Midweek Cycle; Yellowcraig...

Salt air distorted Scots Pine trees at Yellowcraig..


More high pressure weather, typical of April continues, cold evenings and often an air frost that comes in with the dawn, but by later afternoon if out of the cool easterly breeze it can be a bit warmer!.  We went down to Dirleton and on to Yellowcraig with Jake dog...

Having a seat in a sunny spot in the dunes,

I built up a Fatbike for M before my Operation last year,  M has not had the chance to try it out until today. It is the the Ritchey Commando Fatbike frame set i bought discounted a while back,
I built it lightweight with 65mm Surly Marge light rims and Halo Nanuke tyres set up Ghetto tubeless, and high narrow bars for an easy to ride safe stable bike...

I put  a Go Pro mount on M`s bike to add some footage and take some stills from...

Lovely blue sky and low sun...

Jake was happy to be out running, as always!

And M is happy with here new Fatbike!...

Wee film with loads of trail speed ed up!, Song is `Trail Away` by Frost




More soon...

Morning Winter Sun at Yellowcraig beach...

Another day of winter sun on the east coast...
And M`s first ride on a Fatbike on the coast, Jake the dog had fun too running along side and finding sticks to carry....

Broadsands is an amazing stretch of sand, over a mile in length at low tide you get that same feeling of space you can experience on the Northumberland coastline, famous for it`s huge lengths of sands...
While our coastline does  not have the same dramatic castles dominating the skyline we do have a very famous lighthouse...

Made famous from a more famous author; Robert Louis Stevenson who frequented the coast here and would write his novel Treasure Island from here, the small hill at Yellowcraig being `Spyglass Hill`...

The island draws you as you follow the tide line..

Today the beach was busy with dog walkers but wide enough to get your own space,
M was enjoying the ride...
Big grins...

And here on the lowest tides of the year the bow and stern are visible of a former WW1 US Battleship that was towed to anchor here to be used by WW2 Coastal Command airmen being trained at RAF East Fortune...
You can ready about it here on a former blog post;  HMS Ludlow Wreck

Fat bikes leave a lot less of a footprint than walkers, reversing the trend...

M was loving the Fatbike!....

And Jake the run!

Some film i shot, captures the light on the wet sand,
Song is `Lend Me Your Love` by Slackstring...


Yellowcraig beachride; Feb 18 from coastkid71 on Vimeo.


More soon...

Midweek cycle; Post work 1 hour fix...

Days work done and down to Yellowcraig for a quick ride on the coast.
I saw 2 people on the whole of Broadsands!, it was a love end to the previous evening and mornings gales as the aftermath of Storm Ophelia blew over.
The sand is firm and looking good for this weekends FATBIKE GATHERING
The light was nice on the wet sand and i shot some film with the Go Pro and mono pod,

Song is `Business and Pleasure` by Phontaine


East Coast Fatbikes;  Post work 1 hour fix on the coast, Oct 17 from coastkid71 on Vimeo.


More soon...

Broadsands at sunset...

Into October now and you can feel Autumn in the air now. The seasons all have things i look forward too working out doors, even the shorter evenings as the scenery and light changes, take the coast, with 7pm sunsets you get a totally different light yet are home with he stove on nice and cosy and still have the evening to enjoy by 8pm.

This evening the wind had dropped from a full on gale of 40mph gusts and after a cycling free weekend i enjoyed the days commute then home and put the old Pugsley in the van and headed down to North Berwick for an hours ride before sunset,
The John Muir Way is a good way to make your way out to Yellowcraig and keep out of a strong westerly wind. Crossing the field to Yellowcraig and amazing low light-that magic hour...

Through the woods and onto he coast, near deserted i had the beach to myself soon enough and the last light of the day was fantastic...

The windswept sands of Broadsands were hard and easy going....

Riding down a flat hard sand beach is not boring when you have such amazing views and Autumn sunset light, you just have to soak up the scenery and be thankfull you live somewhere real special...

