Today’s guest picture is a follow up to the recent guest picture from Dropscone which showed the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct seen from below. This is the view from above. Dropscone walked over the aqueduct. It would need a team of wild horses to get me across.
We enjoyed a delightfully sunny day today with the only drawback being a frosty morning and a reluctance from the thermometer to rise above 5 degrees. I would like to have gone for a walk but foot resting is still the order of the day so I spent a quiet morning in waiting for the temperature to rise to safe cycling levels.
I was well entertained by birds while I waited.
Camera shy chaffinches tried to sneak past me undetected….
…while down below, a blackbird eyed up the possibility of fallen seed…
…and a robin took a view from a garden chair.
In the midst of the usual scrum of goldfinches and chaffinches, a splash of yellow caught my eye. A siskin had arrived, the first for some weeks.
It posed for me with a goldfinch to show just how small a siskin is.
I took a turn round the garden and the sun had encouraged some flowers to do their best, although the first daffodil of the season needed some support to hold its head up.
The garden is amazingly dry considering the amount of rain recorded in Mary Jo’s scientific rain gauge over the past few days.
I made some vegetable soup for lunch and then set off for a short ride on my slow bike.
I stopped a lot to take pictures.
I like this dangly larch branch…
…and there was no shortage of dangly catkins too.
The bullocks were taking a rest from playing king of the castle when I first passed them…
…but ten minutes later, they were full of fun again.
My trip took me up the valley of the mighty Wauchope Water and to give the reader some context, I include a map of the three mile long river and its tributaries, with some markers to put the pictures in place.
!. This is the spot where the Wauchope Water descends through narrow rocks to make my favourite little cascade.
2. A view of Logan Water….
…just above where it joins the Bigholms Burn…
…to become the Wauchope.
3. A view of the junction of Collin Burn and Glentenmont Burn which together make up the Bigholms Burn.
When you see these small and gentle streams, it is surprising that they can collect enough water between them to make the Wauchope look like this only five miles away.

The Wauchope last week as it meets the Esk
I was detained by some lichen on a bridge and more on a concrete fence post on my way home.
Altogether I managed to pedal twelve and a half miles between taking the pictures so it was a satisfactory outing. While I was pedalling, Mrs Tootlepedal was doing good work in the garden and greenhouse so we were both pretty cheerful as we sat down for a refreshing cup of tea as the light began to fade.
A second helping of Mrs Tootlepedal’s excellent fish pie once again rounded off a day on the credit side of the great ledger of life. I have made an appointment with a physiotherapist for later in the week and as I am expecting a miracle cure, I hope to be back walking very soon.
As the goldfinches were in a co-operative mood, I have gone overboard and used two of them for the flying bird of the day.