Friday 12 September 2014

Update of Mid week cycling; Autum harvest weather and scenery...

Early Autumn has arrived here in East Lothian, misty mornings with damp dew and  lovely calm days with blue skies and big clouds over a harvest gold landscape. though those stubble fields are starting to disappear as the grubbers, discs and the ploughs move in, some fields are already sown with Oil seed Rape which is starting to disappear.
It`s great watching the farmland scenery change with the seasons. And It`s great to see it from the saddle.
Take Monday and i detoured home to pay a recent Bill for the car on the old Muddy Fox Courier ATB,
No rush or anywhere to get to in a hurry, a great unwind from a days work....
I rode nearly all the way off road from Whitekirk to Fenton Barnes.

From Becky`s Strip Byway...




Farm track up to Redside...


Through Balgone estate on some of the John Muir Way path...


Around some fields...



Through Carperstane and Rockville...


This field had been grubbed so around on the track..





Then across to Sydserf near Fenton Tower...








Down a short section of road and from Chapel...



Along the old road to East Fenton...




A Bridleway to join the main road...




With superb views North across to Dirleton...


And along the road to Fenton Barnes- our Destination.  You won`t get that route in your car with Tom Tom...   :)


Back home by road to Kingston asap as had stuff to do in the Man-Cave, will post that in another blog post...


Field of Clover at East Fortune. I think this is grown to harvest for Fertiliser, i maybe wrong though...




Another morning and another Autumn commute into work at 6.30am...




Passengers whizzing over head would already be watching this amazing sunrise out their Port side...





Meanwhile the Moon slowly set and faded from view as it got lighter...





Midday views from Whitekirk Hill as the sky became overcast, and Sea harr sat offshore. Burning stubble before ploughing,,,







Another dawn ride to work, and what a great way to start the day watching this and listening to the dawn chorus of birds...not the same when in a car...






After work and heading for home a field of Pea`s being harvested...


Stopped downwind after i took this pick i bolted before being covered in the drifting stoor!...


This Years Pista-de-Resistance Harvest Sunset cycle was to date here last (Thursday) evening;
After a few evenings of overcast grey cloud, Thursday`s daytime Sea Harr stayed out in the Firth of Forth Estuary and it created an amazing reflection off of the setting sun.
I Grabbed the Surly KramPug 29+ and went for a short but fun loop through stubble fields and soaked up the amazing couple of hours until sunset...



























Sunset was not for another half hour but again low cloud to the west ate the big orange...


But there was another rising to the east, this months full moon...






Dark by 8pm you can feel the cool early autumn damp air on these still evenings...

A film from Thursday evenings ride.,
Song is `Skyliner` by Boards of Canada

on youtube so click on the cog icon to view in HD



More soon...

7 comments:

  1. Great pics and an atmospheric post Bruce. It's also so good that you cycled nearly all of it on an old MF Courier that pretty much anyone could afford if they wanted too.

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  2. Cheers Peter, Aye fun on a £50 bike! :)

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  3. I indulged in a wee ride out East today and took cue from your classic bale shot (:

    http://instagram.com/p/s5KH_XyRMJ/

    The trails are riding amazingly just now on the CdF. Dry, dusty and fast!

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  4. Just found your blog and really enjoying, what a wonderful place. The open access law is great, here in the states you can't pass through anyone's land without permission for any reason.
    I'm curious, what is the land form in the 7th picture from the top with the old silo shaped building next to it? An old mining operation??
    I've been looking at them for a while but after seeing your pics and videos, I want a fat bike really bad!

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  5. Oh I almost forgot, what are all the round bales, wheat straw? I thought they were hay bales at first but I haven't seen any hay burning critters in any of your pictures yet. And if they are straw bales what is all the straw used for? Where I live, (Western Kentucky, a very agricultural based area in the middle U.S.) only a few farmers bale their wheat straw for livestock bedding or to use for a ground cover.
    One more thing, what are the purple and white signs on the farms that read "no thanks"?

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  6. Good pic Jack!
    Hi saticclover, thanks for looking in on the blog, yep were real lucky here in Scotland with our open access law!,
    Pic 7 is North Berwick Law in the back ground, i did a we film of it here;
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vN6DSMjmzTs

    And a ride from the summit to the sea here;
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ft2I8L0RyOw

    The stone Silo you see is the remains of Balgone Windmill,it stopped operating as a windmill by 1799, and remaind in use as a pigon Dovecot- folks here used to eat a lot of Pigon!
    Staw bales are used here too for cattle bedding,

    The purple NO signs are for the forth coming Scottish Referendum on 18th September of this month.
    The people of Scotland will vote Yes or No to independence and becoming a seperate country to the Union of the UK. Good or Bad?, i don`t want it, but some friends do...

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  7. Are you hiring at the golf course? I'm ready to move! Really enjoyed the videos, you live in an amazing place.

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