On the Road to Dumfries

Last night was our last in Kelso, so we had decided to head over and check out the Abbey in the morning, prior to eating breakfast.   And am I ever glad that we did!  Just look at how beautifully the sun reflects off the back of it.

Walking around, it is easy to see just how commanding a structure this had once been.

Next to it stands a beautiful war memorial, devoted to both World Wars, with inscriptions of the names of those men who perished from Kelso.

It was definitely worth making the effort to check this out prior to leaving.

We packed up the car and headed to Selkirk, where I was expecting to visit Sir William Scott's Courtroom and the Haliwell's House Museum.  The town is interesting as it is part of a hill, and it offers some beautiful views of the hills.  We easily found a place to park, which just so happened to be across from a cemetery that had an unusual structure with a bell hanging in the middle.  So, we climbed up the walk to check it out,  and soon realized that this was the place where William Wallace had been proclaimed Guardian of Scotland in 1298.

That was certainly an unexpected find.

And, just look at the view from that spot!

Spectacular!

We headed down the hill to the Courtroom, but noticed that it wasn't open.  After checking a poster on the front of the building, I realized that the hours had changed over night, and as of today, it is open at noon, instead of 10:00 am.  So, I took a couple photos

and we decided to forego the second museum as we didn't want to wait an hour for it to open, and certainly didn't want to wait two hours for the courtroom.

So, we headed along the route that I had chosen.  Actually, I had hoped to pick up some sort of map from the information center, but that wasn't open for another hour either.  I did have my trusty atlas that goes on every trip, and we were using an app called Here We Go (minus "steelers"), which had been working fairly well up until this point.

We drove down to Ettrickbridge, which was a lovely little village, located on a very quiet, and narrow road.   The views were quite pretty as we then headed to Ettrick.

Sheep lined the hillside, and we pretty much had the road to ourselves.  We were traveling around, when Marty spotted a sheep standing on the road. 

We must have scared her, because she stood staring at us, with her lip was quivering before she jaunted up the hill.  I was looking for the village of Ettrick as I had read that it offered some lovely hikes as well as the Ettrick Marshes which were supposed to be stunning.

We stopped at some little tiny shop, and the owner mentioned that Ettrick was just a mile down the road, but to beware of the lorries that were removing wood from the forest along this narrow road.  I'm sure thankful for his warning!

We followed the sign to Ettrick, and this is what we found:

A sign.  There was a Hogg Memorial museum  across the street from the sign, but not another building anywhere in site.  Luckily, it was only a mile from the main road, so we just backtracked and  continued our journey.

And that is when the Lorries began to show up.

One after another, barreling toward us on the road, and whipping unexpectedly around corners.  It certainly made the drive a bit more interesting!  Or, should I say stressful?  Well, at least for me.  Marty seemed entirely in control of the situation, just cautious at every turn.  

Which was certainly in his favor since we not only saw a black cow on the road, happily munching grass at the base of a speed limit sign, but we also happened upon two very large sheep, sitting very much in the opposite lane, contentedly chewing their cud and looking at us as if to question why we were there.   This was in minutes of the lorries rushing by.  Thankfully we weren't both rounding the corner at the same time, because, let's face it......something would have had to give, and I have the feeling that the sheep wouldn't have fared well. What an adventure!

Not too far along, we happened past a Buddhist Temple.  Not exactly something someone would have expected to see in an extremely remote spot in Scotland.  I had read about it on a Scottish Facebook site, but had no idea that it was in this particular area.  We just stopped in for a minute, and to use the facilities since it was obvious that we wouldn't be finding any anywhere soon. 

Finally, we found our destination, which was Hoddom Castle Karavan park entrance, and we began walking in search of the Salmon Trail.

Luckily, there was a posted map that Marty took a photo of so that we could get our bearings, because often, at times, it can be difficult to establish just where the trail is.  

And this one actually took us around the perimeter of the golf course.  Luckily, no one was playing golf.

This was Marty living his dream.....Golf course on the left....Salmon stream on the right.  Could it get any better than this?

