Waking in John Muir Country Park
We slept like babies and even slept in—only a little bit, but we slept it, which is unusual for us. I didn't consider it a big deal, considering we spent the evening sitting outside watching the sun set until... well, I don't know, late!
It felt nice to take the morning slow. Breakfast, brew and packing up. Eve sometimes needs help packing up in the morning, as she gets distracted by things, such as trees, grass, bugs, etc., and, in fact, anything. This morning, she sat quietly, almost meditating. Watching the sun set last night was spectacular, and I think it still resonated somewhere inside her. I left her alone and packed up around her.
Once packed, we did our usual quick sweep of the area, ensuring we hadn't left anything, rubbish, tent pegs, etc. I was sure we hadn't forgotten anything!
We clombed down the slight embankment onto the beach and headed towards the John Muir Trail on a hastily planned alternative, avoiding the broken bridge.
The morning after in John Muir Country Park. Packing up and heading off...
The long slog back to camp... (4 miles in total)
Leaving camp, we walked up a narrow track beside the estuary, listening to waterfowl sing and chirp away in the warming morning sun. It was a lovely walk, and we passed a few dog walkers heading in the opposite direction.
Before we leave camp, we always aim to drink at least half a litre of water each, making going to the toilet an imminent requirement as we start walking! Given how warm it was getting this morning, the need to stop and relieve oneself was slightly delayed! When the need arrived, we were further from last night's camp than usual—nearly two miles, to be precise!
That's when we realised... or Eve realised...
Eve had left her Kula Cloth hanging on the back of a tree. For those who don't know, a Kula Cloth is a female pee cloth! Eve has one, as they cost nearly £20 each. Although we would love to get her a spare one, they're too expensive to buy another one 'just in case'.
Obviously, we were not going to leave her Kula Cloth hanging on a tree! Not only because of the cost, but it would also be littering... and we never do that!
So we turned around and, rather annoyingly and frustratingly, started the nearly two-mile walk back to where we camped last night, to find Eve's Kula Cloth exactly where Eve had left it. If you look at the photographs below of Eve, you will see one with her Kula cloth and one without. The 'before' and 'after'...!
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Walking through farmers fields and onto the A198
Tyninghame village & a surprise coffee shop!
Our route to avoid the bridge that had caused us so many issues the day before was to walk along the John Muir Way from the John Muir Country Park until we reached the A198. From here, we would turn right into the village of Tyninghame to find a way through the maze of footpaths at Tyningham House and eventually into Fir Links Wood on the coast.
This came with one rather unsuspecting benefit: the village of Tyninghame had a small coffee shop! I didn't realise that when we were planning our route last night, but it was a nice surprise.
What was a bigger surprise was the price! It's expensive. On the wall in the coffee shop, they have gone to great lengths to show that none other than Mary Berry likes to frequent the establishment. The coffee shop was delightful, but I couldn't swallow the expense, so we kept it simple: a fresh apple juice for Eve and a can of Coke for me. They were cold and refreshing, and the lovely staff topped up our water bottles.
Apart from he cost, it's a beautiful place and I highly recommend it. The food and cake they were serving looked exquisite!
After our drink, backpacks on, we headed off again in search of the Tyninghame House...
Tyninghame House with cows, bulls, calves and the doomsday bridge
Tyninghame House is splendid. We didn't get close, but it looked magnificent against the bright blue sky. A regal home for a privileged member of the British aristocracy.
In our route planning last night, I found a map on the Tyninghame Village website with some walks through the estate. Perfect. It was on this map that I planned to get back onto the coast, avoiding the bridge!
The routes were good but confusing, as there were signs saying 'no access' and directions for walkers through a field with warning signs of bulls, cows, and calves, and you know how we feel about them!
We decided to keep to the mapped route and walk on, albeit briefly, passing the 'no access' signs. As soon as we could, we climbed a gate, entered a field to get back onto the footpath towards the woodland we could see opposite. We passed a lovely ruin that I think was a chapel, and an elderly lady gardening. We walked past without eye contact, fearing that we would be told to go back! I wasn't keen on backtracking for the second day, so we plodded on quietly.
As we walked, we could see the bridge we had reached and couldn't cross the day before. It felt great to see the bridge from this side of the river. By this point in the day, we were over half a day behind where I thought we would be. Not that it matters, as we usually walk with very little plan or time agenda.
There was a small moment here when we considered our route again. Should we aim for the bridge and handrail the river into the woodland, or carry on along our new chosen route? We chose the latter, fearing another blockage to our route. Our new route had more alternatives that could easily be used in case of an issue!
Before long, and with a massive sense of relief, we reached the closest point of Fir Links Wood, climbed the gate and entered the woodland.
A big (massive) thank you!
Once again, thank you so much for treating us to a drink! Your kindness means the world to us, and we’re so genuinely grateful for your support. Thanks to you, Eve and I enjoyed a wonderful cold and refreshing drink today! Your generosity always brightens our day, and we truly appreciate it. Thank you, Ian & Eve
Tyninghame House chapple and bridge we failed to cross the day before!
