I don’t know whether the bees on these flowers are English or Scottish but it is very easy for them to fly across the river from Coldstream here in Scotland to England on the other side. It was not so easy for invading armies to cross the border before the distant bridge was built in 1766. During centuries of conflict many buildings in Coldstream were damaged by the armies as they made their way across the lowest place at which the Tweed could be forded and 10,000 Scots, including the king, were killed at the Battle of Flodden just across the border in 1513. Now it is no longer the main route from England into Scotland and is a tranquil place as most border traffic uses three other roads.
On our way to visit friends who are holidaying nearby, we stopped briefly this morning but the bridge was in shadow and unfortunately on our return, when it should have been in the sun, the sky was covered totally in cloud.
 
This view of the Tweed is about 45 kilometres downstream from last Tuesday’s blip at Melrose and about 30 km from the sea at Berwick