Getting the point

Today’s guest picture comes from my sister Caroline. It shows part of the botanic garden at Southsea on a lovely day recently.

We had to be up and about quite smartly today, as we had to be in Canonbie before half past nine for our Covid booster injections. We were seen promptly, given the jabs, and sent on our way without any ill effects. This left us with plenty of time in the garden when we got home. Mrs Tootlepedal settled down to serious work in the vegetable department, and I wandered around taking pictures.

An orange geum, a Japanese azalea, some rowan flowers and another euphorbia were all looking good, I thought.

I went in to make coffee and checked on the birds. Siskins and redpolls were to the fore again.

Rab, the roofer, appeared with scaffolding and a team to put it up, and set to work while we had our coffee.

We went back out into the garden while the scaffolding was going up. I mowed the front lawn with such care and attention that the mower’s batteries ran out before I had finished. That sort of thing never happened when I had a push mower.

I had time to look at a few more flowers . . .

. . . before I walked up to the town to meet Sandy at Pelosi’s cafe.

A lady, Elizabeth Phillips, had visited Langholm from Edinburgh in the early 1970s and had taken a lot of pictures of the town and its people. She has recently died, and her nephew has digitised the slides that she left, and he has presented copies of over 200 of them to the Langholm Archive Group. Sandy has started to put them onto our website already. Martin and his wife were on their way from the south to St Andrews today, and stopped off to visit the town and meet Sandy and me on their way.

We are very grateful that they thought of us, because the photographs will be a good addition to our collection. After a good chat, they set off for a walk round the town to explore, with the intention of taking a picture or two from the same places that Elizabeth had taken them 50 years ago. Sandy and I went home.

The scaffolders had finished by the time that I had got back. They will start the repair next week.

After lunch, we went back out into the garden, where Mrs Tootlepedal continued to do useful work and I lent an occasional hand. After a while, she went in to watch the Giro, and I took my new pair of walking shoes out for a test.

There were wild flowers beside the track as I made my way up to Meikleholm Hill . . .

. . . but not much of a view when I got on to the hill, as it was another rather murky day.

There were cattle on the hill, so I had to take a steep route to the summit to avoid them, but it was dry underfoot and my new shoes worked well, so once I had got to the top of Meikleholm Hill (860ft) I continued on to Timpen (1068ft). Because this is sheep country, wild flowers on the hill are very scarce, but I did see a good lot of tormentil which the sheep don’t eat for some reason, and the subdued light made them easier to photograph than usual.

Normally I would be spoiled for views from the top of Timpen, but in spite of it being a warm and calm day, the light was terrible . . .

. . . so I didn’t linger, and headed down from the top to join the road near Craigcleuch.

The road verges were full of wild flowers, including a lot of Pyrenean Valerian, which is spreading round the town. It is a bully and its large leaves shade out the competition and leave it dominant.

I fear for the other wild flowers which I saw today.

I didn’t go all the way home along the road, but took the path through the woods down to the Duchess bridge. The sun had come out by this time, and the path was looking at its best. I saw germander speedwell and yellow pimpernel, along with wild garlic and rhododendrons. A gap made by fallen trees gave me grand view across the river.

The path from the Duchess Bridge to the Scholars’ Field, was lined with a mass of flowers.

My walk was only four miles long, but the combination of open hill and sunlit woodlands made it seem longer as I had so much to look at on my way. A few views would have been nice, but you can’t always have everything that you want.

I was welcomed home by honeysuckle on our roadside hedge.

After a cup of tea, followed by a cheery zoom with my brother and sisters, Mrs Tootlepedal and I went out for a five mile bike ride ’round Potholm’. The sun had gone in again, but it was warm and calm still, so we had a good outing with a view over the valley of the hill that I had just walked over, and a look down the River Esk at Potholm, when we crossed the bridge there.

A late meal of smoked haddock kedgeree rounded off the day.

The flying bird of the day is a sparrow, getting an unfriendly welcome from a siskin.

