Wanderer
The ups and downs of a Debateable Lands castle
Published 22 December 2008
IT WAS another glorious morning and we had seen too few of them this year not to notice.
In the groove for the Industrial Revolution
Published 12 November 2008
GREAT and wondrous things have taken place below the High Irvine Moss and Auchenrivock Flow as well as below Hagg Hill and Burian Hill.
Perfect manners at three months
Published 11 September 2008
I PASSED Bombie and a mile or so later between the larachs or at least what was left of two circular forts or settlements to reach the empty and deserted cottage of Calkin lying deep in a hollow hidden by the hills.
Lost priest now safe at E&L office
Published 6 August 2008
I WAS recently reminded of a bird I had not seen for many years and, like most of the rarer small birds, I had last seen a Ring Ousel in the upper muirs of Tarras.
Exploring the wonders and beauties of Eskdale
Published 25 June 2008
DURING the middle of May the weather was very warm, almost to the point of being lethargic, so I decided to walk around the Mill Burn corrie above Henwell Cottage and Potholm Farm.
Lost in the timelessness of the hills – and then in translation
Published 27 April 2008
IT was one of these few perfect days in April.
Following the tracks of the last wolf shot in Scotland
Published 2 April 2008
PERHAPS I do not fully realise it but I have been told that I am no longer in the first flush of youth. I know that I walk at a slower pace and so take a bit longer to cover the miles.
A kingly name but can we be sure?
Published 12 March 2008
SCOTLAND does not lack in its tales of history, mystery and imagination.
Look before you sit
Published 5 March 2008
I HAVE said before that this has been an unusually mild winter but then the winter of 1946-47 was also variable, exactly like this year, until on the 15th or ‘the Ides of March’ winter dropped in on us with a vengeance to become the hardest in memory with 20-feet drifts of snow as the norm.
Winter weather brings forth every colour of the rainbow
Published 15 February 2008
IT has been frequently said this winter that ‘we have had really terrible weather’, or words akin to that.
Take a trip to see the dipper
Published 6 December 2007
ELAINE Anderson, a renowned source of local nature knowledge, keeps me up to date with much of the information I have overlooked.
Scrogg nuts – as tasty as hazelnuts
Published 25 October 2007
IN SOME parts of the British Isles this has been a remarkable year with flood and fire, wind and rain, sun and cloud.
Hurry, young swallows, to make your way south
Published 4 October 2007
JUST as we have numerous small hills throughout our dales, we often feel that these same hills are adorned with small quarries.
Take heed of the lurking lampreys
Published 6 September 2007
JOHN Packer and I crossed Canonbie bridge and looked for our old friends Archie Findlay at Kirkland and George Redpath across the road at Knottyholm but the coops looked to be flown.
Copshaw orchids revealed in their fragrant twilight beauty
Published 23 August 2007
OVER the past 18 years I have saved most of the Wanderers on computer and seldom look at them again.
You find it here, you find it there
Published 16 August 2007
I DIDN’T manage to finish my tale of the colourful flowers on the hills where they are never seen by most people.
Eyebrights and orchids
Published 19 July 2007
DURING April and May in Eskdale and Liddesdale country we gradually find ourselves immersed in a blaze of colour.
Magical sights on a dawn walk
Published 5 July 2007
ONE of my favourite walks or scrambles is from Tarras Lodge down to Perterburn or, if desired, from Perterburn up to Tarras Lodge.
Bothies and barns hidden in the hills
Published 21 June 2007
THE last time I visited Dykecrofts it must have been a winter day because there was snow on the ground and, as the light failed, we could see columns of dark reek rising from nearly every lum in Copshaw.
The oak and the ash hold their secrets
Published 7 June 2007
IT is a gie sair trauchle if you walk from the Duchess’s Bridge along the Esk as far as the Breconwrae, after which it is nae bother ava.
