for the last fortnight even when thunder was grumbling all evening yesterday and the neigboring town was flooded.
Much the same as us then . Do you need the rain?
Dearly in need of rain. Watering only the essentials, as watering is about to be prohibited soon.
I am sorry to hear that. We are due to get a change in the weather soon so maybe you will too.
I am not surprised that the garden needed watering. Can you go about normal life when it is 100 degrees?
We don’t get the humidity here in these parts. It is dry heat. We work outside in the morning and are in after lunch until about 7:00 PM
That sounds like the only way to get through those temperatures.
What wonderful unmown and floriferous roadside verges you got to pedal by today.
Fifty miles to Eden? Not everyone can write that.
Very true. 🙂
The river and the woodland look like excellent places to spend some time doing nothing.
The lily and dahlias are beautiful, and I love the blue of the cornflower.
I don’t remember ever seeing that butterfly. It’s a pretty one.
I think that it is quite rare this far north so I was lucky to see it.
You cycled through wonderful scenery today. I have enjoyed the trees, water, flowers, and the churches.
It was hard sometimes to keep an eye on where I was going.
Glad about that helpful wind.
Beautiful lily floral fanfare.
Glad your cycle ride was such a success and contributed to a feeling of well being. The dead heading you do in the garden gives excellent results.
My copy of Thomas and Lewington’s ‘The Butterflies of Britain & Ireland’ confirms that your butterfly is a Wall.
I think I should have called it a Wall Brown not just a Wall. Thank you for the confirmation.
I am so envious of your sunny weather
It has gone now.
today the weather has been very mixed
Hope you were humming ‘It’s a Beautiful Day’ ( Beach Boys!) because it was! Great photos of some lovely places on your cycle ride especially the woods and the river and then the pretty flowers in your garden too. No Garmin map? Sweet little siskin.
I may have been humming a tune from Oklahoma….with the line in it that says, “Everything’s going my way.”
I am sorry about not including the map: here is a link to the page: https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/5390524904
Thank you for the map. You’d think I know all the places you cycle to now but I don’t! It is fun following your route!
It was an enjoyable outing for me.
I followed your route again on google maps. You completed the crossword AND pedaled a well illustrated ride long enough to probably mark on a school room globe. Another fine day and thanks for sharing. (Allan)
I look forward to your descriptions of voyages in the new boat.
I haven’t seen a Wall for years, but like birds there are a lot of small brown ones about and my eyes are not as good as they used to be. Nice to see one photographed here. You are right about whites, I don’t seem to get many good shots of them.
I gather that the wall browns are not common up here so I was lucky to see one.
Yes, always nice to see something new.
You seem to be right on the edge of the range.
https://www.ukbutterflies.co.uk/species.php?species=megera
I’m wishing we had a wind farm nearby. We did have one many years back that they built right next to the ocean. Seems the winds were too strong and/or erratic and they were all struck down. I can’t help but wonder if the technology might have improved since then.
I don’t know but I should think so.