Boundaries

There are some days that defy description, where words fail and when the feelings inside manifest in wetness on your face. Today was one of those.

Our prompt for Artful Adventures, Stroll through the Hood was: boundary. Thank you to Nathalie Kalbach for such a great theme and to the universe for providing the ideal day for boundary hunting. Above a picture of the first boundary, that between the Scottish Borders where we live and Midlothian where Penicuik Estate is located (only 7 miles away). The imagery on the sign refers to the days of the reivers. They were basically cattle thieves in the disputed lands between Scotland and England and are still commemorated in many towns of the Borders by so-called Common Ridings.

The boundary above is in our own little lane and consists of a tumbling down stone wall as well as barbed wire.

In the Penicuik Estate there are so many different boundaries and thanks to the prompt I kept an eye out for all for them. First of all there is this old wooden gate, with in the background the Pentland Hills.

 The Walled Garden is surrounded by boundary walls as well as the cottage set within the wall. 

As the weather was gorgeous and quite unlike the forecast we went adventuring into the woods, climbed up a steep incline and ended up in this luscious wild flower meadow. There were stiles to get in and out for us humans and a special little wire gate for doggies!

Once at the top we reached the boundary wall around the estate with magnificent views towards the Pentland Hills and the houses of Penicuik town.

The final wonderful discovery was this obelisk build into the wall. I have no idea what it signifies,  but it could have been part of a gate because we found metal brackets embedded into the stone. We have passed this place before but had never spotted this feature as it's so well hidden in the trees. But because I was so focussed on boundaries today my eye fell upon it.

Climbing over, under and across actual boundaries does wonders for overcoming mental boundaries too. I felt so relaxed and happy with my two strolling companions in tow. It was a glorious afternoon's walk that will live long in the memory.