{"id":4238,"date":"2012-08-01T20:33:02","date_gmt":"2012-08-01T19:33:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ablogfrommydog.com\/contents1a\/?p=4238"},"modified":"2012-08-05T19:37:06","modified_gmt":"2012-08-05T18:37:06","slug":"moffat-bronze-ram-and-riverside-walks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ablogfrommydog.com\/contents1a\/2012\/08\/moffat-bronze-ram-and-riverside-walks\/","title":{"rendered":"Moffat: Bronze ram and riverside walks"},"content":{"rendered":"

Moffat in Scotland was our destination on Monday as we headed north up the A74 (M) for about an hour.<\/p>\n

\"Close<\/a>
Close to the main car park we have a choice of walks around Moffat<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Situated about 5 minutes off the main west coast arterial transport route, we were quite surprised with what was on offer in the town and in the surrounding countryside.<\/p>\n

On metres away from the free car park<\/a> on the edge of the town we had a choice of walks.<\/p>\n

Faced with three options we decided,\u00a0well actually Charlie decided, that we would follow the path that ran along the edge of the river. He is just bonkers for water.<\/p>\n

It turns out that this walk, following the blue, red and yellow arrows also formed part of the 55 mile long\u00a0Annandale Way<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Fresh<\/a>
Fresh raspberries are found along the riverbank<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Our path followed the crystal clear Annan Water upstream and it was not long before we managed to go for a dip.<\/p>\n

Cascading and bubbling on our left hand side the cool refreshing water was great to drink and to paddle in.<\/p>\n

Lining the riverbank on our side we spotted many flowers, the usual grasses and a lot of raspberries.<\/p>\n

Scotland used to produce a lot of the red soft fruit, but in the last 20 years the production yields have fallen for many reasons.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>
A railway indicator signal in a back garden<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Investigations are being done as to why but the main causes seem to be disease and climate changes.<\/p>\n

We later learned that Moffat holds an annual walking festival<\/a>\u00a0and it was Scotland’s first ‘Walkers are Welcome’ town.<\/p>\n

After about 40 minutes of paddling and walking, Moffat had started to disappear from our right\u00a0hand side.<\/p>\n

Not wishing to head any further north, we detoured off the path and headed back towards the town.<\/p>\n

As we passed via one garden we spotted an unusual sight of a railway signal in someones back garden.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
The big bronze ram takes pride of place in the centre of Moffat, Scotland<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Do you know why it is here and where it came from? Let us know in the comments area below.<\/p>\n

Moffat Ram<\/h2>\n

Past the tennis courts and playing fields we arrived in the heart of Moffat to be greeted by the biggest sheep ever.<\/p>\n

Standing on a plinth, containing a fountain, and high above the main town square, the bronze Blackface Ram was presented to the town by\u00a0businessman William Colvin.<\/p>\n

The sculptor was William Brodie R.S.A. 1815-1881.<\/p>\n

\"R<\/a>
R Little cake shop in Moffat<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Brodie also sculpted “Greyfriars Bobby<\/a>“, a\u00a0Skye Terrier who belonged to John Gray, a night watchman for the Edinburgh police during the late 1800\u2032s.<\/p>\n

R Little Bakers<\/h3>\n

At the far end of the street on our left hand side dad spotted a licky sticky shop also known as R Little bakers.<\/p>\n

Mum was quickly dispatched with some chew money in her paw to get some goodies for our tummies.<\/p>\n

She returned a short while later carrying a big white bag with boxes, bags and a lot of nice sniffables.<\/p>\n

Heading back towards the car we spotted Station Park and thought this would an ideal place to have our lunch.<\/p>\n

\"Big<\/a>
Big swans and dragons sail across the Moffat boating lake<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Overlooking the boating lake and with the pitch and put lawn behind us, we settled down on a park bench and helped mum and dad eat their meat and potato pie and crisps.<\/p>\n

Whilst we sat, encouraging mum to share every mouthful, we kept an eye on some of the biggest birds we have ever seen.<\/p>\n

Gliding across the boating lake a flock of white swans were being chased by a big scary green dragon.<\/p>\n

Charlie was not really phased but I stood on guard and, as they approached, I\u00a0barked at them to keep away.<\/p>\n

\"Dowding<\/a>
Dowding Memorial, Station Park, Moffat<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Mum did try to explain that they were plastic boats but I was taking no chances and was not going to risk them getting one lick of our pies.<\/p>\n

Dowding Memorial, Moffat<\/h4>\n

Not far from the main entrance to Station Park is a three piece sandstone \u00a0memorial to one of Moffats heros.<\/p>\n

Air Chief Marshal Hugh Dowding, \u00a0was born in the town during 1882.<\/p>\n

He became Commander-in-Chief of Fighter Command from July 1936 to November 1940<\/p>\n

Dowding is credited with masterminding the RAF’s victory in the Battle of Britain<\/a> against the Germans during 1940.<\/p>\n

He died in 1970 in Tunbridge Wells in Kent.<\/p>\n

The Royal Air Forces Association<\/a> opened a sheltered housing property in the town during 1988.<\/p>\n

Converted from\u00a0<\/strong>the private school buildings in which his father had taught,\u00a0St Ninians school,\u00a0 the Dowding House offers\u00a0of 26 self contained apartments.<\/p>\n

Duly refueled with plenty of fresh water from the river and suitably exercised, we headed across the road and snuggled up on the back seat of the car for our journey home.<\/p>\n

Until next time<\/p>\n

Big licks<\/p>\n

Buster and Charlie<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Moffat in Scotland was our destination on Monday as we headed north up the A74 (M) for about an hour.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":79,"featured_media":4242,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5,681],"tags":[1453,4573,4583,87,1330,715,4585,1465,4580,4581,4586,4572,4578,4577,4579,983,527,65,4575,626,4576,1434,1163],"class_list":["post-4238","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-expeditions","category-featured","tag-a74","tag-bronze","tag-climate-changes","tag-countryside","tag-edge-of-the-river","tag-free-car-park","tag-further-north","tag-grasses","tag-left-hand-side","tag-production-yields","tag-railway-signal","tag-ram","tag-raspberries","tag-red-arrows","tag-refreshing-water","tag-riverbank","tag-scotland","tag-soft-fruit","tag-transport-route","tag-walkers","tag-walking-festival","tag-west-coast","tag-yellow-arrows","entry"],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/www.ablogfrommydog.com\/contents1a\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/moffat_scotland_04-600x400.jpg","featured_image_src_square":"https:\/\/www.ablogfrommydog.com\/contents1a\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/moffat_scotland_04-600x600.jpg","author_info":{"display_name":"admin","author_link":"https:\/\/www.ablogfrommydog.com\/contents1a\/author\/admin-2\/"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ablogfrommydog.com\/contents1a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4238","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ablogfrommydog.com\/contents1a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ablogfrommydog.com\/contents1a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ablogfrommydog.com\/contents1a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/79"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ablogfrommydog.com\/contents1a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4238"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/www.ablogfrommydog.com\/contents1a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4238\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4257,"href":"https:\/\/www.ablogfrommydog.com\/contents1a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4238\/revisions\/4257"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ablogfrommydog.com\/contents1a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4242"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ablogfrommydog.com\/contents1a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4238"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ablogfrommydog.com\/contents1a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4238"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ablogfrommydog.com\/contents1a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4238"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}