Today’s guest picture comes from my sister Mary, It shows busy Kentish Town Stationin London a week or so ago, and demonstrates why Mary is not too alarmed at the prospect of taking public transport. Hardly anyone else is taking it at the moment.
Our wind is still coming from the north so when the sun is not out, it feels a bit chilly. Mrs Tootlepedal went out to do some light gardening after breakfast while I was happy to practise back resting indoors. Luckily the sun came out bang on coffee time, and we had a sunny half hour chatting to Margaret, drinking coffee and eating ginger biscuits.
After coffee, Mrs Tootlepedal went back to light gardening and I idled around out of doors instead of indoors. I had a camera in my hand of course.
More flowers are coming to the end of their natural life every day but the white potentilla hasn’t got the news yet and is flourishing (in part at least).
I have been trying to get a decent picture of some white viburnum flowers but they are very tiny and I have had many failures. Today was my best effort so far…
When flowers are hard to take, I can always turn to leaves…
…which can look quite cheerful in their own right.
Lillian Austin is not discouraged at all and has a stunning array of blooms on the go.
And calendulas are not far behind when it comes to rich colour on a sunny day.
Other less spectacular flowers were available….
…and of course, there are the nerines…
…which are still producing new flowers.
The lure of a bacon and tomato roll for lunch drew me back inside and once there, I had a look to see if any birds were visiting the feeder.
For some reason, perhaps a sparrow hawk was lurking nearby, there were very few birds to be seen at any time today. I only saw two when I had my camera ready.
After lunch, I resisted the charms of a hilly stage of the Giro and went off for a very unhilly cycle ride of my own. As far as I can tell, cycling is helping rather than hurting my back, although I have to be careful not to push too hard when I am out.
I was happy to stop therefore as I went up the hill at Callister to have a look at the latest tower. When I checked on my computer later, I could see that the crane was ready to haul the housing that sits on top of the tower into position…
…but once again, nothing happened while I watched so I soon pedalled on up the hill.
I crossed the bridge over the Kirtle Water at Linnbridgeford and the sun came out which let me enjoy the many colours in front of me as I cycled along the quiet road past Conhess.
As I went up the hill towards Snab, I got a fine view of a group of pines with the northern English hills in the background.
Once over the top of the hill, I was above the Solway plain and I could see Burnswark Hill behind me, Criffel on the Nith Estuary to the west and the Lake District hills to the south.
It is a surprisingly airy spot considering that I was only about 400 feet above sea level.
Still, those 400 feet came in handy as I dropped down the hill towards Chapelknowe at 180 feet.
I was on a single track road on the way down and I had to stop by a ruined cottage to let a farmer with a trailer go by, so I took a picture while I was paused.
I went through Chapelknowe and I was headed to Corries Mill along another quiet single track road…
…when a racket in a field made me stop and look. There had been some muck spreading going on and it had attracted a crowd.
Something, not me, disturbed the gulls and they rose like a fine mist
I pedalled on, enjoying the sunshine, the flat road and the politeness of trees carefully leaning out of my way.
I had chosen this route in the hope of seeing some migratory geese in the fields at Englishtown, a bit further on, but there were none there today. I headed homeward gooseless, and made up for it with a couple of autumn shots taken on the old road two miles from Langholm.
I added a little extra on when I got to the town and ended up with exactly 30 miles. Because of my back, I had gone at a gentle pace but the scenery and sunshine had made for a pleasant ride so I wasn’t complaining at all.
While I had been out, Mrs Tootlepedal had been getting a tutorial on using Twitter as there are discussions about community land buy outs on the platform. She had actually tweeted herself but as far as I can tell, she had avoided creating a twitterstorm. I feel though that it can only be matter of time before she is tweeting extravagant claims to be the greatest, probably in the middle of the night. We shall see.
She had prepared a brisket of beef with carrots, turnips and parsnips in the slow cooker in the morning and it made for a nourishing and tasty evening meal. It was a big brisket and will keep us going until the end of the week.