Into Fir Links Wood
Fir Links Wood was beautiful. Forests are our second-favourite hiking environment, and this one was no exception. It was delightful, with a subtle mix of energy and calmness that seeped into us and made us feel immediately at home. We walked until we reached a spot out of view of Tyninghame House and the surrounding fields for a break and relief in knowing we were back on the correct path.
We sat on the forest floor and had a snack and drink while wasps buzzed about, annoying us. As we watched the wasps, we would have stayed longer, but soon realised that we had stopped right next to a wasp's nest. The wasps were flying in and out of a dead standing tree with some regularity, so we made a quick retreat, continuing towards the coast.
We vowed to have another break soon, preferably overlooking the coast!
Fir Links wood went from open old woodland to a mixture of commercial forestry with thick, tall bracken that hid the path beneath its dense canopy. We continued until the woodland opened up again and started giving us glimpses of the estuary and the coast further out. The highlight was disturbing several deer feeding on the long grass. I wasn't quick enough to get a good photograph, but I did manage to capture the last one before it jumped into thick undergrowth and out of sight. It was a wonderful, brief encounter!
Fir Links Wood
Back on the coast... and what a relief!
Pushing further through Fir Links wood and into Links Wood, we got back on the coast. It was such a relief to be back on the coast on the opposite side of the estuary. We walked following a sandy forest path on the estuary's edge. This was delightful but hard walking, as the path was anything but flat. Going up and down like a children's rollercoaster zapped our energy quickly as the sun climbed higher and hotter as the day went on.
However, being in a forest under a hot sun has its benefits, with the worst of the heat getting blotted out and replaced by the dappled shade of the canopy above us.
We walked past countless concrete blocks, relics of World War II coastal defences. You see many of these coastal defences around anywhere with a flat open beach, which would have worked well for an invading force! It's a sobering reminder of how lucky we are in this country to have the freedom and liberty to walk where we choose and even to publish our journals on the internet for you to read!
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Links Wood, back on the coast. Eve even found a rope swing!
Links Wood Peninsula
Links Wood doesn't have a peninsula, but it felt like it when sitting on a grassy rocky outcrop, so for this journal section, I'm calling it a peninsula! I hope you don't mind?
We made the small detour to follow a path that looked, well... interesting!
Part of the freedom of not having strict time scales or the burden of having to be somewhere at a specific time is having the freedom to wander, so that's basically what we did. And so glad that we did. The views this 'peninsular' gave us were spectacular in every direction!
We sat (again) for a while close to the small ciarn by St Baldred's Cradle, watching walkers cicaling around us. We sat elevated to the highest point. For a brief time, we felt like the rhyme of the 18th-century children's game... "I'm the king of the castle, you're the dirtiest rascal". Childish, I know, but fun nonetheless!
After sitting for a while, we carried on walking, dropping down and onto the main path below us, around the edge of the peninsula, through a small wooded area and onto the Bathan's Sands.
Links Wood Perninsula. Well worth a walk around if your in the area!
Ravensheugh Sands and Peffer Sands
After the challanges of the previous day and the morning getting through Tyninghame House, seeing the Ravensheugh Sands and Peffer Sands was a welcome relief. We had officially (according to Eve and me) left that entire section behind.
The beach started with crossing a small flat area of rock, which only heightened our excitement for the golden sandy beach just a few feet ahead.
As soon as we were on the beach, we headed straight for the water's edge, passing some cliffs on our right that made us feel sandwiched between the rock and sea. It's always a good feeling, but it still unnerves us not wanting to become stranded by an incoming tide. This clearly wasn't a risk today, but the nerves still kicked in!
Despite the images' less-than-warm appearance, the weather was hot and getting hotter due to poor colour saturation.
We spent most of the last few days in a battle between the sun and staying cool, to being able to carry and drink enough water to prevent head exhaustion from kicking in. We were doing a good job considering the heat and lack of water sources.. Beaches like this, where the cool(er) sea breeze could wash over us like the tide on a sandy beach, felt as refreshing and revitalising.
We walked in the shire, shoes tied to our backpacks, enjoying the cooling sensation of the water and breeze.
Oh no... people, lots of people!
As we walked along the beach, we could hear a lot of commotion further ahead and saw a large group of people on the water's edge, appearing to pour water over one particular adult! I have no idea what was happening, but they were all clearly enjoying it, and the excitement in the group was contagious. We watched a poor man getting half-drowned with buckets of water being thrown willingly over his head.
We knew we would have to pass them and hoped they might have dispersed by the time we got there, but they didn't. As we got closer, we could see they were mainly children with a few adults looking after them. I didn't realise this by looking at the maps, but there is a huge holiday camp for children here. Or, at least, that is what I think it is.
A change of plan put us in the middle of the children!
The original plan was to walk right past the group, towards the cliffs, to find a path onto the cliffs to continue around the coast. Unfortunately, this wasn't the case. Getting closer to the cliffs, we could see there was no obvious route!
We decided to follow the river as it spilt out onto the beach, following a path slightly inland to pick up a track that would lead us to the coast again. The only issue was that it would take us right past the group and through the edge of their camp.
