Between the Town Ward and Inner Ward of Barnard Castle there is a strange thing to find inside a castle’s perimeter: a valley, seen below with the modern wooden bridge across it.

This ruin is to the left as you look in the above photo:-

Interior valley seen from the bridge:-

Valley from above:-

North west corner building (circular tower to right):-

From top of circular tower:-

Weir and bridge over River Tees from the castle:-

Middleton-in-Teesdale is a market town in ….. Teesdale, County Durham, England.

As its name suggests it stands by the River Tees.

This bridge over the Tees is on the east/south approach to the town:-

River looking east from the bridge:-

Looking west:-

This Coop in the town has deco touches. (Stitch of two photos. The buildi ng isn’t really curved):-

From Edzell Castle (posts passim) we took a stroll along the road to the old motte and bailey and A graveyard which contained the historic graves of the Lindsay family. Just further along there was a car parki and on investigation we saw a signpost to Pirner Brig. This turned out to be a walk alongside a river which we later discovered is the River Westwater.

Before doing that we descended a fairly steep set of stairs to the river itself, which is very scenic.

River and Pirner Brig:-

River and rocks:-

We then reascended the steps and took the path which crosses the brig.

River from Pirner’s Brig:-

I took a couple of videos

This is a lovely spot, and more or less unspoiled.

The town of Barnard Castle takes its name from the castle which sits on a promontory above the River Tees. At the time we visited going inside the castle required booking in advance due to Covid. As we hadn’t booked, we couldn’t go in.

Castle from town side:-

Entrance to Castle:-

Round tower:-

North face of castle:-

Panorama of castle from over the Tees. (The curvature is due to a stitch of two photos):-

Part of castle from the bridge over the Tees. Note town sign on the wall by the road:-

Castle wall from below:-

Looking north from River Tees bridge, castle on right:-

Castle from viewpoint by River Tees:-

Closer view. The bridge over the Tees can be seen to bottom right:-

Barnard Castle is a market town in Teesdale, County Durham. It lies beside the River Tees over which there were at least two bridges.

One of these is a relatively narrow traffic-light controlled bridge which lies just below the ruins of the mediæval castle (of which more later.)

The second I got to by walking along a path by the riverside. Its purpose is more obscure:-

On the way up to it we passed this weir:-

Weir and second bridge through trees:-

The Back Burn, see here and here, runs through the old Balbirnie estate and on past Markinch.

Just near where we live it passes through a declivity. The burn isn’t easily spotted in this photo:-

It’s just to the bottom at the right here:-

It flows over some rocks about halfway along:-

There are some flatter stretches too:-

Then it forms a barrier cutting off the golf course’s 18^th fairway from the green.

Further on, looking back from beyond the golf course’s car park, you can see a second old bridge across the burn which was not undermined in the floods I mentioned here.

Another cascade:-

Flowers by the burn’s side:-

Trees by burn side:-

You can see the bridle path crossing in this one:-

Bridge over the Ceres Burn from grounds of Fife Folk Museum:-

Reverse angle:-

This bridge carries the main road (B939) through the village over the Ceres Burn:-

Castlegate Street, Ceres:-

Last August there was severe flooding in Balbirnie Park. The Back Burn even overflowed by Balbirnie Golf Club’s eighteenth green, probably due to that tree trunk stuck at the bridge. Part of the revetments had been washed away:-

Between Golf Club’s clubhouse and Balbirnie House Hotel the road was flooded:-

The area just at Balbirnie House (and Hotel) which had flooded in February 2020 did so again:-

Despite it being relatively near we had never been up Kinnoull Hill near Perth till one fine day in August last year.

It’s a lovely wooded walk up to the top.

Path to summit:-

We could see the town of Scone (pronounced Scoon) through a gap in the trees:-

At the top there’s a good view of the “silvery” River Tay as it meanders eastwards:-

This is a stitch of three photos showing the river as it flows from Perth (on the right) under the Friarton Bridge then on towards Dundee.

This is another stitch showing Perth itself:-

This one is looking north towards Dunkeld and Birnam:-

During that brief time when lockdown was lifted last year we were able to go to Edinburgh and visit the Royal Botanic Garden there, using a pre-booked and timed ticket.

As she’s keen on gardening and gardens it’s one of the good lady’s favourite places.

Planting by hothouses:-

Monkey puzzle trees (araucaria):-

Path with acer:-

“New Zealand ” section:-

Path in Botanic Garden:-

Bridge over burn:-

Waterfall from bridge:-

Waterfall video:-

Burn from bridge:-

The gardens are worth a visit at any time of year.