Wrong Turn

After a very laid back Saturday morning lounging on the sofa I gathered myself together, got my cycling togs on and set out. My aim was to head for the Canonbie area with the bridge being shut in mind. I headed off down the Tarras road with the intentions of going past Solway Bank wind farm in the opposite direction to what I normally take. I crossed the 7 at the Hollows turn off and headed for Chapelknowe.

At one point I took a wrong turn just before I came to Milltown on Sark thinking that is where they led the turbines in for the wind farm after about 2 miles and coming to farm on a dead end I then realized I had made a mistake as did the farm collie who seen me of the premises with loud barking and baring teeth, I made a very hasty retreat. But on the plus side I did get a different view of the turbines and also notice that three were turning, I presume they were being tested.

I eventually got back on track and remembered the road I should have taken was approaching Chapelknowe. I was held up fairly briefly at this junction to let about a hundred cows and calves past that heading indoors to be fed for the winter. I had an interesting chat with the young farmer and we discussed the massive task of getting the turbines onto site which he said it was very impressive to watch. He told me the stone that was brought in for the footings for the turbines went down at least 8 feet, the task was enormous he said.

I casually pedaled on and came across this rather severe cut hedge dyke, I can only think it was to clear the telegraph wire from overhanging branches before winter sets in. It wasn't a pretty site but I'm sure nature will take care of the situation.

I came upon this lovely plane tree which was flaunting its coat of many autumnal shades. I just had to stop and take a picture.......

  ......I also had a curious audience at the same time.

I cycled on pleasantly towards home.

This was a pedal a little bit farther than I intended but very enjoyable all the same. I'm sure I'll sleep well tonight.

Missing

 No cycling today, though the weather was much better for it than yesterday. I thought I'd give my foot a bit of a test and go for a walk instead. But before that I set about preparing a photo I took recently to go into a frame. I had everything ready and prepared, mount cutter set up, mount card selected, all systems go! First cut with a Stanley knife, I reached for where the knife is, always, on the wall, but for some unknown reason it was the only space on the wall with no tool, after a frantic search both in shed and house that was fruitless I finally gave up and walked away.

Anyway enough of my feeble ramblings I got my good camera out and drove down to the old A7 and had a stroll around the Irving House area. The autumn colours are still holding out showing off some wonderful shades of brown and gold.

Quite a few of these pictures feature the old road but I thought the roadside was showing such an abundance of colour they were worth posting

I could imagine these steps down to the riverside from the grounds of Irvine House being quite grand in their heyday, ladies with parasols and gents in top hats.

The view across the the from the steps showing the confluence of the Tarras and the river Esk....

.......and looking down stream.

After quite lengthy walk, which put my foot under quite a bit of strain I drove home, did a bit of shopping on the way and spent the rest of the day wondering where the hell missing Stanley knife is hiding.

Scary Times

 There was some intermittent sunshine when I walked down to Wauchope Cottage to have coffee with Tootlepedal this morning. We sat in a nice sheltered corner of the garden while we enjoyed our coffee and some excellent ginger biscuits but a nice warm jacket was still needed. We had a light hearted conversation and it was good to see Mrs Tootlepedal out for a brief stroll round the garden which is still retaining some vivid splashes of colour despite the end of autumn approaching.

My plan for the afternoon what's to get out on the Ebike and pedal round Solwaybank wind farm and see how it was progressing. 

A rather dull set of photographs I'm afraid mostly due to the poor light and the lack of enthusiasm from myself to take this as a challenge and make the most of what was on offer.

I stopped briefly on the way up Callister to take these shots.....

.....and stopped at the top to look over to Chapelcross which is currently being decommissioned. On research Chapelcross was built to produce weapons grade plutonium and electricity for the civilian market. Strange to think that we have come from scary times from the threat of a cold war to face something perhaps even more frightening in the form of a global pandemic, and arguably a safer way to produce electricity in the form of wind turbines.

I didn't take any shots on the return part of the pedal as there was a light threat of rain as I approached Solway Bank, and I thought it was wise to head for home. The rain at that time didn't come to very much and I thought smugly I was home and dry until I started to descend towards Wauchope road and could see the valley was under quite a heavy shower but it wasn't too heavy to spoil my trip and I was soon home and into a nice hot shower.

For those that are interested I did 22 miles on the Ebike and lost 3 bars out of five on the battery which gave approximately 7 miles per bar on the battery. There was a range of 5 miles left on the sport mode and 9 miles left on the tour mode. I didn't check the range before I set off which I will do the next time I'm out.

