Broughton Heights

In footballing jargon this was a day of two halves.A nice drive down to the small but pretty village of Broughton (OS map72) was enjoyable through fine rolling hills and farmland.

What wasn`t so enjoyable was the weather thereafter.No rain but drab grey skies, a raw wind that numbed the bare ears and just occasional brief glimpses of sunshine on other hills but never sadly on ours.

Culter Fell......

It wasn`t the hills fault,a high fairly nondescript grassy mound that would be pleasant enough to plod up on a warm sunny day but it was the sort of weather I hate with a vengeance.Although I dont really believe in that guff I`ve always suspected I have SAD as its the only thing that explains my mood shooting up and down like a cartoon barometer dependent on the weather.

The road to Broughton with the bulk of Culter Fell behind......


I love sunshine.Positively crave it.If I can`t have that then thunderstorms, gale force winds,crashing seas, any kind of dramatic weather I love but this was a nothing day on the high tops for me.Grey, empty and flat of emotion. but I did spot this. A little blob of colour on the drab slopes.


Like me the poor wee bugger looked as if it wanted to be somewhere else.Still ,Alex got his tick of a new hill (his drug of choice) so the second half of the day was my pick.It wasn`t even a hard sell as even Alex was bored by now.

Tinto in the distance...


As I`d never been there I asked Alex about Dawyck Botanic gardens not far away.
"Its a bunch of big trees in a glen" he replied underselling it slightly.
Lets go there then.
Dawyck is one of 4 botanic gardens in Scotland the others being Royal Edinburgh, Benmore and Logan.Together they make up one of the richest plant and tree collections in the world with more than 15,000 species.Thats almost seven percent of the known plant species.

As soon as we arrived in the car park my mood improved like a skylark soaring from the dark muddy bog.We were in one of the worlds finest arboreta with some of the tallest trees in Britain.It was like getting the keys to willie wonka land.Waterfalls, little bridges, pools, sculptures, something interesting round every new corner.




And it was warm, almost tropical after the frozen uplands.All that was missing was monkeys and uoompa loompas.

But if you take one of these that might change.The Vikings reputedly used to consume these going into battle but as they tended not to live long anyway it wasn`t a problem.My favourite of the Amanita family is the sweetly named "Destroying Angel". That also does what it says on the tin.
Found these little sap suckers nearby. An adult and a juvenile I think. Or maybe different tree types .There seem to be one for every main tree group.

Thought I`d sum up the day with a mixture of autumnal colours gathered as windfall in this lovely garden.£4 admission and a bargain.It saved the day for me.

On the way back to Alex`s we passed the old Lanark racecourse with this weather beaten reminder of its glory days.A fine autumn evening after a cold grey start.

Alex: Couple of pics from me.....

Bob and one of the giant Sequoia trees.....


Bob worries about me sometimes due to the fact that I`ll bag anything that doesn`t move.He was kind enough to indulge me,inadvertently it must be said,by parking the car in the village of Broughton three feet away from a nice wee flush bracket....


.....and directly across the road from this well preserved Victorian post box...