The Sands ...

By the time we reached the causeway, it was low tide - 

Before us were the sands - The Pilgrim's Path was marked by a line of bleached poles - 

We walked barefoot under the vast sky - 

Pious shadows followed us - 

I held a small white shell in my hand - 

I saw the shapes of clouds in the water still covering the sands - 

11.45

Wednesday July 8 2015

Holy Island

 

A night in Wooler ...

After dinner, we looked for the tourist information centre - 

The high street was empty - low clouds hid the stars - 

A wind blew down from the high hills - 

The small shops were full of hopeful wares - 

We saw a second hand bookshop brimming with jolly thrillers -

I admired the gaudy cover of Eric Leyland's Flame and the King's Ransom - 

The spies are wearing hats Martin said -

In the bar of The Bull, barrel chested men played noisy dominoes - 

I stood upon the silent pavement, remembering how we'd seen Tom Tallon's Crag - 

The uplands had been close to heaven, the hill tops veiled in memory by the rain - 

22.00

Monday 6 July 2015

Wooler

The pine wood below Ell's Knowe ...

Walking up Elsdon Burn, below Ell's Knowe, we came upon a pine wood - 

The tall trees hoarded darkness under their branches - 

The ground beneath our feet was a pelt of bleached pine needles - 

It was like walking through the pinewood in the Lantern Waste - 

I half expected to see a faun, carrying an umbrella, looking for the children of Adam ...

11.00

Monday 6 July 2015

Below Ell's Knowe

Clouds above Kirk Yetholm ...

As we followed Bowmount Water towards Kirk Yetholm, I glanced upwards at the clouds  - 

Above Crookedshaws Hill, a vast wolf stretched out its vaporous paws -

Giants dissolved into misty chaos above Wideopen Hill - 

The sky darkened - 

Three swifts fell from heaven - 

Two noble horses with long curving eyelashes gazed out over the valley - 

A butterfly with wings of delicate brocade danced above the grass - 

I remembered the blue eyes of the man walking to John O Groats in memory of his wife - 

16.00

Sunday 5 July 2015

Kirk Yetholm

Sipping Ossian ...

Four gentle drunks stood before the bar of the Templehall Inn - 

They were sipping Ossian - 

They spoke, very carefully, in slurred languorous sentences - 

He lived just down the road one of them said - he never spoke a word to me for years - 

We'd just arrived - we'd walked ten miles through dark woods and fields of ripening barley - 

Huge clouds had filled the sky - we'd heard skylarks singing -

We saw one, high above a billowing field - 

The ancient wind blew against our sunburnt faces - 

18.30

Saturday 4 July 2015

Templehall Inn

Morebattle

Paddling in the Tweed ...

I took my boots and thick socks off - 

The smooth white stones by the river bank were warm beneath my bare feet - 

I walked out into the wide shining river - 

My walking companions stayed near the shade of the beech trees - 

The water flowed over my feet and ankles - 

Tiny fish darted over my toes -

A heron skulked upon the other bank like a sly assassin - 

Joyous sand martins shimmied through the air -

Standing now knee deep in the river, I wanted this moment to go on forever - 

11.00

Friday 3 July 2015

Southern bank of the Tweed

near Benrig

The Old Grocery ...

Alison of Dunfermline House said that one of us had to go round the corner - 

There'd been a double booking - 

So I ended up in a high ceilinged attic room in The Old Grocery - 

From my window I could see the rooftops of Melrose and the Eildon Hills - 

Malcolm uncorked a bottle of red - 

We sat on a small balcony, above the sun drenched wynd - 

My father was a coach maker Malcolm said - he could shape wood in any shape he wanted - 

Malcolm's wife poured me a brimming bumper in a heavy glass - 

I said how much I admired the house - 

When I bought it Malcolm said no one had lived in it for three years - 

17.00

Wednesday 1 July 2015

The Old Grocery

Melrose