A Distant Past

I was undecided to what to do when I got up this morning, foremost on my mind was to get out on my ebike but a lack of enthusiasm put paid to that. But as an alternative I started preparing vegetables for a Bolognese sauce to make later in the day to put in the freezer. The only ingredient I was missing was carrots, so a trip to the local supermarket was in order and at the same time I thought would take the opportunity to have a run to the Hollows to savour the autumn colors.

I parked my car and set of towards Byreburn bridge on what used to be part of the old A7.

I certainly wasn't disappointed with the colours on view

I paused on the Byreburn bridge to get some lichen shots when on closer inspection...... 

........I discovered they were hiding inscriptions from a distant past

 Moving on I thought Byreburnhouse was looking rather grand......

.....whilst the old Engine House was looking rather sad and neglected.

I retraced my steps and walked back to the Hollows Bridge to get some final shots of where in my opinion is the some of the best views of autumn colour in the area

Well satisfied with the shots I got, I set off home and later in the evening set about making the Bolognese sauce to the background sound of jazz guitarist Grant Green which was very relaxing. and lulled me to a pleasant end of the day

A Nice Pedal

After a leisurely breakfast I got dressed in my cycling togs with the intention of taking advantage of the nice sunny morning we were afforded. I headed off up the Wauchope road to go round the Solwaybank route via Callister and Fulford bridge. This route gives an all round view off the current construction of the Solwaybank wind farm and I wanted to see how it was progressing

Working at dizzy heights

I don't know what was going on in this penfold on the road up Callister but it was interesting to watch the modern day technology and construction in the distance compared with something in the foreground that has been going on basically unchanged for generations.

I got several good views of the wind farm on the way round, this is a couple of them.

I stopped here for a while and studied the road ahead whilst I had a banana.

I never get fed up of this part of the trip through the beech avenue approaching Solwaybank

I thought this gate would look good with little tweak on Photoshop

There seems to be some kind of order in this disorder of of beech trees

Looking towards Cumbria. 

My wife who was a Cumbrian and brought up on sheep farm on the Calbeck Fells was bitterly disappointed when they changed the name from Cumberland to Cumbria, but thankfully the names still survives in the Cumberland Infirmary and the Cumberland News.

The journey home from Solwaybank was uneventful and pleasant, I arrived back in a respectable time of 1hr 42mins covering 21 miles with a few miles left in reserve on the battery. 

I've discovered for those that are interested that for some reason the the first bar on the battery goes down at around 8 miles so one would expect the next bar goes at around 16 miles but goes at 14. So I will experiment with the different settings and try to adapt my riding style to suit. I do know that weather conditions can make a big difference but today was good for cycling with just a slight breeze in parts.

In the evening I had a zoom meeting with my old friends Malcolm and Nigel, which was funnily strange as I was having trouble getting to grips with how zoom worked i.e. getting it to work in gallery mode and Nigel was having difficulty picking up what was being said due to poor internet connection, which makes me wonder if we had been sitting in a pub somewhere would the three of us old gits be still able to communicate? but anyhow we struggled through and had pleasant hours craic. I've discoverd since how to get onto gallery view now so hopefully next week all will be well. 

Varying My Routes

We woke to brilliant sunshine and Sub-zero temperatures this morning with -2° C showing on the thermometer. It seemed to be a good day to get out on the e-bike but I had to wait until the temperature had risen to a more comfortable level before venturing out. I whiled away the time by putting a week into the E&L  database.

When the temperature rose to 8 degrees I got togged up, and fueled myself up with a bowl of hot porridge before setting off up the Wauchope Road. Most of my pedals have been in the Solwaybank area, where there are no demanding hills and the roads are relevantly quiet and there is plenty or route variations which suits me fine and doesn't make too much demand on the bike battery, usually three bars out of five are used up when I get home. 

My route on this occasion took me over Callister and onto the Waterbeck road. At about two miles before Waterbeck I turned off and headed towards Solwaybank, this was a new route for me in that area and it was very pleasant pedaling in the sunshine. I met no traffic on the new section to Solwaybank but I did get a cheery wave from a cyclist going in the opposite direction. 

I stopped for a quick rest at Westwater Cottage before setting off up Callister.

It was very pleasant cycling down this country lane.....

   

...... with the sunshine on the autumn leaves providing a colourful canopy.

This chestnut tree was quite striking to the eye but doesn't quite come over on camera.

The deep red of the haws caught my eye.

The pine needles looked set to come off in the next strong wind, but for the moment they are adding their own contribution to the autumn palet. 

Looking towards the Pennines.

Heading home

When I arrived back on the Wauchope road the first person I met was Tootlepedal who was out for a light pedal after his weekend singing with Carlisle Choir in Glasgow, he said it was a good weekend but very tiring, we chatted for a few moments then I waved goodbye and headed home for a nice hot shower.