Longtown

We arrived early, I watched Charlie unload three ewes and lambs then show his transportation book. Unloading sheep begins early but most turn up minutes before the end. Here an Armstrong transport lorry delivers a flock of sheep, home of the Armstrong clan is only a few miles up the road at wee Gilnockie tower.

They place sawdust on the floors of these gated pens, so the sheep don't slip.

Outside of the auction hall is painted in garish blue, inside was pictured last month.

Charlie claimed he wasn't emotional, but wanted to visit the sheep that he'd looked after, for almost three generations. Today we said goodbye to monster sheep but this is Ewes and Lambs day, nothing here, will be sold on for slaughter.

In the opposite pen, were Blue faced Leicester's, originally from the North East of England. A man complimented us on our Zwartble breed called these sheep Leicester Camels. The women in the cafe were unsociable, second visits are always sour, and I tasted that in the breakfast they served us. Returning to the farm Charlie stopped at Ewes water to use the public facilities whilst I took a foot dip in a shallow length of river.

We were extremely low on petrol once returned to the farmhouse. As the sheep were fed and watered, we found a lamb alone, unsteady on her feet. Charlie asserted the lamb had eaten too much wheat, and was drunk, the diarrhoea from its stomach attempting to unblock an acuminated restriction. Charlie rang the market and found we had made for the sale of the sheep, the number given over the phone was what he had predicted.

After a stroll around Hawick high street, purchasing two dresses and a practice chanter, we returned to my flat. I cooked Charlie a favourite family casserole named Panackelty, with the exact same ingredients my mother used when I was hungry at the dinner table as a wee child. My mother was 1 of 12 children; I have over thirty cousins around the North East of England although none of them talk or want to know me!