Doing a little maintenance on the quad (for the owner). The dug is very excited, but he's going to be disappointed. A wee trial is is all he will get before the weekend.
@Thebratdragon He loves it. The owner (who has a rather elderly but experienced dug) relies on it to move the beasts. They both sit on the back (the dugs) peering over the drivers shoulders looking got the next piece of ‘work’.
A lazy day - too much maintenance today to go far but lovely though. Out along the Teviot, up to Minto and then back via the old station at Hassendean. 8.5k, tarmac/ Not a vehicle on the road.
The station was converted into a house, as were the old railway cottages. The owner is a leading Borders Railway restoration campaigner.
Bullocks are still lively and have a tendency to dash up and down their fields, scattering sheep and lambs as they career
Rain overnight has softened the ground, but I am still very comfortable running in sandals. The day looks good but unfortunately other things are going to get in the way so we have decided (well I did, the dug did not complain and my partner has not got to coffee o’clock and is still in bed with the feline watchers) to get out now. 14k, half road with tracks, Minto via Ruberslaw
An impromptu bbq at near (well 1k) neighbours. Celebrating a new tree house built by them for the kids (for some reason they seem to have far more than I remember at the moment 😆) with the pony lending a helping hand with the garden and not beyond snaffling tidbits from the table…
22C here in the Borders and we are roastin’. Early morning, or evening runs for us at the moment. 8.3k through the woods, along the old railway and then back through the tree lined banks of the Teviot.
The dug has had breakfast and retired to a corner of the kitchen (it has a stone floor).
Evening run and then tonight time on the road again
Positively balmy - no Aurora, but after a clear sky in the early evening and a gorgeous torchlit tun later that evening I was not complaining (and neither was the dug)
12k, mainly service roads and then 8.5k tarmac before a good sleep.
And it is lovely. Shorts and sports sandals. Rape seed is bright below the Mintos and the ground is pretty dry but not so hard as to need care. 12k, half tarmac, half farm tracks. Meantime the desperate duo just slept .
We acquired this steel woodpecker 4 years ago (or maybe 5) at Ancrum. It occupies a half trunk alongside the Borders Abbey Way which runs through our ‘garden’ (wild wild woods). It has weathered very nicely on both sides and is frequently commented on - which is probably because while we have two pairs of woodies in the woods, they are easy to hear and difficult to see.
@thebaywindowgirl Not a bad idea, an alternative is to park in St Boswells and walk down to Jedburgh and a bus back. Main Street Trading makes a great place to stop in St Boswells and the Naked Sourdough as good but different in Jed.
More views from the weekend, great atmosphere and some interesting art, including another acquisition, a hedgehog created (along with others) from recovered paperback books that were due to be pulped.