The Henson Journals

[108]

Wednesday, August 10th, 1910. Murraythwaite.

Another glorious day. The country is at its best: & the gardens are wealthy with flowers. Mine host and I walked and talked by the bank of the Annan. Across the brown water lazily running over rocks which in many places it could not cover flashed a blue star from one bank to the other. It was a kingfisher, a rare sight in these parts.

After lunch we were taken for a long drive in the motor, right up into the hills wherein linger the ghosts of the Covenanters. We went into Kirkcudbrightshire to the very borders of Ayrshire, and had tea with the Clark Kennedys. The variety of the scenery and its restful beauty under a declining sun are treasures of memory. The country has a flourishing aspect: the fields are full of sheep & oxen; & the crops of wheat, rye, oats, & barley seem to promise a good harvest. We burst a tyre when within six miles of Murraythwaite: where we arrived a few minutes before 8 p.m.

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