a late tour

Today's guest picture comes from Paul's Lake District trip. He found the locals were looking at the visitors just as hard as the visitors were looking at the scenery.

We had a rather curious day here. It was dry and occasionally sunny but there was brisk north wind blowing and it was extremely chilly for the end of August so there was no real enthusiasm for being outside for any length of time. We did convene a garden coffee morning but we packed it in early, as sitting outside while gradually freezing was not really a lot of fun. Margaret pointed out that last year's August Bank Holiday weekend had been the hottest on record and this year it looks as though it will be the coldest on record.

The poppies didn't seem to mind the weather though and, rather surprisingly to me at least, they were in good form.

Once again, I didn't see any butterflies so I found some bees instead.

Once back inside, the day drifted away with her mother spending a lot of time picking Evie up. Evie has mastered falling over as well as walking, and it will take a few days before she gets the hang of staying upright in the face of small obstacles.

This has been a curious year and the oddness continued as the Tour de France started as summer ended. We watched the first stage and were interested to note that the expert cyclists hit the ground even more frequently than Evie. It was not an easy stage to watch and we can only hope that the weather is kinder as the race goes on.

When the stage ended, I had a quick look at the birds. Like me they seemed to have decided that this was a good day to stay at home and there were not many to watch.

I made omelettes for everyone for tea and then, as the sun was shining and the wind had dropped a bit, I went out for a late walk.

I spotted a dipper under the Kirk Brig and a dog near the golf course....

...as I made my way across the suspension bridge, through the town and up the Kirk Wynd.

Clouds covered the sun and it was chilly, but looking up the hill, I could see that all was not lost...

...and I didn't have to much further up the hill before I found myself walking in sunshine again...

...and after passing ageing rosebay willowherb in the shade, I found yarrow in the sun.

When I got onto the open hill, the sun picked out the shiny new power lines running from the pylons...

...and looking six miles to the west, I could see that the enormous crane had been re-erected at the new windfarm after the recent heavy winds. (The zoom on the Lumix is impressive.)

I went up as far as Whita Well and then took the track along the side of the hill to the Newcastleton road. Clouds intervened from time to time....

...but I was mostly in sunshine and in the low sun, it was a very pleasant evening to be out for a stroll.

When I got to the road, which you can see in the picture above, I did toy with the idea of extending my walk but sensibly, I stuck to my original plan and walked back straight down the road. There was a bit of traffic on the way...

...but I negotiated it safely.

I said good evening to a handsome horse....

...and came down to the main road.

I decided that as I had not crossed it on yesterday's outing, I would cross the Sawmill Brig today, and I was very glad that I did. I was standing on the bridge in the hope of seeing another dipper when a movement caught my eye. I could see that a bird had landed on a branch of a tree on the Castleholm. Once again the zoom lens came to my aid as it could see what sort of bird it was.

The woodpecker soon flew off and I continued on my way home.

The light wasn't very good when I was watching the birds, and as I said, there were not many birds to watch so this was the best that I could do by way of as flying bird today.