Blowing a hooly...

This years weather has been unreal, another snow struck winter with record low temperatures then a dry and very windy spring and cold temperatures in the evenings...
Forcast is for warmer weather soon, there are some signs now of early summer...




It was a sandstorm in the forcasted 35-50 mph Gales on the local Peffersands beach yesterday...






Still unusual wild weather is all good fun if you have a Surly Pugsley...



UPDATE:

Here is a first on this blog, a film of a beachride from another Pugsley rider alongside,
Thanks JL ...



The Light nights of Junes mid summer are here soon so im gonna be out making the most of it for a bit so wont be on here for a few weeks, see you soon...

Mid Week Beachride...

I went down to my local beach at Peffersands on the first calm evening for over a week, The wind on Monday was unreal and lot of damage has been done,
Read all about it where it was at its worst in Stirlingshire and Perthshire on my
Big brothers blog...

Back to the big dune where my friend Jason snapped a pic of me riding down a couple of weeks ago, its base now filled in with sand being blown after it was washed away in ` the big storm` that changed a lot of our coast line over 13 months ago...


A few folk liked the pic so i did some filming using the Go Pro camera on the tri pod to see what it looked like, setting was r5 with r4 setting on the chest harness,
a lot of sand has exposed the roots of the grass on the Northern dune so i kept off of that as it would cause erosion...


Access up onto the top of the big dune is now easy on a firm shallow in the centre of the pic...


Apart from a group of joggers i had the beach to myself for over 2 hours...


This was fun..

A trip down memory lane...

No Sunday riding today with friends, its my Mums birthday so were having a family get together, though i will be attending by bike...
My Big brother is down for the weekend and yesterday we went a cycle along to where we grew up...
Into a howling gale we rode along to Gosford Estate and around the Ponds it is very green this now...






At its heart this place has never changed visually, the same old buildings and trees are still all there...










Though there is at this time of year a lot of young life around the ponds...










The Mausoleum has always been a spooky place, esp at night in Autumn when the wind is blowing leaves about...








Knock knock, who's there...


Nearby is a Giant Redwood, small by American standards, it is covered in holes made by a small bird called a tree creeper...


Its soft bark can be punched, hence why we called it `the punch tree` as kids,
we met an elderly couple there who grew up here too and we talked a while about the estate and people who lived around here, i also found out about a few things to go look for which i will post up on the blogs later...

Up to Craigielaw, the road end bus stop, and the road i learned to wheelie bicycles on...


Our old house, we lived here from 1973 to 1990 when Dad got early retirement...


Our old bedroom!...


The view from the back now has the new Golf Course in the foreground where there were 2 fields when we lived here but the view over Kilspindie to Gullane Point has not changed,you can see the WW2 submarine wrecks from here today being low tide...


And across Aberlady Bay to the nature reserve and behind the links of Gullane Hill...


We met John who has lived here for 15 years and he invited us in...
The garden was all vegetables and a fruit cage at the bottom and there were no trees between the neighbours when we grew up, it has changed a lot but it seemed to look a lot smaller!...


So did the house, happy memories were coming flooding back...


being 6 farm workers cottages made into one on each side of an arch there are upstairs rooms with combed ceilings and electric lighting but no heating,
We had a look in the utility room,still used for the same purpose,
We had a big freezer there and dad had a cupboard full of tools, and i kept my bikes in there,It is is still used for the same purpose,
Walking into my first man cave was a bit moving!, all those old BMX bikes i built in there, the paint i spilled is still on the lino floor that i got a row for over 25 years ago...

Out front the road still isnt tarred...


And the big old Oak tree i used to climb and sit up here for hours looking out over the houses rooftops to the coast...


We lived a life of freedom up here, and every house had an open door to all the children, the farm buildings,fields and woods of the estate were one big playground,
the road outside the cottages turns to a fine gravel lane path which leads east to the village past Muir cottage...


There was an old man who lived here who used to give you a row for walking on the grass verge when you stepped off the drive for him in his car!, you just couldnt win with him,
He used to give us rows for doing skids on our bikes where the path met his gravel drive,so of course we kept doing them!
I think he just did not like kids, we were never rude to him,infact we were told to ignore him and not be cheeky and that drove him nuts!,
He put in posts to try to stop us cycling fast and the mums couldnt get the prams through and he had to remove them! -:)
The older we got- the stronger and fitter we became- the faster we could ride- the longer the skids became!
Well today and 30 years later i left the longest skid i have ever done there!, heeee

Down through Aberlady and the historic 15th century church...

