Training Log Archive: JanetT

Upriver (not quite as far as Slatington) and back to Cementon on the D&L rail trail along the Lehigh River. Gorgeous day, mostly sunny with puffy clouds, mid-to-upper 70s. Trail was all gravel, mostly well-packed. A bit saddle sore as we haven't ridden in a couple of weeks but feet stayed mostly non-numb until the last stretch. Very tall slate/shale cliffs on our west/uphill side for much of the ride, some rhododendron.

Several sets of tubers, and a couple of jet-skis, on the river.

Thursday was a long travel day back home because the plane that hops across the pond to Glasgow came from Newark where it had been delayed by thunderstorms. So we got to sleep in a bit more in the morning and departed 4 hours late. Our son bravely drove through rush hour traffic (normally a 20-minute drive each way; took closer to 40) to pick us up; if we'd arrived at the scheduled time it would have been closer to noon and not nearly as much traffic.

We stayed over to visit more with the kids and grandkids (and get to bed "early") and will finish the travel home today. The baby looks different every time I see him: he was just starting to hold himself sitting two weeks ago, and is doing more so now. He had his first solid food last night; unsure about it but he ate a couple of spoonfuls of cold mashed sweet potato. ;-)

After dinner walk in neighborhood including part of the condo development across Lanark Road.

Deducted the 6 minutes we stopped to talk to neighbors from total time (still included on the track).

At Smailholm Tower near Melrose in the Border District; counting from the car park to the tower plus up and down the spiral staircases. Track left to give an idea of where exactly we were, but it couldn't keep track inside the tower, apparently. Plus I forgot to stop it until we were a ways down the road.

Smailholm is notable because 1) it's near the Border with England and therefore was historically a base for either raiding farms across the border or for defending Scotland, and 2) it's also close to where Sir Walter Scott's grandparents lived (the farm property we drove through to get to the car park) and where he spent a lot of time while growing up, being inspired by the tower and the ballads told about what happened in the area. 3) It's really impressive to see as you come down the road towards it, standing tall with few or no trees around it. And you can see England from there (including Flodden Field, site of an England-Scotland battle in 1513 where the Scottish King, James IV, died).

On the way back west, headed to Lanark and the Clyde River Valley, we went under another railway viaduct (not used by trains) over the Tweed R, this one made of bricks and having 19 arches. Very impressive.

At the Falls of Clyde Wildlife Reserve in New Lanark, Lanarkshire.

Walked from the World Heritage Site (New Lanark seems to have been a mill town) south/upstream along the Clyde, checking out the multiple falls including Dundaff, a gentle drop; Cora, 84'; and Bonnington, a set of falls across a wide set of cliffs.

This area protects otters and badgers, and used to have a pair of peregrine falcons nest on a cliff face (not seen since 2014). It has a wildlife trail but all we saw were a potential badger burrow, a half dozen cows, two white horses, and a field of sheep. And a couple of wrens in a tree near the visitors center. Nice hike.

Then we had dinner in Lanark at the Crown Tavern which had, in addition to the ubiquitous fish-and-chips and steak-and-ale pie, a salmon and broccoli pie with a tarragon cream sauce, and a salmon and king prawns (shrimp) pasta dish with a cheesy cream sauce. Yummy!

Today's itinerary: Melrose Abbey, Jedburgh Abbey, the Scotland-England border point at Carter Bar, The Hermitage (the latter via some white-knuckle 1-1.5 lane wide roads in some places). Saw a neat (edited) 15-arch stone railway bridge from the roadway; railway closed in 1969.

In St Andrews, Scotland. We didn't stop at any of the St Andrews courses, but saw the tall building that shows up in the background of the British Open when it happens there.

We parked on North Street and walked to St Andrews Castle, which was scene of several battles between Catholics and Protestants shortly after Reformation. Preacher George Wishart--who taught John Knox--as a "disciple" of Martin Luther, was burned at the stake by men of Archbishop Beaton, who himself was killed later inside the castle/archbishop's house. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Beaton

We still had time on the 2-hour parking stub, so we went to the remains of St Andrews Cathedral (along with some dozens of others ... we hadn't realized today was a bank holiday). Track above is for that excursion.

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Later we drove to Aberdour Castle overlooking the Firth of Forth opposite from Edinburgh and toured its remains (property of the mighty Douglas family) and saw the still-standing (or restored) beehive shaped doocot (dovecote) where doves were kept both for eggs and for meat. We also went in St Fillians Church nearby which still has some Norman (1100s) construction visible, though much of the church has been restored several times. Nearby, a lighthouse showed up on our maps so we went there too but it wasn't much to look at. Better views of Edinburgh and the castle across the Firth from there.

Then we made our way past the western outskirts of Edinburgh to end up in the small town of Galashiels, where Sir Walter Scott had his estate (Abbotsford). The Gala Water runs through town to the Tweed just to the south, and Abbotsford overlooks the Tweed.

North from Victoria Park in Arbroath on the Arbroath Cliffs and Seaton Cliffs trails to De'il's Head and back, passing by gull nesting cliffs near Dickmont's Den (which reminded me of a small fjord). Lots of juveniles on the cliffs. Not sure what type of gull.

Also saw some slightly larger brown-gray gulls--some kind of skua(?) (arctic or great skua)-- and a reed bunting with a very green caterpillar in its beak. Lots of wildflowers in bloom (many thistles).

No dolphins or whales, but we did see a three-masted ship heading north along the shore.

Dipped our hands in the North Sea at a ramp down to the rocky beach which hadn't been underwater when we started. A yellow-legged gull with bands on its legs stood sentry at the top of the ramp, both before and after our hike.

Track is funky near the cliff at the beginning of the hike (we went down to the rocks to see if there was any interesting tide pool activity but only saw limpets).