Footnote: our flat roof over the dormer window was damaged in a gale earlier this year. Rab, who was working re-slating the other side of the roof at the time, nailed it down temporarily, and has now come back to to a permanent repair. We were very lucky that he was there at the time of the original damage.

Mrs Tootlepedal gets my goat

Today’s guest picture comes from reader Michelle. She very kindly sent me this atmospheric picture from her walk by the River Don in Aberdeen yesterday evening.

We had considered an outing to Yorkshire by rail for today, but we postponed the trip until next week because of an uncertain forecast of rain. It was supposed to rain in Langholm too, but we had a dry day, cloudy in the morning, and turning to warm sunshine in the afternoon.

Dropscone came round for coffee. He had just had a telephone consultation regarding a cataract operation before he came. By coincidence, I am going to have one about a possible cataract operation tomorrow. He is going to get an operation, and I hope that they will offer me one as well. After we had chatted, eaten scones and drunk coffee, I found some rhubarb in the garden for him, and he went off thinking of rhubarb crumble.

I stayed out and looked at flowers. New flowers are appearing every day at the moment, thanks to the warmer weather. I saw climbing hydrangea, nectaroscordum, white polemonium, veronica and cornflowers.

There was plenty of temptation to take pictures of old friends too.

I didn’t just wander about aimlessly though. I spent some useful time sieving more of the compost in Bin D as the compost bucket had got rather low. By the time that I had finished, the compost bucket was getting fuller again.

Mrs Tootlepedal had a busy morning at her computer, so after I had come in and had a check on the birds, which were mostly siskins again, but with an occasional touch of variety . . .

. . . I made some soup for lunch.

After lunch, as Mrs Tootlepedal had completed her business, we went out into the garden and did some more compost work.

We have two kitchen compost bins, and after two years of using one of the bins, we thought that it was time to stop adding new stuff, and to shut it up and let it rot. This meant that we had to look at the other bin which has been quietly maturing for two years. It turned out to have quite a bit of useful compost in, and after we had sieved the contents, we had another bin of compost ready to use.

Mrs Tootlepedal likes the kitchen compost because it is both quite rich and weed free. I had to wait before I could add the last batch of sievings to the tub, because there were others who were interested in compost too . . .

. . . but in the end, two years of kitchen waste neatly filled one of our big red tubs.

When we had finished with the compost, we fixed up the blackcurrant and gooseberry fruit cage which had got a bit lopsided. We had also needed to fill up the pond, as the lack of rain recently had left it rather low. When I went to have a look to see if it was full, I was very happy to spot several healthy looking tadpoles swimming about. Obviously the ducks had not quite got all the frogspawn.

Then, needing a rest, we went in and watched the final 25 km of today’s stage of the Giro. It was an exciting stage, and we were very pleased to see Julian Alaphilippe take a hugely well deserved win.

Outside, a jackdaw perched on the fat ball feeder.

By this time, it was a beautiful afternoon, so we got out our electric bicycles and cycled over the hill and on to the Tarras Valley Nature Reserve. We were very pleased to have electrical assistance, as we were cycling into a very brisk north easterly wind, and needed all the help that we could get.

As we came down the hill to the Tarras Lodge bridge, the ever alert Mrs Tootlepedal pointed out a goat. As I had my goat camera with me, we stopped and I took a picture.

She saw a great many more goats on our outing, some apparently eating bluebells, and we stopped several more times.

We cycled up beside the river, enjoying the views and the sunshine, pausing at Arkelton Cottage to enjoy the sound of the water, and stopping when we got to the concrete bridge before Cooms.

We turned and retraced our journey back to Langholm, pushed on by the enthusiastic wind this time.

While we were out, as well as the numerous goats,we saw a stoat run across the road, watched two buzzards pass overhead, and heard the sound of the cuckoo. Mrs Tootlepedal actually saw the cuckoo fly past us, but it was too quick for my camera, and I only recorded a blur.

