A Bridge Not Too Far

I was up quite early this morning as local joiners Ross and Gary were coming to continue erecting new fascia boards and guttering around the bungalow, which is staring to look very smart. I spent the morning preparing a red lentil and chorizo stew for the slow cooker and doing some house work. 

In the afternoon Tootlepedal came and picked me up for a prearranged trip to the viaduct on the railway track at Rowanburn. The light wasn't very favourable but we decided to go as planned and make the best of it.

We arrived at Rowanburn and put our wellies on before heading down the old railway track. The start runs through a large firewood timber yard.

The yard was host to lots of interesting fungi

Wellies were a good idea

It must be a coupple of years since we were down the track, little had changed on the first part.....

........but as we ventured further, much of the woodland had been cleared exposing a deep gully that wasn't visible in the past which changed the landscape dramatically.

We continued on until we came to the head of the viaduct which is unpassable due to large fencing

I managed to get a shot through a gap in the fence before making our way down to the foot of the viaduct.

This small but quite interesting undercut leads to Rowanburnfoot farm where I attended my first hay shed fire when I was a member of the local retained fire brigade many years ago.

The going was very clarty and we had to pick our way down to the river very carefully.

The viaduct is piece of Victorian engineering marvel both in design and build. It crosses the Liddle Water dividing England and Scotland at this point. Maybe some day in the future trains will yet again cross this Victorian colossus if plans to extend the Waverly Line from Galashiels to Carlisle come to fruition. 

Unfortunately the light wasn't in our favour but made the best of it. We eventually made our way back to the car and headed home. After a cup of tea and a biscuit at the bungalow Tootlepedal went home and I starting defrosting a chili con carne for my tea.

A Bridge Not Too Far

Shot of the Day

The woodpeckers were out in force this morning when I filled the moorland feeders, I counted seven on show. I spent an entertaining hour watching them chase each other round the tree trunks and tussling for space on the feeders.  

After lunch I went with Tootlepedal to Rowanburn with the intention of walking down the old railway to the viaduct at Rowanburn Foot. Lang Sandy was there to greet us when we arrived looking suspiciously like the William Wallace statue we saw recently. Lang Sandy is also an old Scots name for the Grey Heron.

These rowan berries are a lovely contrast against the green foliage

One of the few railway huts that have survived.

A good supply of logs for woodburners

We passed through the gate......

........and continued down the track.

When I stopped to take this photo of the butterfly I didn't notice the bee until I down loaded the photos

We soon arrived at the viaduct to find a strong security fence to prevent the public from crossing but someone had made a hole large enough to get through but we heeded the warning and decided we'd get better photos from the riverside.

We found this to be a wonderful piece of Victorian engineering. The viaduct was built on a curve and the angles of the stonework looked almost impossible. All this was done without the aid of computer design.

The holes in the stonework would enable some kind of apparatus to grip them and be hoisted into position.

Satisfied we scrambled back up the banking and made our way back to the car and home to Wauchope Cottage  for tea and biscuits. I intened to return to Canonbie after tea to try and get a Canonbie view for the show on Saturday but it got too gloomy for picture taking.