My Beautiful Country

Hi everyone, seeing as I am new to Steemit I thought I would post some images of the country I live in, I captured these images a week ago on my way to and from my day job as a Traffic Management Operative or in simple terms a guy who puts traffic lights up for people to carry out work on roads, I hope you enjoy them it's such a stunning and peaceful place to live and work.

This first photo is from a place called Biggar in southwest Scotland, A royal burgh since 1451, Biggar still retains its medieval layout. The main street is lined with centuries-old houses and Biggar Kirk dates from the 16th century. Biggar has associations with various historical figures, including William Wallace and Bonnie Prince Charlie.

One of the town’s main attractions is a world famous Victorian puppet theatre. Biggar also has some wonderful museums, including the Biggar & Upper Clydesdale Museum and the Biggar Gasworks Museum, the only preserved gas works in Scotland. At the Albion Museum, vehicles made the commercial vehicle manufacturer Albion Motors are displayed, some of which date back to 1899. The town hosts an annual arts festival, the Biggar Little Festival, every October. Another yearly event is the Biggar Bonfire, an ancient custom that takes place on Hogmanay and dates back to pagan times, the swans look happy enough even though it's -4 degrees.

Next up we have what's known as the devils beef tub, The Devil’s Beef Tub is one of the south of Scotland’s most striking landmarks. Situated five miles north of the border town of Moffat, this cavernous landscape hollow is nestled between the peaks of Annanhead Hill, Peat Hill, Great Knowe and Ercistane Hill - while the waters of the Annan River flow through its valleys. Sir Walter Scott captured the location and appearance of the Beef Tub in his novel ‘The Red Gauntlet’ as he wrote: “It looks as if four hills were laying their heads together, to shut out daylight from the dark hollow space between them. A damned deep, black, blackguard-looking abyss of a hole it is.”

Also worth noting and it can't be seen from this photo as the road is behind me is that it is a narrow road with just some small railings to stop you from going over the edge which is a few hundred feet drop, there is actually an old jeep from years ago at the bottom where a woman went off the edge at night all the way to the bottom and actually survived, the jeep is still there as there is no winch cable long enough to reach it.

My third photo is from passing the grey mares tail waterfall just passed Moffat in southwest Scotland, usually flowing but not today, I had to look twice when I seen a guy climbing the frozen waterfall, The waterfall plunges 60m down into the Moffat Water Valley, a landscape created by glacial erosion over millions of years.

Grey Mare’s Tail is a superb example of a hanging valley and is important for its rare upland plants and wildlife. The area boasts a rich human history as well, dating back to at least the Iron Age. It has strong links to the 17th-century Covenanters, who used Watch Knowe as a lookout point in the valley to keep an eye out for government troops.

My fourth photo is from a historical town called Moffat, Moffat is a historic spa town in the Annandale Valley, 21 miles from Dumfries, and just 3 minutes from the M74, a place I take my kids in the summer as this park usually has small play boats and park etc, but in this weather not so much.

Moffat’s wide, tree-lined high street retains many of its original characteristics and the town has strong connections with both the Moffat and Johnstone clans.

A sheep farming town in years gone by, this history is depicted by the Ram Statue on the high street. The Devil’s Beef Tub, a large depression in ground north of the town, aided the sheep and cattle rustlers who operated in the area, allowing them a place to hide the animals before moving them on.

This one is just outside Moffat and I am sure if sheep could talk they would be saying get me out of here it's freezing, how these guys cope is beyond me, hard as nails.

Last two photos but by no means least is Tweedsmuir, The picturesque village of Tweedsmuir is situated beside the River Tweed, three miles west of Peebles in the Scottish Borders.

The Tweedsmuir area is an excellent location for those who want to escape the rigours of everyday life and enjoy some walking, biking and wildlife watching. Robert Burns stayed at the Crook Inn, a 17th century drover inn, and wrote the poem Willie Wastle’s Wife.

Well that's all I managed to get on my travels folks and I hope you agree it's a beautiful place to live and work, not the warmest this time of year but the views make up for the cold weather, I will be sure to post more as I travel all over Scotland doing my job, some of the views I have seen are unbelievable.

Thanks for taking the time to view a small snippet of my country Scotland.