However, as it is much more rare to see a cuckoo than to hear it, I have put the blur in. You get a prize if you can see it too.

It was a twelve mile ride in the end, and every mile was a treat in the warm sunshine.

The best that I could do for a flying bird of the day, having failed to catch the buzzards or the cuckoo, is a retreating jackdaw from the garden.

A little boring

Today’s guest picture comes from my friend Hilary, a.k.a Dropscone’s niece. She tells me that this is part of the route of her regular evening run into Zurich from where she can catch a train back home again.

We had to be up promptly today, as I had a dentist’s appointment in Annan. Our Langholm surgery closed over a year ago, so it is a 20 mile drive to get a tooth filled now. However, it is an ill wind that blows nobody good, so Mrs Tootlepedal enjoyed a walk round an Annan supermarket while I was being treated. I joined her just in time to pay the bill. How fortunate.

This all took us most of the morning, but there was time for coffee and some mowing and strimming before lunch. Mrs Tootlepedal pointed out a new iris siberica, and I took a picture. A bee had noticed it too.

Another bee was doing a thorough job on a rhododendron.

I had time for a couple of other flower pictures . . .

. . . before going for lunch and a bit of bird watching afterwards.

The blackbird looked rather distraught about all the mess.

Mrs Tootlepedal had a busy afternoon in mind, with a visit to the people who are organising an embroidery celebrating the community land buyout, followed by a visit to the woods to hug some more oak trees.

I took the opportunity to go for a pedal. As I wanted to go a fair distance, and I didn’t have a lot of time in hand, I took my electric bike and sped along as quickly as I could.

Trying to get a move on and spending time looking for interesting to things to photograph are not very compatible, but I spotted and stopped for a few splashes of colour along the way . . .

. . . some elegant white flowers . . .

. . . and some enjoyable views of the roads that I was using, flanked by horse chestnut and cow parsley.

I had the wind behind me for the first fifteen miles, which I covered in exactly an hour, but it was against me for the next fifteen, and I lost interest in stopping for the final fifteen miles which were on very familiar roads, and ploughed on with my head down.

Mrs Tootlepedal got in not long before me, so we had both had quite productive afternoons.

We had a stroll round the garden where a hosta caught my eye . . .

. . . and when we went in, I noticed that someone had been putting bread out for the birds on the grass alongside the dam behind the house. Rooks had noticed too.

As we had missed the live broadcast, we watched a recording of the last kilometres of today’s Giro stage after our evening meal. It was truly terrifying watching a great army of cyclists approach a narrow pinch point in the road ahead at 55 kph, and it was a testament to their skill and nerve that they flowed through it without coming to harm.

The flying bird of the day is a siskin.

Free but at a cost

Today’s guest picture is from my walking friend Mark. It comes from yesterday’s walk, and I think it shows the airy views better than any I used in yesterday’s post. His phone camera works well.

Today was quite a contrast with yesterday. I did have some conversation with a friend, but it was over morning coffee indoors in the kitchen when Sandy paid his weekly visit, and I didn’t walk anywhere, as it rained almost all day.

I got a chance after Sandy left to walk round the garden while the drizzle had paused for a moment. The light wasn’t good, but I tried to capture some fresh colour.

New azaleas and rhododendrons are appearing daily.

The tree peony flowers are more visible this year than they have ever been before. Normally they get hidden by the leaves before I can get a picture of them.

The first yellow potentilla flowers have appeared . . .

. . . while some aquilegias showed their faces while others kept their heads down.

Euphorbias never fail to amuse me . . .

. . . and the white clematis beside the front door impresses . . .

. . . as sweet rocket, alliums and geraniums increase daily.

It wasn’t a day for finding bees or butterflies, so I looked for things that might be eaten later in the year.

Growing veg and fruit is never straightforward, what with pests, blight, late frosts, hungry birds and other troubles, but things look to have made a good start.