I have to admit i didnt go here very often, we always skived off church when at school and went up the woods to play on rope swings,
Outside the church is a set of 18th century steps...

These are known as a mounting stone or in Scots tounge as a `louping on stane`,
for ladys to elegantly mount hosrses side saddle in there Sunday church clothes...
Time was getting on so out across the Nature Reserve, a regular haunt for me and a delight for big bro to revisit,
it used to be a big day out walking out here with dad, 5 minutes today on mountainbikes and 10 minutes from the bridge to the WW2 submarine wrecks on the Surly Pugsley...
Home is where the heart is and it feels like home when out here...




From Gullane to North Berwick on the John Muir Way via Yellowcraigs,
there was a lovely old american pick up at Dirleton village...


Woods full of the smell of the Wild Garlic...


And down into North Berwick for food before heading home...


Todays cycle brings home what is important in life, visiting our old home i have realised how good a childhood we had living there and i wouldnt change it for the world,
Often i question where we are all going, what with the state of our Countrys economy, public services and the recent rise in the cost of living,
Then there is the Litter in the country side!, but nobody says they drop it...
There also seems to be a growing selfishness attitude of some people and there materialistic lifestyle that is deemed by many to be so important,
Well it isnt to myself or people i choose to be friends with...
we all sometimes feel like were stuck in a rut at work, but thats work, not your life...It is easy to forget about the good things in life to enjoy,
All these small niggles dissapear when i go for a cycle, its like im a kid again and im outside without a care in the world, lets hope it continues...

Saturday,Seacliff, sea and sand...

Good to get riding on the beach again after a frenzy of spannering in the man cave lately.
Jason came along to my house and we did my local beachride loop which i take for granted but Jason commented on is a very varied riding of mixed terrain which you would not want to ride on any other bike but a fatbike.
It was blowing a hooly with clear skys and clouds flying by with the odd shower once we rode the John Muir Way and some grassy field boundrys to Seacliff- this area has to be the most scenic part of coast in East Lothian with the views over to Tantallon Castle, The bass Rock Island and further out the May Isle and across tthe firth of Forth to Fife,
looking across this view from work daily i feel very lucky...






And the Harbour below,
claimed to be the smallest commercial harbour in the world,
Seacliff Estate is owned by the Dale family, Jack Dale was sleeping in his pick up awaiting the retreating high tide to allow him to drive out with his mornings catch of lobsters from the creels...


Already i had noticed how much lighter (if you can say that about a pugsley) my bike was with the mech gears back on, well balanced and we had already noted that Jasons 1st gear on the 32t -24t Alfine 8 speed was the same as my 3rd gear, which was what i was looking forward to again for real soft sand riding, picking our way through the rock pools and carrying the bikes over large rocks in the retreating tide we got to the harbour...


Thrift...




You can see the wind whipping up the sea in the rock pools as Jack drove back to the beach...


Around the sea side of the rock there was a bit of a swell with that wind...


With the tide lower after just a half hour here we headed east along the beach...




No filming today,just enjoying the ride with a few pics, we were looking though for ideal spots to film in the future to try and show just what these bikes can ride over and as well as around the harbour and very soft sand on the beach below the car park are the rocks along the coast to the East, there are some excellent tricky sections which are rewarding to `clean` feet up...


Steeper than it looks...




Using a tripod does not seem to capture the terrain so hand held camera filming by a 2nd person should be better, and quicker!.
Hard spotting the rocks under water though...




Pick your way through this lot!...




Onto the sand again at Peffersands, it was like a sandstorm in the wind,whipped up sand pinging on the frames...




A lot of sand has moved with the past few weeks windy weather and the washed out base of the dunes are filled in again...




Yee haa!...


Up above the coastline and around the singletrack trails of Tyninghame woods...


Then along the secret trail and through Tyninghame woods to Tyninghame village cafe,Yum...


Then more variety as we rode along the River Tyne path to Smeaton Mill and from there fieldside trails home...


Maybe i did not get all the variety of terrain on camera but maybe the whole route could be put on film shooting over a number of days and edited into a longer 15 minute film...good to be out on the pugsley again...