..and the little red poppies and the orange hawkweed continue to delight.
More colour was supplied by elderly hostas and Icelandic poppies. It speaks for itself.
I made a honey sandwich and then started my ride by visiting the shop to get two bananas and a KitKat biscuit bar. Armed with these and a few dates, I took the Solwaybank road to get me going, a wise choice when it looks like this...
..and this..
..and this...
..and there was a peacock butterfly waiting to be photographed by the side of the road as a bonus.
After such a good start, the ride could only go downhill. I was very grateful for this as the Solwaybank road is quite undulating. The local lady who told me that they were only going to build nine turbines at the new windfarm seems to have got her information wrong as I counted ten as I went past with at least one more tower to complete. I have spared the patient reader yet another turbine picture as it has to be admitted that one turbine looks very like another.
Once I had gone downhill as far as Gretna, I crossed into England and took the road to Rockcliffe. Once again, this proved to be a good choice because at the corner near Rockliffe Cross there was a fine display of autumn colour.
Another elderly cyclist had stopped and was snapping away with his phone camera but we managed to keep out of each other's shots.
There were many possible shots to choose from.
It was hard to tear myself away. Indeed I met the other cyclist, who had left before me, coming back to take a few more shots.
I had a last look round, including a very fine yellow wild flower in the verge...
and rather reluctantly pedalled onward. As the sun was behind clouds while I was there, I was tempted to wait until the sun came out, but I had miles to cover and other things to see.
I had thought of going down to the seaside on the English shore of the Solway but a look round at Gretna had showed that once again the tide was so far out that i could probably have walked to Ireland. Instead, I made a circle round inland and followed a route that took me past three English churches.
I stopped for a snack at Blackford Church (built in 1870) as it has a handy wall, just right for leaning on, paused for a glance at Scaleby Church (possibly 13th century, major restoration in 1861) and got off my bike for a look around at Kirkandrews-on-Esk (built in 1776).
They appear in reverse order in the panel below.
Kirkandrews is one of my favourite churches, sitting in a park beside the river and overlooked by a old peel tower.
met a lady who was painting the gate to the churchyard and she told me the she and her brother used to cycle to the church from Gretna in the 1950s, crossing the suspension bridge over the river on their way there.
The church is very plain and rectangular but attractive all the same.
The first thing that caught my eye was a red admiral butterfly on the sedum outside the back door.
And when I looked around some more, I discovered two more on the new tall Michaelmas daisy which was very satisfactory.
There was time to watch the birds for a while.
It was a peaceful scene at the feeder, with goldfinch, greenfinch and sparrow nibbling in harmony...
.until the siskins arrived and the shouting started.
It was a day when the action was often going on behind the feeder just to annoy the photographer.
The flying, or rather diving bird of the day is a siskin which got such a shock that it dropped its supper.
enjoy your day