As we got nearer, we hoped the group would stay at the water's edge long enough for us to pass by, but as we sat down to clean our feet and put our shoes back on, the group turned and ran towards their camp, with us between them.
I wasn't too worried for myself, but I was worried for Eve, not wanting her to become overwhelmed by the noise. I think Eve is gradually getting better with this level of noise around her as she grows older. She managed it well, and I was incredibly proud of her. However, we didn't linger.
Shoes and socks on, surrounded by creaming and shouting children, still feeding from the adrenaline of nearly drowning one of their leaders, we pushed on through the edge of their camp and onto a solid farmer's road.
The noise of the children slowly subsided in the silence. We were alone once more.
Walking through Scoughall (camp) towards Seacliff
There's not much to say about this wee section except that it was good, clean, and quick walking. We stopped again, sitting in the road to clear more sand from our feet and trainers, and walked through a ginormous arable field.
En route, we passed a huge caravan park with flags flying and a small holding with miniature ponies, one of which looked like a zebra. From this higher elevation, the views over the coast were splendid.
Bass Rock looked particularly beautiful, with the sunlight highlighting all the details on the rock.
Eventually Seacliff starteed to come into view...
Inland walking towards Seacliff passing a campsite and some Shetland Ponies (can you see a zebra?)
Seacliff - an unexpected, much-needed facility!
Seacliff came as a surprise. We weren't sure what to expect from Seacliff, but we didn't expect to see a grassy car park, horses, and a public facility. It was a very, very welcome surprise. Although we were both tired and weary by this point, Eve had a burst of energy. Eve powered walked ahead, leaving me in her wake. I called to her several times to slow down so that I could catch her up. She did, reluctantly!
Despite the picture showing 11 cars, by the time we were down there, all but two had left. Although we could hear people on the beach, the car park was deserted. This gave us the perfect and much-needed opportunity to clean ourselves!
Strip wash and clean cloths!
I have very rarely, if ever, discussed personal hygiene while walking and how to manage it, and although this journal isn't the place to do it (I will write a dedicated post on the subject at some point), I will tell you roughly what we do and why!
Why have a strip wash? We have spent the last few days sweating and getting covered in salt water, which can lead to chafing, fungal infections, odour, and potentially illness if we don't manage it effectively!
So... the toilet block had one unused facility on the far right that people clearly didn't see so we decided to use it clean up!
How do we strip wash? Using a buff and some soap (ether in the facility, but I do carry a small bottle of liquid soap), we would wash the body's vital parts, in this order... 1. Face, 2. Pits, 3. Groin, 4. Feet! We focus on the pits and groin, drying ourselves with a small microfibre towel, leaving no mess in the facility.
How about clean clothes? Using the same liquid soap, I hand-washed out our essential clothing items: socks, pants, a bra, and a T-shirt, so we could put on clean clothes. I dried the wet ones on our backpacks as we walked or in camp overnight! If it's particularly warm or early in the day, put the wet cloths back on and they will dry using our body heat!
Wild camping on Seacliff Beach
Now that we were clean and refreshed, the next item on the agenda was to find somewhere to camp for the night! Between us, we had decided to stay on the beach at Seacliff! Nothing but a tsunami would prevent that. We were both exhausted by this point, needed to rest, and needed some food!
We walked from the car park through a small gap in the hedge to emerge onto a wide, open, golden sandy beach. The beach was remarkably busy, considering there were only two cars in the car park. I didn't know at this point that there was another car park up the hill on the far end of the beach!
We immediately knew we wouldn't camp there in the middle of everybody, so we headed to the right, passing people who gave us both odd and bewildering looks. Nobody said anything, but we could both feel their eyes boring into our backs.
We left the sandy beach, walked over some rocks and found nowhere to camp except a very small, lumpy area squeezed between a fence and the rocky shore.
It was a perfect spot for us for one night. We set our bags down and immediately started cooking dinner, even before pitching the tent, looking over towards the mighty Bass Rock. It was perfect. We were together, clean, fed, watered, and had a home for the night. What more could anybody ever want or need? Except Sarah, of course!!!
After dinner, while I put the tent up, Eve wanted to build a campfire. I wasn't sure she would be able to get one going, considering the frugal amount of firewood available, but how wrong was I? Within minutes, Eve had a fire burning and was feeding it with a pile of sticks she had gathered on the shoreline!
I know I say it all the time, but these are the best moments of my life, and we both feel more at home than being inside any pile of bricks and mortar most people call 'home'! This is where I belong, in the outdoors, hiking and exploring, and Eve is always at her best!
We sat on the beach for the rest of the night until tiredness got the better of us both, and we retired to our little tent to fall asleep with the sound of the waves lapping the rocks, creating a symphony of sounds and vibrations. It was soothing and quickly took us both into a deep slumber.
Wild camping on the beach at Seacliff and Eve's awesome camp fire!
I hope you enjoyed this journal. Please consider supporting us. Your support means so much and helps us more than I can possibly tell you. Thank you. Ian 🙏🏻
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Ian Alderman
Day 4 - Seacliff Beach to Broadsands, North Berwick
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