Into NB and with the light fading it was time to head home and get the stove lit,got a couple of months rides like this after work to look forward to when high pressure weather,

Wee film using the mono pod and Go Pro,
Song is `Owls and Vultures` by Luke Janela...


Surly Pugsley; Sunset beach ride at Broadsands... from coastkid71 on Vimeo.
More soon...

Midweek cycle - back in the groove...

Back into the weekly midweek rides on Tuesdays and Thursdays,
Weather has been Baltic with a cold N/NW wind bringing clear sky and crazy sleet and  hail showers.

Most have missed the hill at work while i have been flat out making the most of the dry grass to get the fairways shaved and striped up, while watching some spectacular storm clouds pass by down the coast out at sea or to the west inland over Edinburgh and closer the Garleton Hills and Lammermuirs...

These pics from yesterday,
-3.5C windchill, told you April is the coldest month of the year!, sitting mowing fairways if dressed right it is ok even on an open mower.  3 layers of merino with 3 jackets. Buff neck warmer, hoodie and wool hat with waterproof leggings and over jacket with ski gloves..

Good to see stripes on the hill again!

Tuesday after work i met Phil who is up on a break in North Berwick for Forth Fat and a few days R&R and we did a high tide ride west to Yellowcraig and the coast at Archerfield where i showed Phil the remains of the WW2 coastal searchlight stations and gun platform at Yellowcraig - Phil likes a bit WW2 history :)
The search light stations along with a magnetic detection band of steel across the sea bed that from near Gin head to Isle of May then across to Fife which would alert any metal magnetic movement of submarines or ships trying to enter the Forth to attack the Navy Fleet if at Roysth,
If activity was detected to fast patrol boats based on Isle of May and fighters at RAF Drem would be scrambled along with Naval frigates at Rosyth, The Forth was one of the most defended estuaries on the east coast. The defences here at Fidra and across the Forth Estuary in Fife at Kincraig were the outer line of defences...

We watched huge showers blow across the Forth as we rode east stopping at the WW1 pill box..

`Blues` in another sense of the word!, it was Baltic!...

We rode the grassy single track above the tide line getting a bit shelter from the biting wind...

`Pigs ears` used along the coast here in 1940 to wrap fences of barbed wire, great in the garden with climber plants!...

Former Radar station `HMS Dirleton`, now a house..

Nearby on a farm a shed that was a dispersal hut that came from the former RAF Drem airfield...

RAF blue paint...

Once Dirleton Curling Club and curling pond..

Old potato drilling plough...

Through Archerfield....

Impressive...

More impressive-wood!  :D

Sun is sinking so better get moving, down the old coastguard track towards the coast..

Moody clouds all around...

Remains of a Searchlight station ahead...

Bases of the generator engines...

Trenches between buildings...

Dropping down to the east is the more intact other station here..

And that`s the money shot right there...

This was disguised as a shed with slated roof...

Supposedly this is for a dog buried here..

Gun platform and distance indicator mount...

Robbed of a sunset with low cloud we dropped down to the other remaining building...

`Phone Home`...

During the summer of 1940 as the battle of Britain pilots fought for air supremacy and stop the inevitable invasion, The Coastal Crust defences were built to prepare to defend and slow down any landings, this included defences inland at airfieds that could ne used. Here on the coast at Fidra there was a house on the site of this recently built function room whose tenant who was an estate forestry worker, a Mr Tom Porteous who was given only 24 hours notice to leave his house!, such was the rush to build a defence gun battery..

They then removed the roof, added a basic camouflage shelter and a 6" WW1 navel gun!

Here is other pictures of Fidra Gun Battery...

Manned by 309th coast Regiment the Battery was stood down and put on basic maintenance in 1943..
Great pic!

There was another 6" gun documented, mounted i guess up at the previous site we first arrived at.
The Site had no radar hence the searchlights...

The Firth of Forth was also mined as can be seen in this diagram which shows all the defence sites...

With the light fading - and the temperature dropping we headed back to NB and a coffee at Phil`s camper van before heading home...

Forcast for Saturday is now looking cold but sunny so be back on the coast somewhere...
More soon...