Oh...and I forgot to add.....Castle at a distance.

Pretty spectacular.

We finally came to the bridge so that we could cross to the other side as part of the trail.

And, there it was!  The Salmon Trail.

We walked along the path, keeping our eye on the water for Salmon

and spotting an occasional interesting structure along the way.  This one is a fishing fly that one could sit upon.  How clever is that? 

And if you look closely here, you can see a seal eyeing a Salmon, as well as an eagle swooping down to eat one.  

Well...gee....if that's the case....no wonder we couldn't spot any!

We saw an eagle, and this lovely bird which stood there for quite awhile waiting.

and  people floating down the river on kayaks,

 but no Salmon. Although Marty seems to think that he spied one.   (Does that surprise you?)

The  walk was lovely and well going out of way to find.  The return loop takes you by Hoddom castle.

.

It actually shares ground with a caravan park, and some interesting little cottages that one can apparently stay in.

That's the first time I've seen something like that!

Next step on the agenda was the Devil's Porridge Museum. Now, the story behind this museum is fascinating.  

During World War I, Great Britain found itself low on ammunition and certainly doomed in fighting the Germans if they didn't come up with some sort of plan.  Lloyd George came up with a scheme to build a factory, which spread over nine miles from Eastriggs to Gretna.  Actually, we were told that both of those villages were actually planned communities, built during this time, to house the workers of the factory.  Devil's Porridge is actually the crude explosive paste that was made in this facility, thereby giving the name to the museum. 

The sole aim was to make cordite propellant which fired the soldier's bullets and shells. And, women were recruited from all over Scotland to work in the factories.  It was considered to be a great opportunity for women because they were housed in comfortable accommodations and paid excellent wages in comparison to the normal wage for women at the time. 

But, when I read what the women actually did, I was shocked!

They had hands in Nitre to make nitric acid.  They burned sulfur to make sulfuric acid.  They manned a glycerin distillery to make their own glycerine.  And then, they combined the glycerine with sulfuric acid and nitric acid to make nitroglycerine.

Honestly, I was stunned to see the photos of these women having hands on experience with these dangerous chemicals! 

I shudder just thinking about it!

But in the end, the production of cordite is what saved the Britains and helped them to win the war against Germany.

Oh, and I forgot to mention, that the reason that this location was picked because it tended to be overcast most of the time, and because the water is shallow through the flats so no submarines or boats could get near.  

Interestingly enough, all of the equipment was dismantled after the war, as Britain never dreamed that they would be involved with yet another altercation initiated by Germany.  A few ammunition faciltites popped up in this same area during World War II, but nothing of the magnitude of the cordite plant.

Pretty fascinating, don't you think?  I can tell you that I was completely unaware of this factory, and I find it interesting how popped up, then disappeared, and I wouldn't have known about it all if there wasn't a museum devoted in telling the story of these many heroic women.  Kudos to them! 

After the tour, we enjoyed some tea and a scone, which just so happened to be in a cafe in the museum.

And that is just one more thing that I love about Scotland! 

We had a great chat with the staff at the museum, and the next thing I knew, they were advising regarding visiting Ruthwell church where I knew that a Celtic Cross stood inside.  But I wasn't sure what hours it would be opened.  They convinced me that the key was probably somewhere nearby, and that I should just ask for it if the church was locked.

When we arrived, the church was locked, but there was a sign directing one to the bungalow next door, and sure enough, there was a little box with the key inside.  So we let ourselves in.

And there it was.....Standing stately in a special alcove:  The Ruthwell Cross, believed to stem from the 8th century. 

Truly amazing, and I was so happy that we were able to get inside to see it.

After returning the key, we headed to our final destinations, which is an Inn on the outskirts of Dumfries.  We were greeted by an extremely enthusiastic and entertaining woman, who showed us our room. We ended up walking a mile into town for dinner, and on the way back, I was able to take the photo of the place all aglow. 

Pretty awesome, isn't it?

We'll be exploring Dumfries and Galloway for a couple of days.  I'll be sure to keep you posted!