ricketyrambler

Thursday, 5th November 2015

Hello lovely readers!

Did you miss me?

Well here I am, back in the ricketyrambling mood!  We moved into our lovely house in the Scottish Borders a week ago and have been unpacking and cleaning and mending and planning. Then…..half way through the day today I suddenly decided it was time to abandon the boxes,  step away from the screwdriver and explore the local lanes instead. Such a relief to get out.

We just did a short circuit from the house, probably only a couple of miles – but enough to remind us that there’s more to life than packing cases and scrubbing brushes.

I didn’t take the camera, and in any case it was foggy and raining hard by the time we got back, but this is a quick walk that I’ll probably do lots of times so there’ll be many opportunities for photos.

We headed down the minor road just opposite our house which winds its way through farmland.  The meadows are grazed by beautiful caramel coloured cows (yes I know – I said beautiful and cows in the same sentence!).  They are Limousin cows, originally a French breed and, it appears, not used to walkers striding by and disturbing their peace.  Some of them watched us closely in astonishment, others ran for the opposite hedge as soon as they heard us coming.

We turn left and head uphill, and I’m soon breathless – soooo out of condition!  To our right we can see Hume Castle looming out of the fog.  The castle is a ruin having been ransacked by Oliver Cromwell back in the day, but a fair amount of it remains and the views from the hill on which it is perched are stunning.  More of this to come in another blog so keep checking in!

Nearing the top of the hill we come across the cemetery we’ve been told about.  A beautifully peaceful field in the midst of farmland. There used to be church here but it fell into ruin in the 1600’s.  There are ancient graves, memorials and new stones here and we wander for a while before the rain defeats us and we carry on uphill.  A short lane to our right which leads towards the castle and the hamlet of Hume.   Preparations are underway for the bonfire and fireworks due to take place tonight.  We’ve been invited and will be going along for soup and hot dogs!

Turning left at the road we make our way downhill towards home for tea and toast.

Next time I’ll take the camera so that you can see how beautiful the countryside is here but in the meantime here’s a picture of the mist lying on the fields just after sunrise, taken from our lounge.