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`...

Keeping the wheels rolling...

Both days of the Weekend were spent cycling around the village of Pencaitland with friends, Saturday Mike and myself played on a few jumps in the woods which the local young BMX riders have made while Dave, Brian and Jason went off for a loop around some local trails...

Being a bit hungover Mike took some pics as i stretched the legs on the Super V,
i prefer jumping a hardtail MTB but this jump was good and could get a bit height...


Then the local BMX kids turned up as we did a bit filming,originally i was just making a wee film for Flickr;



Then with the help of the kids and there tree climbing we made a film for them...



Good to see kids still building tracks and jumps in there local woods and riding bikes, It must be be 4 or 5 generations since the early burly bikes of the 70s like Raleigh Grifters and choppers then BMXs and later MTBs made doing this fun...
When the Guys returned we rode to Daves for coffee and biccy`s, and then i had my first shot of a recumbent bike!...pretty hard but i found if you relaxed it got easier,turning round in the street was the hard bit...


Sunday i picked up Paul and returned to Pencaitland to meet Trevor for a XC ride. Leading them out to Humbie most of the tracks were very soft and we were walking a few uphill, Near the old Muir Road there is this memorial to a past Farmer...


After more mud and 2 miles road to Penston Farm, with its derelict buildings and this statue of the Border`s shepherd and poet James Hogg...

You can read more about this Statue and the poet and Peaston Farm over here at my new blog; No Through Road

Offroad from the Farm on we emerged from a very soft grass trail and down to this Ford on the County border were we washed our wheels...


A big old Beech tree beside the ford has had plenty visitors...

One was a few years ago...

After all the slogging through soft trails the lovely scenic trail to Humbie, Once this was a main Thoroughfare (road). Pity there was a tree down slowing the descent, at least the ford wasnt that deep. i did a wee film...



The climb up from the ford was a slog even walking being very wet but there was no rush,you can see here in the pic the old sunken way with its walls and tree lined Beech trees which would have probably been a hedgerow years ago, Beach were planted to help with drainage as they take in a lot of water-not enough today!

A wee breather at the top...

Then from Humbie to one of the best bits of Singletrack in East Lothian...

A bit slow being wet and leaf covered but still fun. here again a wee film of part of the Trail...



And here we stopped by the river for a bite to eat,lovely here on a hot summer afternoon...

Folk have been coming here camping and hanging out around here for years...


A push up a side trail and we headed towards Saltoun Woods but by a route i memorised on the map-of course the map was in the house!.
Too soft in places we walked the bikes through the Bracken and got onto the disused Railway line that once went to Gifford,i havent been along this section and we rode mostly and sometimes walked the wet bits through cuttings.The Rails are long gone but there are still signs of its use,here concrete posts and gate from a level crossing between fields,the third one in a mile...

Trevor has a book on this line which was closed in the late 1960s and pointed out as we neared the road that this wooden platform had been Humbie Station...

Think i will research the line and photo what remains today and try ride it on the pugsley before Springtime and put a post on the other blog. It would make a good cycle route without a lot of work,
Time to blast down hill on the road and head for the pub for a couple of pints with Mike too in the warm pub.
Been a bit of a slog in places today made worse by an increasingly cold wind.
At least we all saw some nice stuff we hadnt noticed before and will need to return again soon...