Because siskins are very messy eaters and the large flock of chaffinches which have been cleaning up the fallen seed under the feeder have temporarily disappeared, it is getting messy under the feeder. The scavenging was left to a single blue tit and a few redpolls today. The blue tit looked a bit overwhelmed by the task.

Up above, more messy siskins made things worse and a redpoll or two joined in.

A siskin sheltered from the rain in the willows.

Since it wasn’t a day suitable for gardening, walking or cycling, we took the opportunity to drive over to Gretna to take back my new pair of boots which had proved faulty. The shop took them back without any discussion, and arranged to send me a new pan as soon as possible. This was very satisfactory, but as we celebrated by going to nearby shops in the outlet village, the outing cost us more in the end than writing off the faulty boots and buying a new pair on the internet would have done.

Still, I now have a much needed new pair of trousers and a shirt, along with what I hope will be a very comfortable pair of lightweight waterproof walking shoes. Mrs Tootlepedal acquired a jumper.

We spent the afternoon looking at the rain through the window, and watching a good stage of the Giro. Grand tours are just thing to pass a few hours on a wet day. I did manage to put a week of the newspaper index into the Archive Group database and add another scanned parish magazine to the website.

We have been given a splendid collection of photographs of life in Langholm in the 70s, and Sandy is getting busy adding them to the group’s online photo collection. He will have plenty to do to keep him occupied on rainy days.

The rather fuzzy flying bird of the day is a redpoll.

Various pleasures

Today’s guest picture comes from my Somerset correspondent Venetia’s recent trip to Dunster. She liked the Yarn Market there.

I had a fairly full day today. It started with the arrival of my walking friend Mark, who came after breakfast to pick me up for a walk in the hills of the Hermitage valley, accompanied by his faithful dog, Henry. The forecasters had changed their minds wildly over the past few days, but finally they settled for promising us a dry and warm day, and luckily for us, the forecasters had got it right. We had pretty well perfect weather for our circular walk up to the boundary between the Borders and Dumfries and Galloway regions, starting and finishing at Twislehope road end.

Both Mark and I took pictures as we went round, and he has kindly given me some of his. If you see an old man in a red jumper in a frame, Mark took the picture. The others are mine. He supplied the map of the walk which we did in a clockwise direction, starting on a good track to the gate on Hartsgarth Fell, marking the county boundary.

From the gate, we ploughed across rough ground to Scawd Bank, looking left down into the Tarras Valley Nature Reserve as we went, and then looking over the Hermitage valley when we crossed back into the Borders Region on top of Scawd Bank.

Then we followed the Millingwood Fell ridge down back to Twislehope Hope. It was steep at times, and I had a moment when I felt that I might not find it easy to continue with my poor head for heights. However, with Mark’s encouragement and Henry by my side, I held my nerve, peered over the steepest bit, and then could see my way down.

The camera flattens things out, but I have put in a couple of shots to try to give an impression of the slope.

We stopped for a snack at the bottom of the ridge, and then strolled back along the farm track to the road end, passing some wild goats on the way. It was hard to tell who was more surprised, us or them.

Mark is a wizard at finding good walks to do, and this one was ideal for me. A delightful walk along the burn to start, followed by a steady pull uphill with ever changing views to keep up the interest. A change of terrain in the middle, and then a challenging but not ridiculous descent back down with more good views on the way, and a lovely stroll to finish off. For a shortish seven mile walk, it certainly packed a lot in.

Mark came in for a bowl of soup and a cup of tea when we got back in time for a late lunch, and then when he left, I went out into the garden where Mrs Tootlepedal had been busy while we were walking.

There was new life to celebrate . .

. . . and old friends to greet again.

We surprised a siskin at the pond and found a bee on the abundant ajuga.

It wasn’t long before it was time for a Zoom meeting with our son Alistair and our granddaughter Matilda. They were in excellent spirits, and Matilda told us that she is going to take part in no less than 10 numbers in her forthcoming Dance School’s annual show. Her memory must be a lot better than mine.

