Two Days of Walks

Dragging myself out of bed after ANOTHER horrible nights sleep we decided to go on the other side of town to take a walk above the Moffat Golf Course and on to Chapel Farm.  

"Moffat's Chapel Lane up to Chapel Farm is a deeply-incised 'hollow way', probably of mediaeval date. It probably began as a short cut from the growing village up from a fording or bridge point on the Annan at Moffat up onto the Roman Road. The Chapel at Chapel Farm survives only as a window and a wall that is the end-gable of a farm building, but it was once the chapel to a Hospital of the Knights Templar, tending wayfarers who needed medical care. Such Hospitals or 'Spitals' sometimes also served as inns, in common with other monastic institutions."     

There is your history lesson for the day!

Anyway, we headed south out of town and nipped up the hill toward the golf club turning off onto a path that had a "Moffat walks" tiny little sign but didn't look like a path.  Two steps in I stepped and my foot went right out from under me and I fell right in the mud!  Ker-splash!!  Ugh!!! Wellies don't quite have the gripping power of a hiking boot when walking up muddy paths.  Oh well, brush yourself off and get on with it!

When we got almost to the top of the path we saw this lovely tree:

 And the golf course to the right:

 and far off hills all around:

 We disturbed a female grouse along the path which took off and flew over a field of summer greens now withering away.  Suddenly two small deer stood up to see what had disturbed the grouse.  You can barely see one of the little ones watching us:

 Up and down along the path keeping the stone wall and field to our left....

  and the golf course to our right:

 until we got to the top and in the VERY far off distance you can see Auchen Castle

Another view of Auchen.  It's a lovely structure dating back to the 1200's!

 As we walk we see this structure.  Gordon and I thought it was an old bridge of some sort because there's supposedly a Roman Road up here though we couldn't find it.  As we approached we discovered it was a

 sod roof structure for storing grain I guess.

Can you see the water on the ground?  Again, all the fields are absolutely sodden from tons and tons of rain received in southern Scotland this year. However, the Highlands have had very little rain and have suspended the manufacturing of Whisky for lack of water!  What the heck?  Anyway, Gordon and I have spent most of our walks here trying to dodge just such pools of water however sometimes you just have to slog through it and hope you don't bury your boots too deeply!

 We discovered this weird white gel stuff along with some tiny black mucus that looked like roe.  Turns out the black "roe" are frog eggs!  Laying right out in the open.  Strange.

 Ah, notice something about this field of sheep?  That's Gordon and I standing up there.....the black sheep!

 As we rounded the top of the hill looking for Chapel Farm we have a terrific view across Moffat and up to the forest we hiked just a few days ago.

 And we decide not to cross this field instead choosing to view this nice fellow with his cheeky nose ring from the safety of our side of the stone wall!  Doesn't look too happy does he?

 Another view of Moffat from afar and now you can see our destination, Chapel Farm.  See the arched "window" just behind the stone wall?

 Here's a better view looking through the widow back up toward where we were standing.

 And the rear wall which is the end wall to the little white house behind it.  Notice the stoned in doorway.

 Once again, it's a shame more care isn't given to these old structures although when would you stop?  There are scores of ancient buildings sitting here and there throughout Scotland and I guess you just can't save them all.

 A different angle on the house and wall.

 It must have been a lovely old building.

 As we continue along we noticed a sheepdog in the upper field and we stopped to watch as, all by himself, he rounded up the herd and pushed them through a gate headed RIGHT FOR US!

I was not able to load these next two videos directly onto my Blog spot for some reason so you'll need to click the following links to see them.  They will take you to YouTube and you can view them there.  Since Gordon and I were so excitedly trying to get out of the herd's way, we didn't film the actually "running of the sheep" but met up with the farmer and owner of Chapel Hill Farm and had a great conversation about sheep and the industry and the little town of Moffat and friendly gossip.  His accent was pretty strong and I had a little trouble keeping hold on the conversation.  He had beautiful sky blue eyes and white hair and a friendly disposition.  Farm clothing and wellies topped his outfit and of course his sheep dogs.  4 of them but Don was the best of them.  One of them was a pregnant female due to give birth the next day.  He said she was not much help right now but liked to come along anyway.  This video is of the farmer calling Don up the field from running the herd by us.
 Don
 After the farmer retrieved Don he told us to wait right where we were and Don would bring another herd up from a different low field and we could watch him put several hundred females through a narrow gate.  Here's what we witnessed and it was really cool to watch:
Don-Don
I stood on the other side of the wall while Gordon got a pretty good angle with the camera.

 Sweet Don.

