Wednesday 6th September 2023
The weather forecasters are predicting the hottest day of the year over most of the UK – and we are in September. Fortunately the north-east is due to be cooled by some early mist and breezes off the North Sea. We awoke to a misty sky but even by 7am when I went to get today’s paper, I was comfortable in shirt sleeves.
We had a quick set up; leaving one car at Tyninghame Beach car park (£2.50 by card) and driving back to the nature reserve at Aberlady. We were surprised by the number of cars there at 8.30 am. Jill suggested it was dog walkers but dogs are not allowed in the reserve. We crossed the long, wooden bridge which has some alarmingly worn and springy slats as well as a few new ones replacing slats that had presumably broken or deemed unsafe. There were also quite a few new blue ones bearing the messages “nature reserve” and “no dogs please”.
Once over we followed the Nature reserve path through the dunes where there were occasional direction markers. The map shows a path closer the the shore but there seemed to be no evidence of it any longer. The dunes extend much further than when OS lasted surveyed the area because though we were still in deep marram grass the satmap thought we were well out on the sand banks of the intertidal zone.
When we did get to Gullane Sands there was a wide sandy beach with some campers up by the dunes edge and a number of walkers.
At the north end of the bay, we clambered up onto the dunes and followed a good path around the edge of the golf course until we came to the car park for Gullane Bents. Then we went back down onto the beach and followed it to the far end before reverting to walking in the dunes when the beach became too rocky.
We walked to the far end of Gullane Bay and came across an elderly gentleman and his two dogs with a bag and litter-picker in hand (the man, not the dogs – obviously). We always admire those devoted souls who collect up plastic waste from our beaches; it is a never-ending task. I thanked him for his efforts and he asked after our walk and when we explained what we were doing, he asked whether we were walking right round all the sea-lochs. He said his daughter and her friend had walked round the coast a few years ago but had cajoled local boat owners into ferrying them across whenever possible – but when he asked how far we had walked and compared the distance with hers, we realised she had “only” walked around the Scottish coast. He congratulated us and wished us well for the completion of our journey.
At Hanging Rocks a wooden ramp facilitates getting off the beach. A couple just appeared coming down the ramp, we got into conversation and they offered to take our photograph.
The path took us through the dunes past a row of huge, new houses each to a different design.
This brought us to Broad Sands, a wide, sandy beach. The sky was still a bit overcast even though it was not far short of noon and the gentle breeze meant it was still a very comfortable temperature.
Fidra is a small island divided by a tidal isthmus. It is a nesting site for puffins and numbers are increasing since the removal of Tree Mallow which was blocking the puffin burrows. The plant may have been introduced by the lighthouse keepers.
As we approached North Berwick, the conical hill, North Berwick Law which stands over the town comes into view.
We walked past the North Berwick Lifeboat Station which brought back memories of our last visit to the town in 1990, just before our son, Joe, started primary school. We were staying with Jill’s brother, Andy, who lived in Edinburgh at the time and had come to see North Berwick where there was a Lifeboat and Air-Sea Rescue helicopter demonstration going on.
North Berwick was busy and we decided not to search out a café but found a suitable bench where we could eat our sandwiches. From North Berwick, a short beach walk took us to Rugged Knowes and yet another golf course. There is no path marked on the map but, on the ground, an easy path follows the coast – sometimes on the beach and sometimes just beside it. Various paths mean that it would be walkable whatever the state of the tide.
The Bass Rock lighthouse was established in 1902, the engineer being David Stevenson, the grandson of Robert Stevenson who built to Bell Rock lighthouse. The Bass Rock lighthouse was automated in 1988 but was visited in the 1970s by Keith Allardyce (At Scotland’s Edge) when it still had resident lighthouse keepers. One of them, Kenny Weir, told Keith, “This is my third paraffin-lamp station, I prefer the oil lamps; you can care for them, and you can repair them yourself. You don’t know what you’re doing with the electrical systems fitted in some towers. Yes, you have to carry paraffin up the tower here every day and pump the stuff during the night, and you can smell it too, but you don’t care. You can’t smell much out here after a while anyway, except the gannets”
At Canty Bay the path ascends the cliff steeply to the Drift café which was doing a roaring trade but was much too short-staffed to be worth us waiting. We continued along the road, past Tantallon Castle which we know is enclosed by fences, charges admission and is not amenable to being walked through.
We continued along the road to Auldhame where a private road leads to the beach. At the carpark, the road ends. There is a track which goes past Seacliffe but we decided to cross some fields instead. The beach, though sandy soon becomes rocky. We crossed a field which had some cows and calves but no bull as the sign claimed.
On leaving the field, we came to a fine stone wall and a track which took us to Scoughhill where we got onto the sand. We then walked the entire length of Peffer Sands and Ravensheugh until we had to leave the beach at Links wood to reach the Tyninghame Beach car park. The Links wood is very overgrown and has many fallen trees. It is definitely best to stick to the well-defined route off the beach.
Just Coasting 