There was time for a little mowing in the garden and along the dam, and then we were back in for our second Zoom of the day, this time with my brother and sisters. It is very good to keep up with them in this way, which we started during Covid and have kept going ever since, but we are going to see my brother Andrew and sister Mary in the flesh in a couple of weeks. That will be even better.

Then there was just time for a quick evening meal before I went off to the monthly meeting of the Camera Club. We had a good turnout this month, and a very good selection of pictures. The theme was bridges and we got a lot of good ones, with the pick probably being supplied by Mark. It showed a terrifying suspension bridge high in an alpine gorge on a Via Ferrata. It was so dizzying than even looking at the picture made me feel very queasy. However, the high spot of the evening was not a bridge at all, but a dazzling array of pictures of the aurora borealis taken last week by Inigo from the Tarras Valley Nature Reserve team. They were simply sensational and rounded off a really enjoyable day.

The flying birds of the day are four siskins taken in unhelpful light.

Rumbles

Today’s guest picture comes from our friend Mike. He is currently on holiday in sunny Wales, and sent me this shot of the bridge over the River Wye at Builth Wells.

The forecast for our weather here today had been altering every time that I had looked at it, so we expected changeable weather. However, we didn’t get the change until the late evening when some thunder, lightning, and heavy rain signalled the end of our spell of sunny weather. It was almost a sunny day but it was a cloudy day too, as the weather hung about waiting for the change. I found it rather oppressive, and after church in the morning, I did very little apart from wandering about the garden saying, “I feel a bit tired.”

The garden is far from tired.

I did spend a little time trying to take a decent picture of a flying bird, but I was short of patience and got a mixed bag of sitters instead.

Under the circumstances, it was all too easy to sit down and watch a great deal of today’s stage of the Giro. It was not very exciting to say the least until the final few kilometres, and even the commentators were laughing at their own efforts to find something pertinent and original to say. They managed to pass the time painlessly though, as they have had a lot of experience watching hours of cycling with not much happening. Italy looked beautiful.

When the stage ended, I thought that I ought to do something, so while Mrs Tootlepedal went out to do some gardening, I went off for a three bridges walk. Thanks to the warm weather, children and dogs were playing by the waterside so birds were few and far between, though one regular was on its favourite rock.

I proceeded on my way along the Kilngreen slowly enough to be able to spot an orange tip butterfly having a rest from its usual incessant fluttering.

After that, I crossed the Sawmill Brig and walked round the Castleholm looking about as I went. I liked the newly repaired wall, the rowan blossom, the racecourse in waiting, the burgeoning oak, and the azalea peeping out from behind the trees along the Lodge Walks.

And these of course.

When I got to the Duchess Brig, I went round the pheasant hatchery loop before crossing the bridge.

I added ivy leaved toadflax and vetch to my collection of wild flowers as I went along the top of the Scholars’ Field . . .

. . . and finished my walk with a view of the rhododendron in our garden taken from the road.

A joint effort in the kitchen provided us with a meal of cauliflower cheese and mushrooms, followed by rhubarb crumble and custard. Fortified by that, we were able to withstand the shock of the thunder and lightning later on.

My failure to catch a flying bird of the day was a subject of conversation at the feeder late into the evening.

Feeling the heat

Today’s sensational guest picture was sent to us by our son Tony. It shows the northern lights as captured by his partner Marianne’s daughter Tash in East Wemyss last night

We went out late last night ourselves to try to see the lights, but we were unsuccessful, and the best we could come up with was this shot of the almost new moon.

When dawn came, we enjoyed another warm and sunny day here. In fact it got so hot in the middle of the day, that we couldn’t stay out in the garden for too long without getting cooked.

I prudently started the day very slowly, and didn’t get going until it was nearly coffee time. I ventured out into the garden and had a look around. A new geranium has appeared which a bumblebee found as interesting as I did. You will have to agree that one of the pictures is definitely the bees knees.

I walked up to the town to get some milk and rolls and on my way I stopped to enjoy the view down the River Esk . . .

