Links Trails...

After Saturdays Tri pugs ride, i enjoyed some solo me time out on the pugsley on Sunday,
I headed for the Links to the East of Gullane, a favourite area of mine to ride, between Muirfield Golf course and the coast is several square miles of Links - thats coastline covered in time with blown sand then covered with grass, what many of our County's famous Golf Courses were shaped on.
Here is the area on Google Earth...

The Links here is a designated SSSI (Special Site of Scientific Interest) with its Flora and Fauna,
Criss crossed with what must be several miles of winding trails through the Matt grasses and finer Fescues it is legal to walk, cycle or horse ride here (responsibly), and like today with a mid afternoon high tide you get away from the busy beaches to the west at Gullane and seldom see people here,
A favourite trail is the `Bake Bean tree trail`  well only known as that by myself! it can be followed from east of Gullane beach car park starting down the deer path through Scots Pine woods...

Then east along the perimeter fence of Muirfield Golf Course, through the  Sea Buckthorn bushes with its Orange berries which give there name  by local kids of Bake Bean Trees,
I never seem to get punctures from the thorns of these but ride into a bush and the tip of the thorn will break off under the skin, they are very sharp, and take a bit digging out,

Recent work on a detour around a wet area from a natural spring...

 This gets very soft in summer when dry and the sand becomes powdery...

Past a couple of turn offs that lead down to the coast and you arrive at the Pine woods at Jamies Neuk,
and a crossroads, spoiled for choice here, behind me are the Greenkeepers Utility sheds, looking SW the we we came...

WNW a trail leads down through the pine woods with more options...

NNE another trail leads down to the shore at Freshwater Haven...

and East we continue along the boundary fence of the Golf Course...

And the main track down through the Links towards Sandy Knowe...

You often see Roe Deer out here, esp in windy weather, they come out of the woods so they can hear whats around them...

Looking West back to Gullane...

Here at Sandy Knowe i was looking for something i spied on Google Earth, Military buildings!

These are the bases of one of two WW2 coast artillery searchlights (CASL)  for Fidra Battery, manned by the 309th Coast Regiment, The 2 Gun battery's were not on Fidra but at Marine Villa, where there are still two complete Searchlight stations, one you see on the coast...

The other is in the Private garden of Marine Villa...

One of the 2 ex - Navy 6" Guns was concealed in a cottage of a former Estate Forestry worker who was given 24hrs notice to vacate the cottage!, can you see the give away? -:)

Soldier of 309th Coast Battery on watch...

 This was just some of the defences of the Firth of Forth Estuary, These guns and the same across at Findhorn in Fife were for shipping, the whole coast here was defenced from Glider landings with poles and mine fields...

You can read more about Fidra battery and other WW2 stuff around here on the East Lothian at War website.
Only the bases remain here at Sandy Knowe today...

Here would have been the generators, the two bases visible...

And nearby a filled in bricked shaft, oh i like these!, probably an air raid shelter, need to return with the shovel...

This is where a stove sat, every army Billet has a stove!...

Time to get rolling...down onto the shore, i often do a loop from here, along to Yellowcraig woods via the coast, then up into Archiefield estate and a nice easy track returns to Sandy Knowe where i can return to Gullane on the Bake bean trail or along the coastline...

Recent construction of Golf Course Holes and the winter gales has seen a lot of sand blown over the cliff here, partially burying the entrances to the two small caves on the hillside...

Along to Yellowcraig and those techy rocks below Marine Villa...

Oyster Catchers, you hear them before you see them...

Looking west back to Marine Villa, the recently cut Sea Buckthorn i blogged about a few weeks back, here on the coastline has caused a public outcry;  East Lothian Courier

Fidra Island...

Single track or beach?, single track!...

A quick loop around Yellowcraig woods, it was busy with walkers being Sunday afternoon, a large Beech tree blown down in the recent Gales, i read a Beech tree takes 100 years to grow, lives a 100 years, and takes 100 years to die, how old was this big fella?...

met an old school friend at Yellowcraig out walking, Dave it turns out reads my blog, along with some of his mates, his grin seeing the pugsley in the flesh was priceless -:),
With between 180 - 350 views daily on average i wonder who all checks in on here every day...
thanks for doing so, feel free to leave comments, good or bad!...
leaving Dave i headed back down to the coast, a new track through the recently built  Renaissance Golf Club, an exclusive Club, but you have the right to pass down this track, just use common sense and wait for golfers to play, usually a friendly wave will get you waved through, golfers seldom like to be watched playing -:)...
Here is a film of this nice easy descent to the coast, the Golf Course track goes through the gate onto the old track at Sandy Knowe, known locally as the coastguard track..

Song is `4B` by Boards of Canada...



Nice to stop and do soom wave watching. very relaxing...

Riding east back above the coastline to Gullane, piles of barbed wire fasteners still lie here after 70 years, there are still a line of them through a dune west of here...

The single track above the coastline often branches and rejoins so there are lots of routes along here...

This small few miles of coast show just how much variation there is in riding on our 45 Miles or so of coastline here in East Lothian, and there is so much to explore and see along the ever changing coast...