Scotland 2019 7: St Abbs Village

The village of St Abbs (no apostrophe, apparently) is small and attractive, and marked the end of our walk around the headland.  The community seems to be thriving as a centre for scuba diving, and we saw lots of people wandering around in wet suits.  Despite all the marine activity - much of it by inexperienced individuals - the RNLI no longer funds the St Abbs lifeboat.  The locals have kept the lifeboat going as a private enterprise, however, since they believe it to be necessary.  We did our bit for the fundraising effort and bought some cards at the lifeboat shop.

 

A few feathered, two-legged and four-legged St Abbs visitors I met on the quayside.

 
I'm not quite sure what the "selfie" in question had revealed, but it was clearly rather shocking.  A suitable image for a caption competition, methinks.

Scotland 2019 6: St Abb's Head

St Abb's Head is a promontory of volcanic rocks just north of Eyemouth, now operated as a nature reserve by the National Trust.  Being the end of August we weren't expecting to see much in the way of bird life; but, since the weather was dry (if not especially sunny), it was still a good place for a walk.

The inland areas are actively farmed, with both sheep and cattle being in evidence.

There's an inland "loch" which attracts freshwater birds, although not many on the day in question.  It's also acts as a perfect breeding ground for the local midge population!

The folding in the rocks in cliffs, north of St Abb's Head, is very dramatic.

From a distance it wasn't clear what the anomalous blue and yellow "thing" on the hillside might be; but, as we got closer, we discovered that it was a large bundle of dried gorse wrapped in several Jewson builders' bags.  Why?  Answers on a postcard, please.

The weather started to brighten up about mid-day, and the wildflower meadows were beautiful in the late summer sun.

St Abb's Head Lighthouse is in a spectacular position, right on the edge of the cliffs.  The final image is a stitched panorama of about 15 shots, showing the whole coastline from Dunbar in the north to Berwick in the south.

 

Scotland 2019 5: Dryburgh and Melrose

After a drenching in Abbotsford's gardens, we dried out in the shop and then headed towards Dryburgh.  The abbey was closed, unfortunately, so we headed for the William Wallace statue on the hill above the town.  Very impressive it looked too in the afternoon sun.  It's difficult to do justice to the sheer enormity of the statue in a photograph, so the third image contains a (diminutive) Harriet for scale.

The statue is made from the local red sandstone, but somehow I think it's more imposing in infra-red than it is in colour.

A view back from the statue towards Galashiels, showing the Eildon hills.

Final stop for the day was Melrose, and we went for a walk by the river before having a bite to eat.  There we found a suspension bridge which was "wobbly" long before its Millennium counterpart was ever invented.  No more than eight people are allowed on the bridge at any one time, and crossing is not recommended in a gale!

 

 
The final two shots are of Melrose Abbey in the lovely evening light.  The grounds were locked, unfortunately, but the ruins seemed to glow in the setting sun.

Scotland 2019 4: Abbotsford House

Sir Walter Scott's home, Abbotsford House, has become a shrine to the great man, who is treated with even more reverence than William Shakespeare.  After all, he has a railway station named after one of his creations (Edinburgh Waverley), which is more than can be said for his English counterpart.

The house itself is in the "Scottish Baronial" style; and, as one might expect, it's absolutely full of historical references, many of which are delightfully over the top.  Scott himself struggled with debt while building the house, and needed to keep on churning out novels in order to make ends meet.  Such was Scott's esteem that the library and museum were presented to him as a gift by his creditors, and the debt was eventually written off by his publisher in exchange for a share in the copyright income from the books.

The historical theme is continued in the gardens, which contains throw-backs to ancient Rome and Greece.

We can attest that, when a good dose of Scottish weather arrives, there's absolutely nowhere to shelter in the gardens!

...but the rain storm didn't last for long.