Anyone know what this is?

Specific board for this popular undertaking.
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Brianjeff50
Posts: 210
Joined: 17 Jul 2019, 1:50pm

Anyone know what this is?

Post by Brianjeff50 »

IMG_2823 2.jpeg


Spotted by the road somewhere just north of Gretna Green. A lot of Lejoggers seem to have seen it too but no-one knows what it is.
Bmblbzzz
Posts: 6258
Joined: 18 May 2012, 7:56pm
Location: From here to there.

Re: Anyone know what this is?

Post by Bmblbzzz »

It's a monument to the French painter Toulouse-Lautrec, who while on a cycling holiday in 1892 married a barmaid in a short ceremony in Gretna Green.

Or maybe it isn't. A local paper or the relevant parish council (or whatever they're called in Scotland) might be a good source of info? Or the tourist board?
Brianjeff50
Posts: 210
Joined: 17 Jul 2019, 1:50pm

Re: Anyone know what this is?

Post by Brianjeff50 »

This seems to be the closest I can get to any information about it.

https://www.trucknetuk.com/phpBB/viewto ... 2&t=161178

And this may be where more recent tales have originated.

https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/paul-toulouse2

Seems extraordinary that it’s fascinated people for years and remains a mystery. It’s in the Moffat/Beattock area by the old A74.
Nessie23
Posts: 91
Joined: 13 Sep 2020, 1:19pm
Location: Warwickshire

Re: Anyone know what this is?

Post by Nessie23 »

I think that is in Paulatic’s neck of woods and he might have some local knowledge.
backnotes
Posts: 619
Joined: 16 Jan 2011, 8:36am

Re: Anyone know what this is?

Post by backnotes »

A few more clues - according to Google, it’s a sculpture of a hot air balloon, by Breton artist Stefanie Bourne, and is one of the Sustrans artworks.

https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Sustrans_artwork

138 Toulouse - Mongolfiere (1997). - Sculpture by Stefanie Bourne SCOTLAND Moffat

https://www.deveron-projects.com/stefanie-bourne/ has no further info.

Haven’t found what the link between Moffatt, hot air balloons and Toulouse is yet! The first hot air balloon flight in Scotland seems to have been in Edinburgh, so it’s not that.

PS someone could start a quiz where people have to identify places and unusual objects that can be seen while on cycle touring holidays - you could it something like the Lockdown Non-Touring Quiz.....
bogmyrtle
Posts: 967
Joined: 5 Mar 2008, 10:29pm

Re: Anyone know what this is?

Post by bogmyrtle »

I always understood it was a shelter on the Glasgow Toulouse cycle route put there when the road was upgraded to motorway.
A bike does more miles to the banana than a Porsche.
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