 That was the "capper" on our Wednesday walk.  We headed back down the hill toward the Old Edinburgh Road saying goodbye to the nice farmer and his pack of dogs.  Later we took a drive to Thornhill to pick up a skirt Maureen had put on hold.  It started out a bit rainy but by the time we turned off the busier road to Dumfries on the tiny barely 2-lane road to Thornhill, the sun had broken through and we had a pleasant drive.  Gordon had never been that way before and was impressed with the quaintness and charm of tiny Thornhill.  We purchased a nice bottle of wine and a special jar of Tracklements Onion Marmalade to put on our Cumberland sausage for dinner.  And we snooped through an antique store and found a little something for Charli as a thank you for taking care of our home while we are away.

The next day, Thursday, we decided to head up behind our cottage to Gallow Hill and out the back of the forest to a point high above the town to the north of Moffat.  On the first part of our hike we could look across the Old Edinburgh Road up the hill to the Chapel Hill Farm shown here in a kind of semi circle of trees.

 As you walk halfway around Gallow Hill to the backside there is a little kissing gate you enter and pass through.  As we stepped into a very large field chock full of sheep that we would need to cross we see a freshly killed carcass of a decent size Ewe!  What could kill an animal so large and strip it clean we wondered?  It was a fresh kill we could tell because the bones were still really pink and it made Gordon and I a little nervous about what is in that forest we've been walking for years!  Later we learned that there had been a BIG cat sighting not 15 miles from here!  The gal who saw it suggested it was as big as a deer with white fluff on each of it's ears.  Hmmmmmm

Picked pretty clean eh?  Eyeballs anyone?

Sorry 'bout that!  Anyway we crossed the field and looked back onto the Gallow Hill forest and the way we had ventured so far.

 And then climbed to this view of sun and clouds and rolling hills....

passed tiny red mushrooms, oh and some sort of animal poop.....

 And back down from the Moffat Well on Old Well Road with Gallow Hill and the forest to our right.

It was a great hike.  Two days of three hour hikes making it a pretty good workout going mostly up hill.  Our butts and thighs should be looking pretty good!

Last evening we had one of Isa's oldest and dearest friends, Katrina, over for dinner along with her significant other, John, and we prepared a nice meal of Skillet Gratinate of Zucchini and Chicken with red mashed potatoes; a salad of baby lettuces with red grapes and toasted slivered almonds and a starter of Julie's (at the deli) fresh made pate and homemade toasts from some interesting bread I had picked up at the local baker.  I had leftover pastry from my previous apple tart so I got some green apples and made another tart and we finished with a delicious Garston Blue Cheese.  Yummy.  It was very nice to see Katrina and meet John and catch up on old times.  She told many stories of Gordon's mum, Isa, and we laughed and reminisced.  5 hours later we snuggled into bed and I FINALLY had a good long nights sleep.

Today we are heading out for a drive and an exploration but we haven't decided where yet.  And later, Gordon has scheduled a massage for me locally so I'm looking forward to that.

The weekend weather is supposed to be lovely so we are hopeful of many more uphill adventures!

Suspencion of Consciousness? Not happening!

Our morning began with ringing. 

You've seen the movies, you've heard the ring-ring of a European phone but what you don't really hear in the movies is the shrillness of the ringing!  It's not ring-ring.....it's RING-RING!!!   Good God Almighty!  That damn phone.  We were both asleep.  And we decided that we wouldn't answer it because we were still in the thick of sleep.  Big mistake.  It rang for what seemed forever before it stopped and then I thought "good, I'll go back to sleep."  No chance.  Was it one of the girls calling?  Was it someone calling for one of the girls?  Was it a family member from back East?  Why didn't I answer it because there's no going back to sleep.

I went to bed last night tired.  I hadn't napped during the day hoping I would get a decent nights sleep.  I usually read before turning the light out and that's what I did until about 11:00pm but once again, I was wide awake and, of course, Gordon was sleeping soundly next to me.  So I got up to watch TV.  Cable TV in Scotland is complete and utter rubbish.  There's NOTHING on worth watching so I watched the only thing that remotely interested me which was probably the worst movie on the planet.  Tom Cruise and Bryan Brown in Cocktail.  What a horrible movie.....and I watched the whole thing so I'm here to tell ya, don't watch it!

So when the phone rang this morning I was sleeping soundly thus the reason for not answering but then I was awake.  Oh well.  Live and learn.

Gordon and I tried several times to go for a walk today but each time we thought we might head out it was POURING rain.  The weather this year is really different from last year.  We were here in early September to the first week of October last year and the weather was beautiful.  It's not real cold (except night temps) but it's just rainy.  Anyway we gave up on a walk and decided to do an hour of yoga which was great.

