Sunday 5 September 2010

Pugsley Harvest biking...


i think this is going to become an annual type of bike ride...
last year i rode alot of stubble fields on the pugsley but the harvest was over very quickly due to the unsettled weather. this year so far its been lovely weather and lots of fields to go ride...
Sunday i went for a dawn cycle using stubble fields all the way to the coast and home. Pugsley is great for this and its floatation makes the going easy...
its not only great on sand and snow, it just eats up this terrain...
its great exploring small corners locally via the fields and i never saw anyone except the odd car far away...the day dawned with clearing skys overhead and a cool fresh early Autumn air..
onto the 2nd field and had to jump a small ditch to get to the next one but this was going to be fun...

sun should be up by now but cloud out at sea...a lovely fresh damp air this morning...September really is a lovely month...

a gentle downhill ahead...

you`ve seen this old derelict farm before but from the other side from my work...now owned by a larger farm...

mostly freewheeled down to here...was a silent morning with no wind...just the noise of the pugsleys tyres crunching over the stubble....

this cottage has been empty since the 1970s...shame as such a scenic view from here..

took the same picture here a few days back whilst at work and on a er... detour on the John Deere gator...

the view south on my left where i had just ridden from...day was warming up now...

a woodland strip between fields and a deep ditch too wide to jump...luckily i found a bridge!

heading east for the coast now and 2 view points you can only cycle to at harvest time...

down the field to the coast and the view above Seacliff Beach...

along the cliff top field to Tantallon Castle...

a very low tide exposing the rocks...



soaking up the views...





across the coast road at Castleton and across another field to a building that was part of the WW2 Gin Head Radar Station...



wonder what this winding handle is on an electric motor for?

bricked up windows...note the old metal shutters...




if i could live anywhere then this is it...the Ultimate coast cave!...
the ex M.O.D (Ministry Of Defence) Gin Head Research Station...
here is a RCAHMS ariel view...

This research establishment was opened in 1943 to develop radar for the Royal Navy. The base was also used to test the effectiveness of radio countermeasures equipment prior to the D-day landings in June 1944.
The site was then sold to Ferranti's Ltd in 1948 and closed in 1993 (after the cold war?) and lies derelict.it has been sold to a developer with planning for 6 houses...
for me the cliff top main building could be the dream house with the views over the Firth of Forth...

and across to Tantallon Castle...

lots of buildings too for workshops, bet theres a bunker under all that too...






this place is the Eagles Nest of East Lothian...






here are some RCAHMS pictures of the base in 1958...


note the narrow gauge rail tracks..must have been to roll in Radar Equipment...


The view from here south from above Canty bay...love it...the coast road is below and behind me...

time to get moving and head west...


5 flat fields west to the southside of North Berwick Law avoiding the climb up from sea level...






a quick detour north and back to the old ruin Dovecot near the Law...

heading south from NB Law now, miles of fields all the way home now...


then west across to the ruin windmill near Highfield crossroads...


very scenic here...


leaving the old windmill its time to head in a homeward directon...

just a few fields uncut now...here some hops...

not been up around that small wooded hill before so headed up there...

great views from this hill across to the Garlton Hills...


fun downhill down this field...

one field and im home after nearly 4 hours,need to do the same midweek if a clear evening...i love this bike and where it can easily go...

4 comments:

  1. Planning for 6 houses?? Buy it!
    We can start the first "fatbike" colony in the World!!! Yeaahh LOL

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  2. it would be the dream house, like a kind of James Bond villan pad...under ground lift down to see level speedboat cave etc... -:)

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  3. YES, and with a big jacuzzi with seaview!
    And girls for serving cold drinks and big rooms to collect and work all kind of bicycles. ha ha ha

    ReplyDelete
  4. Love those photos of Tantallon Castle. Bet thats got a bit of history - in fact Im off to look it up.

    ReplyDelete