CAPTURE NEW HORIZONS

Today we took a  ride out to Abbey St Bathans with the intention of walking out to see the Edin's Hall Broch, a 2000 year old round house that was very rare in the south of Scotland. The walking route took us along part of the Southern Upland Way and followed the Whiteadder Water and the circular route was about 7 miles in length following the well marked Abbey St Bathans pathway. The Broch is perched high above the river valley and there are great views all around.  The Broch itself is very visible and there is evidence of other buildings in the same area. Not much is known about why this structure, which is more common in west and north Scotland, was built in this location and whether the other building were part of the same settlement or were built in another period. HISTORY OF EDIN'S HALL BROCH Text from Historic Environment Scotland website The broch, or roundhouse, at Edin’s Hall is just one part of a complex site. ...

In the village of Abbey St Bathans is a beautiful small church, Kirk of Lammermuir, which is situated on the bank of Whiteadder Water close to the footbridge for the Souther Upland Way that spans the river.  On my way back to the car I took some time to walk around the church yard and take some pictures of the Kirk and the gravestones. HISTORY The village of Abbey St Bathans has two main claims to fame. The first is its appearance at the top of any alphabetical list of Scottish settlements. The second, rather oddly given its name, is that it has never been home to an abbey. That is slightly misleading because in about 1200 a small Cistercian priory of 12 nuns was founded here by Ada, Countess of Dunbar. The site was chosen because it was believed to have been that previously used for a tiny chapel established by St Bathan, a follower of St Columba, in the late 500s. The priory comprised a small church and an accompanying collection of domestic buildings. ...

If you read Saturday morning's blog about the rusty railings in Breedon Priory Church Yard you'll know that I am drawn to interesting objects that have interesting colours or textures.   On Saturday morning I was exploring around the village of Abbey St Bathans in the Lammermuir Hills and came across this wonderful building at the edge of the village.  I can only assume it must have been the village hall or some such other public building (I don't know for sure).   The structure is made of wooden sides with a corrugated iron roof that was painted in bright blue and red colours.  But time has taken its toll and the paint is peeling and flaking off leaving the wooden structure exposed to the elements. The colours are still vibrant and in amongst the surrounding green trees and fields the building does stand out.  I used the Fujifilm X-T1 and either the 56mm f1.2, 55-200mm f3.5/48 or 10-24mm f4 lenses to capture these images in the bright sunshine. ...

The Southern Upland Way is Britain's first official coast to coast long distance foot-path. It runs 212 miles (340 km) from Portpatrick on the south-west coast of Scotland to Cockburnspath in the east and just 9-miles from Dunbar, where the John Muir Way begins and takes walkers 130 miles (215km) to Helensburgh in the east. The route takes walkers through the beautiful village of Abbey St Bathans in the Lammermuir Hills alongside Whiteadder Water.  The path follows the river for a mile before heading east towards Cockburnpath. On Saturday I walked this small part of the Southern Upland Way and also through the village itself in the warm spring sunshine.  The colours of leaves and wildflowers were breathtaking and the only noise came from the wind in the trees, the bird song and the bubbling of the water on the rock in the nearby river. There are also some walks on the bank of Whiteadder Water that are not part of the Southern Upland Way but are worthy of me...