Finally the weather "brightened" and after baths/showers we headed down into the town to look in the local antique store, Lothlorian's, and several other little shops on the High Street and then down to the Woolen Mill to see what's what.  Nothing, that's what.  So by now it's after 3:00pm here and 4 o'clock somewhere so we decided to have a pint.

View up Gallow Hill from the Woolen Mill.

St. Andrew's Parish in Moffat.

Slightly older than buildings we see in California!

The window pane ended up in St. Petersburg, Russia.

Looking up the High Street.  That's the Buccleuch on the left.

The Buccleuch.

A pint of Guinness and a 1/2 pint Carling at The Buccleuch.

The brown tall and Guiness Book of World Records building is The Star.

The Star Bar.

1/2 Foster's and a pint of Criffel.

Later Gordon went off to see the Celtics play a Russian team at a local public bar and I  was on dinner.  Leftovers and a quiet, cold night ahead.  Wish me luck with sleep!

Middle Earth

Oh no, we woke at 11:00am again today.  These late nights and late mornings need to cease.  I prefer an earlier wake-up call so we can do more with our day.  Gordon and I have discussed this need to go, go, go and have come to the conclusion that it just takes time to unwind.  Unless of course, we are in Maui where our days are dictated by the rhythm of the ocean and the soothing sounds of people shuffling along the beach path while we bask on lounge chairs.  But here in Scotland there is so much to see and do we don't want to miss a minute!

A quick breakfast of berries and Greek yogurt and I was gearing up for our first, BIG, official walk.  Thin under layer, check; sweater, check; leggins, check; socks, check, waterproof jacket, check; wellies, check, check.  Add sunglasses and a layer of lipstick (I AM from the U.S. where apparently we are all "glamorous" says Maureen) and we're good to go.  We headed up from the house and down through the "schemes", as Gordon calls them,  a development of homes for lower income residents.  They are beautifully kept with quaint gardens and statuary, laundry and strollers and children playing in the streets (when school is not in session).

A gray day to head out.  The view of our front garden and wee car.

And Gordon heading up the driveway.

The many, many chimneys!

Think that laundry might dry?  The far hill is where we are headed.

Gordon looking for our plumber in "the schemes"!

The Moffat waters.

That stone structure about 11:00 is our first goal.

We turn off the Selkirk Road and along the Alton way.

Along centuries all stone walls....

.....over the boggy soil...

....through cattle gates.....

.....past feed storage barns....

to the Peel Tower.

Gordon and I have tried to get to this Peel Tower in the past but between cows and wet conditions we just haven't been able to.  I only have spring-like hiking boots here which equate to NOT waterproof but last year I bought Wellies so we are down for trudging through anything to get to the Tower.  Peel towers (also spelled Pele Towers) were usually three-storeyed buildings. They were usually constructed specifically for defensive purposes by the authorities, or for prestigious individuals such as the heads of clans.  Peel towers and bastle houses were often surrounded by a stone wall known as a barmkin, inside which cattle and other livestock were kept overnight.  The Peel Towers were built in the 1430's.  No wonder they are crumbling away.  Wish someone would save them.

This Peel Tower is unfortunately crumbling away.

A tree is growing right up in the middle.

 

Here's an old print of a Peel Tower with Reivers in the foreground.

Gordon is squinting because the wind has picked up and it's beginning to rain.

We headed away from the tower and across cattle fields toward Jenny's View.  It's a good thing I had on Wellies because the going was rough.  In fact, at one point my foot sunk all the way down into the earth up to the top of my boot and as I tried to get my boot out my foot started to come out of my boot and my other foot began to sink!  Crap!  Visions of Frodo, Middle Earth and Mordor came into view and I was expecting Gollum to come up and give me a push into a Peat Bog at any moment!  My brief panic as a wobbled and almost fell was alleviated by Gordon literally pulling me out!  From there on out we looked for higher ground and trampled through meadows and edges of forests till we came to the upper Moffat waters. 

Fall is happening here!

Um, er, think I'll stick to the path.

Up Archbank and back toward home.

A little poser!

We walked down Old Well Road all the way into town where we stopped into the Balmoral for a pint and fish and chips negating any benefit from our hour and 1/2 walk!  But it was delicious and part of vacation eh!

Back at home we had baths and caught up on our technology and much later made another fish dinner of Plaice with leftover mashed potatoes and green beans.

Trying for an earlier evening tonight in hopes we wake up earlier to head out for another exciting day here in Middle Earth.