A Grand Tour

It was a lovely and sunny when I woke this morning, the remnants of some frost still lingered on the ground but was soon thawed by the morning sunshine. After breakfast I went and took my turn at the moorland feeder station. The feeders have been all set as near to the hide as possible to give watchers a better view and hopefully some good photo opportunities. Last week when I was up the small pond that has been created next to the hide was looking fresh and was host to some frog spawn, but this week it had an oily substance across the surface and I could see no sign of the frog spawn. After a short stay I left the birds to enjoy their breakfast and headed home for mine.

Later I joined Mr & Mrs Tootlepedal for morning coffee at Wauchope Cottage where it was suggested by Mrs Tootlepedal that maybe we should all go for a run out somewhere, after some deliberation it was decided we would head up the Eskdalemuir valley and on towards St Mary's Loch and then on to Moffat.

When they come to pick me up Mrs Tootlepedal was keen to come in and see my recently refurbished bungalow and was very kind with her comments, hopefully I can rely on her gardening skills to give me suggestions on improvement. 

We set off with Tootlepedal kindly driving and skillfully avoiding the many potholes along the way. We stopped off at the Eskdalemuir Community Hub for  lunch that consisted of red pepper and tomato soup, which was very tasty. We also took the opportunity to arrange a camera club exhibition at the hub come September.

I took this shot looking down the valley from the hub car park.

Luckily enough we had pulled in to a passing place to take a photo when this wood wagon came along and as you can see there's not much room. 

We arrived at the loch and parked up and set off for a short stroll along the lochside. 

  

I particularly  like the reflection of the bridge in this shot.

  

Tushielaw Inn

A rather amusing form of weather forecasting. 

We set off up the loch shore which was also part of the Southern Upland Way.

We passed the rather grand yacht club.

Mrs Tootlepedal stops to admire the view across the loch.

She was intrigued by the bubbles that were forming on the stones along the shore, we could only surmise they were being produced by algae. 

The oyster catchers were enjoying lunch with a flock of sheep.

 A rather grand house on the far shore.

We were passed by these rather speedy canoeists.

 father and son fishing.

Mrs Tootlepedal closely inspects the Ettrick Shepherd, James Hogg

We then made our way to Moffat, stopping off to take the odd shot along the way.

We finally arrived at Moffat and I was treated to a cup of tea and toasted teacake at the Rumbling Tum cafe.

Mrs Tootlepedal took the opportunity to visit the local garden centre where there was plenty of healthy plants.......

.......and gifts to be had.

We finally arrived home, all very tired but quite jolly. 
To see Tootlepedal's day click here