The weather gods oblige

After a recent seaside heron guest picture from our son Tony, today’s guest picture is from his very good friend Michael. He found a sunlit Northern Irish seaside heron while on holiday in Donaghadee, and kindly sent me this shot..

The forecast suggested that we might have that rare thing to day, no rain at all.

It was very encouraging to find bright sunshine and blue sky when we got up. However, it didn’t take long for the morning to cloud over, and as there was a brisk north wind blowing, it took me some time to get myself mentally organized to go out for a bicycle ride to take advantage of the dry conditions.

As it turned out, the pause for extra toast and coffee was time well spent . The breeze had dropped considerably when I finally got out about 11 o’clock. Mrs Tootlepedal drew my attention to a promising dahlia before I left . . .

. . . and I spotted a hoverfly hard at work on a poppy.

I chose my route well, and with the help of the wind behind me, I sped down through Canonbie and Longtown, stopping for the first time after 15 miles which had only taken me a minute or two over the hour to cover.

When I stopped, I had a snack on the bridge over the River Lyne, and looked at one of my favourite views from the bridge. The amount of Himalayan Balsam on the bank of the river is alarming. It is very invasive and won’t take long to swamp any native wild flowers.

There were a couple of natives at my feet as I stood on the bridge.

I left the main road at Smithfield and wiggled across the country on the quiet, well surfaced roads that make cycling in this part of Cumbria such a pleasure . . .

. . . though I noticed that the people who go out to sling wires across any attractive views had been hard at work in this area too.

I crossed the main Carlisle road at a spot which may have the shortest 50mph speed limit in Britain . . .

. . . before heading back towards Longtown on more quiet roads. I stopped for another snack at a little bridge across a small stream where I could see two more bridges when I looked across the field to my right. You have to look carefully to see the second bridge under the old railway in the background.

On the last occasion that I passed this way, there was a funeral in progress at Arthuret church. It wasn’t busy today, and I was able to take a picture of the fine building before heading into Longtown.

I had taken the cycle route through the Hollows and Canonbie on my way south, so to add variety to my trip, I cycled straight up the main road on my way back north. I was very impressed by the daisies on the Canonbie bypass. They make a fine show at this time of year.

The weather gods were very much on my side today because the gentle breeze which had helped me down the hill on my way south had become even more gentle as I headed back into it on my way north. As a result I was able to complete my 40 mile journey in comfortably under three hours, a very satisfactory speed for me these days.

I was quite surprised to find that the promising dahlia had completely fulfilled its promise by the time that I got home.

Mrs Tootlepedal was busy in the garden so I joined her. I mowed the greenhouse and vegetable garden grass, did some dead heading, and took some pictures.

Another poppy, another hoverfly.

Cornflower blue.

Seductive crocosmia flowers contrasted with . . .

. . . plain hosta flowers.

And yet another lupin had produced a late spike.

I see by looking at my records that I shouldn’t be so surprised by this late lupin as I am. There have been late lupin spikes in August in previous years. This one is particularly good though.

We had our regular zoom with my brother and sisters, and Andrew showed us some excellent pictures from his recent short holiday with my sister Mary.

We had some of Mrs Tootlepedal ‘s excellent courgette fritters with a fried egg and new potatoes for our evening meal, and that completed a very good day. We will be back to showers again tomorrow. Sigh.

I put the bird feeder out quite late in the day, and had a hard time trying to catch a flying bird. There was quite a lot of posing . . .

. . . but whenever I looked this way, the birds flew in that way. When I changed to look that way, they flew in this way. I did catch one in the end though, and it is the sole flying bird of the day