. . . and the activities of martins flitting across the Wauchope Water. You have to have sharp eyes to spot the one in the first picture below.

When I got back, I started on shifting the contents of compost bin B into compost bin C. I took it very gently with lots of stops for rest and a drink of water.

I noticed a lone campion in our mini wild flower meadow on the drying green as I went in for lunch.

I finished the compost job off after lunch, and had another walk round the garden to celebrate.

Two blackbirds kept an eye on me as I went round.

Mrs Tootlepedal had been busy in the garden too, and we needed a moment to cool off before we set off on our electric bicycles to see if the bluebells on the hillside just out of town were ready for viewing yet. They were not quite at their best, but they were still quite a sight, and well worth a visit. I don’t know why the sheep don’t eat the bluebells. They eat almost everything else and the only other flowers on the hill were two tormentils.

We cycled home and had a cup of tea before setting off out of the other side of town to visit the bird hide on the Tarras Valley Nature Reserve. Before we left, I checked our bird feeder and was happy to see a chaffinch.

When we got to the bird hide, we found that there were much the same birds there as there are in our own garden. Then, the sharp eyed Mrs Tootlepedal noticed a willow warbler on a spruce tree. It wasn’t on a willow, but it was certainly warbling. A siskin went for a drink in the reflection pool.

With nothing much happening, we left the hide and walked down the track towards the river, passing a bright yellow broom bush and many promising trees which were planted after the larch wood was felled a few years ago. They should provide good homes for birds in the years to come.

We didn’t get as far as the river as a very steep bank was involved. When we got back to the hide, I stayed for a while in the hope of seeing something interesting, while Mrs Tootlepedal set off to cycle home. I didn’t have to wait long before something interesting appeared, even though it was hiding behind the peanut feeder.

It was a greater spotted woodpecker and it stayed for quite a while while I snapped away.

When it flew off, I got back on my bicycle and followed Mrs Tootlepedal home. I didn’t catch her up, and this was not surprising, as she told me later that she had hit 28 mph going down one of the hills on her way back.

It was nearly time for our evening meal so that concluded our activities for the day.

I didn’t manage to catch a flying bird of the day today, so a redpoll at the bird hide is standing in.

Sadness on a beautiful day

Today’s guest picture comes from our friend Gavin. He spotted this turkey vulture on a visit to the California Bay Nature Reserve.

We had a beautiful day here today, which provided a backdrop to a sad occasion. We went to the crematorium in Carlisle for the funeral service of an old friend, Peter, with whom we played many games of mixed hockey in the days when we were all a lot younger. He was Dropscone’s brother-in-law, and Dropscone gave a touching memory of him at the service. Peter’s wife and two of his daughters spoke too, and it was very moving to listen to them paying tribute to a really nice man.

The crematorium is set in expansive grounds and we liked this prunus, a model of what we hope that the tree that we have had to prop up in our own garden will turn into in time.

The service was at one o’clock, so I had time to walk round the garden after breakfast.

I filled the feeder, and we were rewarded with visits from many redpolls . . .

. . . and just because I said yesterday that they had disappeared, a lone greenfinch arrived today.

Then we were visited by David, who supplies our excellent olive oil, for coffee just before we left for Carlisle. He had come back from a short break with his wife in the north east of England where they had encountered donkeys, museums, cathedrals and a stately home. They had had a good time.

We did some household shopping in Carlisle on our way back from the funeral, and arrived home in the mid afternoon. For the first time this year, we felt rather too hot for comfort after the drive, and we were happy to get into the cool of the house.

After a snack, we went out into the garden where I did some mowing while Mrs Tootlepedal did some serious hoeing among the potatoes.

Then, as the sun had dropped a bit in the sky and it wasn’t so hot, I popped out for a quick whisk round my familiar Canonbie route on my push bike. I did it in the opposite direction to my usual choice, and it gave the ride a fresh feeling. Everything is very green.

