satuardy sun!

what a fantastic weekends weather,as forcasted satuardy dawned clear with a ground frost and no wind,low tides were 10.50am satuarday 11.50am sunday- everything perfect for a beachride both days,i was itching to get down along my favourite stretch of beach between broadsands and aberlday bay and see what was all washed in/washed away after the big boiling swell of thursday/friday, i headed on the pugsley for north berwick to via the john muir trail to ride onto the coast at yellowcraig,
i worked out if you drop open the rear lid on the tachyon camera`s i the mike works like any compact so today your getting the odd bit commentary with some short films!,so you can now put a voice to the rider...
so i filmed a few minutes through yellowcraig
and onto a empty beach!,hard to believe...





someone had lost a string of creels...

and there was lots of seaweed washed in...

i filmed again here along broadsands...



along the coast there is alot of sand washed away leaving exposed rocks below a sand ledge,all the driftwood that was here is gone too...
the tide was certainly very low over the longskelly rocks...

i headed inland at freshwater haven through the pinewoods to film the excellent trail here alongside a fence of the historic muirfield golf course,the trail is sweet sandy singletrack...



at a junction you can climb a small hill-ridable on the pugsley then again descend down onto gullane beach where there were only a few people on the beach enjoying the fantastic weather,
i headed around to the nature reserve stopping to refill with water at a spring that was piped afer the iron ore mine it came out of was closed and sealed off,the water tastes fantastic,filtered through the rock...


onto the sands of the aberlady bay,sands had moved to uncover a wreck i havent seen before...

and i just kept riding,all the way out past the WW2 submarine wrecks to the mouth of the pefferburn-hopeing to ford it as the tide was so low but it was still quite deep looking so i rode up the burn looking for a shallower place i could try and cross and as i went made a film...



and as you can see managed to get across,with dry feet!,i doubt anyone has cycled through the peffer burn before, normal tyres would just be near impossable so proberly another first for pugsley exploration!,
along the coast lies remains of an old cart from over 100 years ago...

when a pier here served as the port for haddington,the principle town of east lothian,the maltings buildings in nearby aberlady were in ruin when i grew up,there flats now,heres a film at the old pier and fishing boats...



now the bay becomes very muddy below the marsh grasses and i crawled out in 1st gear in the deepest mud i have cycled through and not been stuck in with both wheels to reach the fishing boat wrecks which the local laird had scuttled there for scenic views for artists,the boats have all but eroded away now just leaving upright timbers and the stone ballests,back out the mud and the pug and me were both covered in it,along a grassy path between pools where i first rode my 1st mountainbike 22 years ago,growing up here,it felt a bit like coming home riding along here for the first time since back in 1987/88,feels the same buzz as back then too!,i rode the 5 or 6 miles home mostly offroad and had plenty to wash once home as the pug was a bit dirtier than normal from a beachride...

heres a good reason why im fitting an alfine hub gear,look at the mechs...



SUNDAY;
sunday dawned clear again and frosty and calm,i decided to do the same ride again (missing the muddy bit out to the fishing boats!) and make a film out around the bay including fording the peffer burn.
i rode by road out to start and met a subscriber to my youtube films!,alister was out riding on his roadbike and lives near me though we hadnt met before,not only was it nice to meet someone who likes and appreciates my films but i too met someone whos films i admire as i subscribed to his films too!,like myself alister also shares a love for east lothians counntryside and what it has to offer,no doubt we will get out for a cycle sometime soon..,
youtube film...