Midweek Cycle; Ravensheugh Woods WW2 Anti tank block trails...

Another day of a weeks hols and riding bikes with friends...
The day starts off the same...

The spring drought continues and while the golf courses along the coast burn yellow where not irrigated the potato fields are like dust...

An unexpected discovery was in my local Binning Woods where there has been some serious resurfacing going on!, how cool is this!, hardcore with wind dust laid on top and rolled making all weather paths!,
My winter local trails just got a whole lot better!...  :)

Down at Ravenseugh and a real cool onshore wind, the price you pay for high pressure weather on the coast that keeps the inland rain away...

White horses...

Down in the woods below Ravensheugh we spent an hour riding and filming, both with my Go Pro and with Phil`s Mavic Drone...

Filming done  we rode on around St Baldreds Cradle and along the secret trail before heading to Tyninghame cafe for food...

Thrift is in flower all along the coast now...

Secret trail...

The way we came....

And the place we ended at; Tyninghame Cafe,  before...

And after...

2 Films;

Some film in the woods at Ravensheugh,
Song is `Running Wild` by Drenge...


East Coast Fatbikes; Anti Tank Block trails... from coastkid71 on Vimeo.


And another between Willowbrae Point and the Secret Trail,
Song is `Obvious` by Janes Addiction...


Tyninghame Woods; May 5th  2017 from coastkid71 on Vimeo.


More soon....

If Tonka made bicycles...Surly Moonlander update;

They would prob be FAT... :)

The dunes at Ravensheugh beside Peffersands at Tyninghame have grown considerably since i have been riding here on fatbikes in the last 6 years, the last 2 years in particular has seen blown sand forming new dunes north wards towards the Peffer burn and the Marram Grass growing through stabilising it...

And there are a lot more tracks through the dunes to cycle on a fatbike. And your leaving less of a foot print than humans walking here!. I spent over an hour here riding in an area of less than a mile square!...

The big Surly Moonlander comes into it`s own here, with it`s huge 100mm rims and 5" Big Fat Larry (BFL`s) tyres set at 6psi front 6 1/2 psi rear (and they can go lower) it is a perfect sand surfer.
The lower gearing i fitted the other evening is better suited to this bike for on the coast.
The bike came with a 12-34 tooth 9 speed rear  cassette and 22/36tooth front rings.
Now it has a 12-36t rear and 20/33t front, and it is way better!
The 33t big ring up front allows a better drive chain alignment as not needing to go to low at the back while riding on the flat stuff, while the 20t smaller chain ring aka `the granny ring` allows crazy low gears to spin over real soft stuff through the dunes...

The Surly Moonlander is still for myself the best dune bike, proper chain alignment and all 135mm hub options are possible...

Made a wee film using the cheap Canon compact on a gorilla pod, and the Go Pro Hero 2 on a mono pod.

Song is `I`ll Hit You Back` by Janes Addiction
click on the cog icon to view in HD

A week of high pressure clear coastal weather...

Been high pressure weather giving clears skies here on the East Lothian coast this week...

We have had amazing sunrises through early morning mist,
Been cold and frosty but dry under foot,
Stunning blue skies during the day and with little wind often a flat calm sea with some amazing reflective sunsets,
Full moon risings too over the Lammermuir Hills!,
A few pics while out and about...

Sunrise on the commute to Whitekirk...

Sunrise over Dunbar, from Whitekirk Hill...

Sunset, North Berwick West Beach ...

Sunset, Fidra Island, from Point Garry...

Sunset, West Bay, North Berwick...

Sunset, St Andrews Cross, North Berwick...

Late afternoon sun, North Berwick West beach...

Late afternoon sun, North Berwick harbour...

Late afternoon sun, North Berwick East beach...

Sunset, The Bridge, Aberlady Nature Reserve...

Sunset, Across Aberlady Bay to Kilspindie...

Sunset, Across Gosford Bay to Cockenzie, and sunset over Arther's Seat, Edinburgh...

 So it is typical that the day i plan a ride straight from work on my Surly Pugsley to the coast on my local patch at Tyninghame was the only evening in a week and a half it would cloud over!,
Still never mind, i planned to do some film of the late evening light and sunset but that was not going to happen so instead i did some film through `Links Wood` to `Mosspoin`t and then around the shoreline of `Fir Links Wood`,  then along some of the `Secret Trail`  and also below it along the 4pm high line rocks to Peffersands.

Tyninghame Links Car Park...

These woods were once walked by the famous naturalist John Muir as a boy before his family moved to America.
Many of the ancient Oak and Beech standing today would have been here in Muir`s time...

Tyninghame`s  Deciduous woods are devoid of leaves at this time of year, with spring on the way the woods will soon be under a canopy of leaves.

How many trees leaves do you know?

Click on pics to enlarge to read...

This old Beech has called it a day, would make brilliant fire wood!...

High tide and the water in the Tyne Estuary was flat..

The flat light played havoc with the camera that could not tell the change from sea to cloud and refused to focus often.
Then the cloud cleared a bit over head as i reached Ravensheugh and the light took on that magical shine on the water and wet sand, so i swapped to the compact camera, hence why you start to hear decent sound and the waves breaking on the shoreline...

Film,
Click on the cog icon to view in HD
Song is `Tower Seven` by a favourite band `Thiervery Corporation`...