Acting my age

Today’s guest picture comes from my sister Mary. She was visiting Venetia in Somerset today and they went to see two fine gardens.

I got up promptly again this morning, and surprised myself by being ready to go out for a ride on my pushbike by half past nine. The forecast was for good weather all day, with a reasonable light wind, so this seemed like a good moment to try to bicycle as many miles as I have had birthdays. I hope to be able to do this for a few more years, but as the mathematically minded will realise, the task gets harder as time goes by.

I went down to Gretna and into England today, keeping away from hills as far as possible. The camera club theme this month is churches, so I collected a few on my way.

My route took me over the level crossing near the Metal Bridge, where I was not the only cyclist held up by the train, and then down on to the colourful northern by-pass round Carlisle. I left the by-pass bike path, and pedalled across country to Anthorn, on the Wampool Estuary, where I had a rest after covering 40 miles.

I then cycled round the Anthorn peninsular and on to Bowness on Solway. The tide was miles out so there were no sea views. I made do with cow parsley and hawthorn . . .

. . . but I was very much taken with the fact even though the water was so far away, it was also so calm that I could see the reflections of the Scottish shore quite clearly.

It was hard for my pocket camera but I had several goes at capturing this unusual situation.

I stopped in a very pleasant cafe in Bowness for two fruit scones with jam and a pot of tea. The cafe owner provided music for my ears when she uttered the welcome cry of, “I’ll just put the kettle on.” The scones were good and the tea was refreshing, but sadly I was her only customer. She told me that business was very quiet at the moment. That was a pity, and if you like good scones, cakes and a well made pot of tea, I can recommend the Pear Tree Tearoom.

Fortified by the scones and tea, I headed along the Solway shore. This section is very flat in places, usually a bonus, but today I was heading straight into what wind there was, and I found it hard work. I was happy to stop to take a couple of pictures. I was pleased to see the egret, and I like the house in Drumburgh which is the living embodiment of the phrase, ‘an Englishman’s home is his castle’.

There was silaging going on . . .

. . . and guests were coming out of a wedding at Burgh by Sands so there was plenty to keep me interested before I got back to the by-pass and headed north.

I wound my way across country to Longtown, admiring the big daisies near the end of the by-pass and stopping to see if I could get a good picture of the shadows of turbine blades on the road near Todhills. I couldn’t.

From Longtown, I came up the A7, taking the diversion through Canonbie on the way.

I added a couple of miles to my journey just in case I had got my age wrong, and ended up doing just over 84 miles. I had secretly hoped to do this in 7 hours, but I was five minutes late when I got home.

I had time for a quick walk round the garden in the hot sunshine when I got back . . .

. . . and then we sat down to an evening meal of poached salmon cooked by Mrs Tootlepedal, before we walked down the road to the Buccleuch Centre to attend a concert given by the Langholm Town Band on the theme of music from the movies.

They made good creative use of a big screen behind the band to add visual interest to the performance with clips from the films, and they played exceedingly well. The fact that they kept me wide awake for two hours speaks for itself.

I didn’t have an opportunity to get a flying bird of the day so a garden blackbird is standing in.

I append a map of today’s outing.