Saturday Beach ride...

I did plan to go mud plugging on inland xc trails on Saturday now that i have the Surly Nate tyres on the Pugsley but just did not have the enthusiasm for getting covered in gloop after a muddy wet week at work so opted for some coastal riding  where i could see what the Nate tyres are like on sand and wet rocks...
I rode west from North Berwick.
Today was strange weather, stunning morning once the sun rose above a low cloud bank to the south inland, and there was a good frost, yet i only wore summer xc gloves, the day clouded over and the light was very flat, then after 3pm we got that magic moment of bright last light of the day before sunset.


A 1 minute Flickr film around North Berwick...

Nates on the pug drag a bit compared to Larry tyres, but it still bops along easier than the Moonlander, but there is no hiding where you have been...

Across the field on the John Muir Way at Yellowcraig and it has dried up a lot since that bog fest last Tuesday evening...

Frost out of the sun, but it was not that cold!, weird...

I rode above the coast through Archiefield, along the `Bake bean trail` to Gullane and dropping down onto the infamous Murder Hill dune the Nates seemed fine on the soft sand of the dune.
On the beach i came along side some other fatbike tracks, 2 Larry tracks heading east. I Guessed this was friend Gary as he posted earlier that he may go to Gullane...

Following the tracks there was no doubling back so i knew who ever it was they were not filming, and sure enough i met up with Gary on his Pugsley just before Marine Villa rocks, we had a chat before Gary headed back towards Gullane to find a sheltered spot for his lunch he had packed out of a cold wind that had got up.
I continued on, meeting a couple out walking who it turns out were the owner of a new On One fatbike from somewhere west of Edinburgh, then i realised they had just walked down from a newly made trail dug out of the embankment of Buckthorn above the rocks of Marine Villa which i had planned to do some compact camera tripod film of me riding the slick rocks here on the Nates to show that so far they are not too bad on the coast, but i had to go look at this new trail!...

The digger tracks led away to Renaissance Golf Club Above, looked like the guys have been down to make this only in the last few days, if it was them thanks Paul!

What i really like is that the encroaching Sea Buckthorn that was threatening to destroy this WW2 Searchlight Station has been cleared from around it...

I had planned to cut back the Buckthorn around this sometime with a few friends who offered to help, so glad now it should keep it preserved...

Then my phone rang but hung up before i could answer it, i got a text; `Following Nate tracks from Gullane, hope to see you soon...`.  The hunter had become the hunted, following me was friends Mike and Dave G on their Pugsleys...

I doubled back until i met them then we continued along the coast as again another really high tide pushed in...

1 minute Flickr film at Marine Villa...

The guys liked the new bit of trail here too, first person to clean this sharp steep climb (with proof on video) gets a beer! , We tried...

At Yellowcraig Dave and i headed along an inland trail through the dunes while Mike continued along the beach. At the Eil Burn Bridge we saw Mike running out of beach as the tide surged in, i had the camera out to catch him getting soaked  but he just avoided doing so -:) ...

Into North Berwick and coffee and cake at Cake cafe, the guys rode back to Gullane on the John Muir Way while i headed to the East beach to my car the overcast sky cleared for an amazing 5 minutes of sunset light...

A nice end to a fun day on the coast with friends...