As I said, there were very few birds at the feeder today so I would have been pushed to find a flying bird of the day today if I hadn’t seen a thousand on my bike ride.
Tootlepedal's Blog 
I’m envious of your lovely quiet,cycling friendly roads😊
Your shot of the group of pines is a beauty..definitely one for the archives.
Like the Lake District hills in your group of three pictures?
Apparently on a clear day looking northwards from our “fold”we can see Skafell pike,or so I’ve been reliably informed,I have seen it but can’t be certain.
On a very clear day, we can see the Isle of Man from the top of our local hills but it does need to be a very clear day indeed.
If Mrs Tootlepedal ever does tweet that she’s the greatest, she at least will not be deluding herself.
I’ll tell her that. 🙂
If Mrs. T. wants a good lesson in what not to say on Twitter she should follow Donald Trump. If she can bear it.
It’s funny that you can never catch them actually building the turbines.
I don’t need a wind farm to tell me it is windy there though. The tree says it all.
She intends to read rather than to comment which sounds like a good idea to me.
A day without wind is indeed a rare thing round here.
Wonderful bike ride. My husband paused to look over my shoulder to admire the lovely Scottish countryside.
Obviously a man of taste.
Indeed he is! But who wouldn’t love that beautiful countryside?
Of course Mrs. T. is the greatest; we don’t need a tweet to prove that! 🙂
White flowers must be hardy. The only plants in my yard that haven’t been killed by frost are a couple of white bacopa – tough little nuggets!
They turn out to be viburnum and not dogwood Mrs T says. I have amended the post.
But still white!
That is true. I had my doubts about it when I called it dogwood but Mrs T wasn’t available to keep me right. 🙂
The dogwood picture was excellent and I liked the phrase ‘a mist of gulls’.
A fine closing picture.
Glad back trouble did not prevent a scenic ride.
Your usual excellent photography, especially the white viburnum. An intriguing ruined cottage. Your title caused me to expect a flying Mrs T picture.
I am sorry to have disappointed you but metaphorically she flies like a bird, oh me, oh my.
🙂
The photograph of the ruined cottage and the nearby tree is a delight.
Alphie
Thank you Alphie. I was pleased to have been forced to stop beside the cottage.
The photos from your day were delightful, and I am pleased to see so many flowers still putting on a good show. The roads and paths are always inviting, and the trees you find that show the prevailing winds are interesting. I mostly see that kind of directional tree growth over on the coast here where there is a strong breeze off the Pacific.
Mrs. T, I am sure, will be a responsible Tweeter. 🙂
Word of the sparrow hawk must travel like wildfire among the birds.
There have been several sad little piles of feathers in the garden over recent days.
All must eat. I haven’t seen a sparrow hawk here in a long while, but the winter birds are starting to return. I’ve seen little ones dive for cover in the lemon balm patch. They know sparrow hawk can’t follow them there.
Sensible birds.
Really enjoyed your fine selection of photos through the countryside…los of oohs and aaahs! Pine trees were planted alongside drover’s roads to help ‘point the way’ to lodgings …so it’s good to see the tradition continuing ! Love all the flying birds of the day…I expect they were noisy!
The gulls were very noisy. I don’t know why large flocks of birds need to talk so loudly.
Just like children!
They are noisy too, The playground noise is one of the things that I definitely don’t miss about teaching.
That’s a lot of gulls! Glad to hear you’re on the mend with your back.
It was a lot of gulls!
The polite tree caught my fancy especially with those magnificent clouds. I’m a wee bit envious of your lovely relatively quiet roads to bicycle on. How lovely that the back didn’t keep you from enjoying this soothing outing.
The quiet roads are one of the best things about living here. They are even in not bad condition at the moment, though with winter to come, potholes will appear again no doubt.
No doubt! 😉
I must add to the chorus that Mrs T is truly great.