A Walk along the Riverbank

I had a committee meeting to go to, so being a beautiful day I decided to walk the riverside path which was in fact the most direct route to our meeting place.  It must have been one of the first sunny mornings of this spring, and it was so invigorating being out of doors.    Crossing Tweed Bridge I stopped to take a photo looking downriver past Priorsford Bridge to Lee Pen, the hill in the distance.    Across the road the view is upriver towards Neidpath Castle away in the distance beyond Haylodge Park. 

Once more the zoom on my camera  came in very useful.

I turned down towards the riverside path and took this photo from the hill of the parish

 

church with the swimming pool to the left.  A little further and nearly at the cauld, some gulls were perched on a piece of tree washed downriver at some stage, and festooned with grasses that had caught up in it when the river was high. 

 

On the opposite side is the old Hay Lodge, now part of the medical centre and hospital, but once the home of the Hay family, whose parklands now form the recreational Park for the town.   More or less opposite the lodge there is a path leading from the river bank to the street beyond, and this is where I was bound for the next couple of hours, but coming home by the same route I took a few more shots . 

These snowdrops nestling by the tree must have been planted here by someone in the past.  The parish church is the main landmark in the town and is visible from all directions.  The reflection is often clearer than this but there was a slight ripple on the water above the cauld that day.

The daffodils were in bud, but not yet in bloom.  They are so pretty when they open up their vivid yellow flowers.

Soon I was back at the bridge again   The old 15th century original stone bridge, wide enough in those days for a horse and cart,  is clearly visible here.   It has been widened twice since then to accommodate ever increasing traffic – and now there’s serious talk about a second road bridge over Tweed, probably linking the newer residential and commercial properties of the south side of the river with the main road to the east of Peebles.  There are several possibilities but a decision has still to be made by the region’s councillors over its position.  Let’s hope they choose the right one!

So back up the path to the road again and I took  this shot – the parish church again with one of the several lamps that adorn the parapet of the bridge at intervals along it.  The half timbered building is a pub on the ground floor with the Italian restaurant above.  It’s an unusual style of building for Scotland, but now just part of the townscape.    

Down on the Green, a new piece of path has just been put in, to connect the one from the bridge side to the one that crosses diagonally across the Green of to the right of the photo.  The mechanical diggers made a right mess of the grass on one side , but have now levelled it again, though no more grass seems to have been planted yet.  They surely can’t be thinking of making it into a flower bed, though that would be pretty, because the council are actually cutting back on looking after the ones they already have!  Another job for “Bonnie Peebles”?   We’ll have to wait and see!

Talk again soon.