I had paused for a moment to catch my breath on the top of the steepest hill of the day and take in the view, when I found myself to be an object of interest.

Other cows were available.

I saw some more pine cones today, not Korean but Scots.

I got home in time to get changed and go out to see the Pipe Band and the Town Band parade through the streets, encouraging the townsfolk to go along to the Buccleuch Centre for the election of the cornet for this year’s Common Riding in July. No fewer than six candidates have put themselves forward this year.

The last frame shows the Town Band walking past our house while not playing. We have been in this house for forty nine years years, and they have gone past every year but they have never played.

I walked down Caroline Street in the gap between the bands and was impressed by the gardeners’ work there.

So it was mixture, a sad day, a beautiful day, a day of looking back and remembering, a day of spring promise, a day when another year in the community life of the town really got started. Some things end, others begin.

The flying bird of the day is a siskin.

Making the most of the weather

Today’s guest picture is another from my brother Andrew. He was much struck by this fine floral display on a recent walk

Our spell of good weather here continued today. It is supposed to go back to being cooler and wetter next week, so we are enjoying the dry and warm days as much as we can in the meantime.

I filled the bird feeder after breakfast, and there was fairly steady traffic. Bird behaviour is a mystery to me. Not so long ago, we had dozens of chaffinches, both at the feeder and scurrying about picking up seed underneath it. It was not unusual to see thirty or forty of them. Today, I saw none. I don’t know where they have gone. The greenfinches have departed as well, and we are now seeing mostly siskins, though there are goldfinches and some sparrows too. No redpolls today.

Dropscone came round for coffee in the morning, and in a mark of his progress, he was confident enough to walk across town carrying his scones with him for the first time since he came out of hospital. He was very cheerful, possibly because he is not able to play golf at the moment.

After he went on his way, I went out into the garden with Mrs Tootlepedal, and we did a lot of work between us. In between mowing the vegetable garden paths, sieving compost, and doing some shredding, strimming and dead heading, I found time to look at a few flowers too. The astrantia, ribwort and pink strawberry are new arrivals.

Mrs Tootlepedal was impressed by the staying power of our last daffodils.

After lunch, Mrs Tootlepedal went back out into the garden, and I took advantage of the good weather to go for a cycle ride on my push bike while wearing shorts.

I had another look at the fine blackthorn at Westwater on my way up to Callister. It was glowing in the sunshine.

Rather disappointingly, when I got to the top of Callister, I found that the longer views were very misty again, and this was made even more annoying by the blue sky that was very evident if I looked straight upwards.

Ironically, the poor visibility seems to arrive with the better weather, so perhaps it is dust in the air, either brought in from the continent or created by our local traffic. It didn’t spoil the immediate views as far as my cycling went though.

The little cottage is testing the view that a house divided cannot stand.

My route took me past the Korean pines at Half Morton, so I combined a stop for refreshment with a check on the cones. It is definitely a good year for cones, unlike last year when there were very few. Each tree seems to be at a different stage of development as far as colour goes.

Just as I was getting back on my bike, I saw a deer run across the road. It leapt a fence and bounded across a field.

I see deer from time to time on my rides, but I think that this is the first time that I have managed to record one in action.

The sun stayed out for the whole of the 27 mile ride, and I passed the first silage cutting as I got near Canonbie. The team were hard at work on one side of the road, and the grass had already been cut and removed on the other.

Rather than cycle back along the Canonbie bypass when I came to it, I took the narrow road to the Hollows that runs just below the main road. It provided a magnificent beech hedge, and a good if rather misty view up Eskdale when I got near to the Hollows.

I was going to spend some time looking for wild flowers in the verges over the last five miles of my trip, but I inadvertently looked at my bike computer just as I completed two hours. Finding that I done 22 miles, I became so obsessed with keeping my average speed above 11 mph until I got home that I completely forgot about the flowers.

Mrs Tootlepedal was still in the garden when I got back, but she told me that she had taken some time out to watch the finish of today’s stage of the Giro.

