Back on the Beach...

After a week off work ill with a horrid cold and no biking i was back out today for a short ride...i still have a bad cough but had to get out biking again!.
So i headed North 6 miles by road to Yellowcraig...

a place i visited alot as a kid on school holidays with my dad when he was the county ranger...
i rode down one of the trails i am leading a group of friends around tomorrow and despite a weeks heavy rain is bone dry...

thanks to the sandy loam free draining soil- the area is a raised beach,and was once sea...
from the trail to the east is one of my dream houses...

A former WW2 RAF building which was part of the coastal defence...what a house...it has alot of windows to clean!,it has a North and South conservatory for sunrise and sunset...


At the car park are good information signs about the area...

I love it down here,links with pine woods,a big wide beach,and its show piece Fidra Island and its lighthouse...


and the area is famous as being the haunt of one of Scotland's most famous author`s Robert Lewis Stevenson who spent many holidays in the local town of North Berwick,played golf and walked the beaches here...
and he based one of the most famous children's books here using Fidra island...

I did a loop of the woods on the clean dry trails,some covered in crispy dry leaves that crunched under the tyres...

Leaving the bike i walked up Yellowcraig hill, a low hill but gives a good coastal view...east across to the Bass Rock Island and the North Sea behind and to its right North Berwick Law...

to the North Fidra in the Firth of Forth Estuary and behind the coastline of Fife,the Estuary is around 14 miles at its widest-near here at North Berwick...

and of course a great view of the Lighthouse...it has a narrow gauge railway track on it down to its loading pier...

you can see its route here on a RCHMS website photo...

back on the pugsley and down onto the beach...

the new Larry tyres are amazing and have transformed the bike,no more strange steering on the road or bobbing up and down when peddleing hard like before, here is the new tread pattern to look out for if your down this way!...

Due to the shape of the Island Fidra looks quite differant depending if you are looking straight on or from the left or right,here straight on you dont see its sea arch...

there was a real cold wind on the near deserted beach...just a couple of dog walkers,this is the weather i love on the coast and the whole place nearly to yourself...this is a view!...

The recent strong winds have created tounges of soft sand up above the tideline...
and here they expose small stones and shells which sit up above the surrounding sand...

i love watch sand blowing like this,see here in a short bit of film...

There were a few washed up creels, ripped from there anchor points during the storms of last week...


Overhead a dark cloud threatend to rain but it never came...

time to zoom down the beach and enjoy the strong tailwind...

theres more of a buzz noise from the new Surly Larry tyres esp on tarmac but i like it!...

at the far end of the beach i stopped beside the coastal erosion from the big storms of last spring...

nearby some noisy Oyster Catchers were busy feeding...


Returning along the beach i headed for home as been out long enough while still not 100%...

came across this Sea Urchin Shell,it must of split while washed ashore,shame but there will be another sometime...

even got a bit sunshine...

what a lovely half days ride on the pugsley...love this bike...and have missed cycling on the coast....