Yesterday our update ended after our walk in Finglandrigg Wood however, we managed to get a second walk done as we visited the King Edward 1 Monument at Burgh by Sands.
Burgh, pronounced brough as in woof, is on the Solway plain between Scotland and England and is the site possibly for the remotest monument for a monarch anywhere.
We followed the roadsigns from the village to a small car parking area and then continued on foot down a farm track.
You can see the monument in the distance slightly to your left as you walk away from the carpark.
Charlie once again was in charge and covered most ground as he sniffed first oneside of the road then the other not wishing to miss anything.
The firm, but slightly dirty, farm track led to a stile and onto the Solway Marshes.
A finger post sign indicates, as if you can’t work it out, that the monument is to your left and that we need to be kept on our leads as it is lambing time.
The grass here tasted quite salty and was quite short. In the distance were a number of sheep and we kept our distance following the faint path across the undulating marsh.
Unlike our earlier walk this land was not really too boggy so we could scamper about quite easily without getting too dirty.
As we approached the monument we noticed that it was surrounded by a small wall with very tall railings.
A padlocked gate stopped us from entering onto the actual memorial site so we walked all around to see what we could see.
As we looked out across the Solway the monument was the tallest structure for miles around and in winter this place must be horrible as no shelter could be seen.
King Edward I, or Longshanks as he was known due to his height of 1.88m, made camp here as he made one of his many campaigns against the Scots.
A plaque at the base of the sandstone monument reads
King Edward I Monument ( built 1685)
Edward I fought a long bitter campaign to conquer Scotland
Old and sick he made camp on these marshes whilst preparing to subdue his enemy Robert The Bruce.
Edward died here on July 7 1307
King Edward was laid in the nearby St Michael’s Church, in the former county of Cumberland, before being taken to Westminster Abbey in London for burial.
His tomb is marked by a simple stone slab which bears the epitaph ‘Here lies Edward, the Hammer of the Scots’.
After we had enjoyed the sunshine and had a bit of a rest we started our walk back to the car.
This meant we had to negotiate the stile again and as is now customary we did a bit of limbo and sneaked under the fence whilst mum and dad struggled to climb over the top whist holding onto our leads.
Charlie spotted a drinking trough on our journey back up the hill and just stopped, as by now he was thirsty again.
Dad reached through the fence to see if the inlet valve worked, it did, so now came the question of how to get our drink.
Dad thought he would be clever and using a trick he learnt in the Scouts many years back made a paper cup from a piece of paper. It fell apart as soon as we started to lick.
Mum then had an idea and using a small plastic bag she had in her pocket she proceeded to make a small bowl.
Fantastic, fresh clean water and loads of it.
After two walks we had started to look a bit grubby and so when we returned home it was straight to the bath and a good wash down.
We were actually very muddy and mum had to was us both twice.
We had had a great day and some fantastic new sniffs.
Until next time
Buster and Charlie.