We walked round the garden before I went in to make a cup of tea.

A second helping of her excellent fish pie rounded off a very satisfactory day.

The flying bird of the day is a goldfinch.

A steadily busy day

Today’s guest picture is a detail from a beautiful wild flower meadow photograph taken by my Somerset correspondent Venetia. It features cowslips and orchids.

We had a slightly cooler day than yesterday, with a bit more wind and a bit less sunshine, but as it did not rain and was still quite warm, we did not complain.

I started my day by walking up to the High Street to pay for my next batch of bird food. My phone made a gallant attempt to capture a goosander standing on a rock just above the Kirk Brig.

When I got back, I mowed the front lawn and the grass along the dam at the back of the house, did some shredding, and had coffee with Mrs Tootlepedal. Then I wandered about the garden. I waas greeted by a blackbird . . .

. . . and saw several promising things, including a gooseberry, speedwell, alliums, sweet rocket and the first rose of the year.

Then Mrs Tootlepedal and I went shopping at the Co-op where I was waylaid by some raspberries which needed to be made into jam when we got home. While I was jamming, Mrs Tootlepedal was planting out broad beans, some in personalised greenhouses, and some exposed to the elements.

After lunch, I looked at a crow in the plum tree, smiled back at the geums, and checked the bird feeder . . .

. . . before setting out on my electric bike to tackle the breeze and some considerable undulations.

It was sunny when I started out . . .

. . . but it got a little cloudier as I went up past the Westerkirk Library, over the Enzieholm Bridge, past the Louping Stanes stone circle, and up to the bridge across the White Esk at Eskdalemuir.

Regular readers will perhaps remember that I passed another stone circle on my way up this road recently, and they may well wonder why there should be two stone circles so close together. It is my view that a travelling stone circle salesman arrived, and told the locals that their original stone circle was madly out of date, not at all fashionable, didn’t tell the time properly, and they would be far better off with one of his new smarter ones. “You call that a stone circle? It’s jut a pile of stones in a circle. Now my stone circles really are stone circles.”

At Eskdalemuir, I turned left and went over to Boreland. This road cuts across the grain of the land and goes continuously up and down as it crosses over small burns as well as the Black Esk. It is in good condition as it has been remade for the many timber lorries that use it as the big forests along it are cut down.

It was hard work as I was heading straight into the wind on this section.

My route today was rectangular and at Boreland, I turned left again and headed up to Corrie Common. The sun came out as I passed the picturesque church and headed up the hill.

The road to Corrie Common is not straightforward as there is a large dip in the middle. You can see the road climbing up the hill on the far side of the valley.

This second climb should be rewarded by great views when you get to Corrie Common, but today, as I climbed the hill, the afternoon misted over a bit, and by the time that I got to the bench, although it was still a pleasant day, there was no sign of a view at all.

The wind wasn’t helpful on this section either, and what should have been a whizz down the hill to Paddockhole, became a rather stately affair involving more pedalling than I would have wished.

It felt quite cool as the misty conditions persisted as I cycled back to Langholm on the last leg of my journey, and they completely spoiled what should have been a fantastic display of bluebells on the side of Dunnabie Fell.

It was slightly annoying that by the time that I got near Langholm, the mist had cleared . . .

. . . and Mrs Tootlepedal told me that she had had a lovely afternoon in the garden.

I did a little more shredding when I got back, refilled the feeder, and had a last look at the birds.

I had a late walk round the garden in the evening sunshine. The tulips are past their best now but still providing a lot of colour. The first polemonium was out. I think that I like the garden best on a sunny evening.

Mrs Tootlepedal had made fish pie for our evening meal, so that made up for any disappointment caused by the misty conditions.

The flying bird of the day is a goldfinch.

I append a clickable map of today’s route. As you can see from the elevation profile, there was a lot of uphill, and there wasn’t much flat road anywhere on the way round. The wind was across or against for three quarters of the trip. A good day for the electric bike.