Theres a storm brewing...

Well its been a raging gale for 24 hours now but tonight its wild outside.
Last nights night ride with friends from Pencaitland was cancelled as sideways rain and it would just have been silly driving in the dark...silly driving in daylight today too but i did to get in a wee beach ride...more of that in a bit...
I have been looking for a waterproof breathable mid height walking boot i could use for beach riding on flat pedals, something as good for walking as cycling when im out on the Pugsley,as i do spend alot of time off the bike taking pics,walking across rocks etc...as well as keeping my feet dry. I have read a lot of reviews on KEEN footwear, esp there sandal's and there walking boots looked to fit the bill so i ordered a pair which arrived the other day...

These are there Targhee 2 mid boot. first thing you notice is the broad flat toe, i have a wide foot and high instep and the width in the toe area is great, they are very very light and if they prove to be as waterproof and breathable as claimed then i think i have found the perfect beach riding boot, my scree gators fit perfect too so happy days.
Also to arrive this morning was the tent i ordered, a Vango Force 10 Vitesse back packing tent...

Weighs 1KG and only £99..recommended by my friend who has had one about 4 years,single skin but he has had no problems with condensation with his.
Bulkier than the Hennessy hammock but another camping alternative-ideal if no trees!.
So no riding last night and being on holiday i was itching to get out, with the crazy wind and mud fest conditions of the trails that left the beach,when its really windy i always head for John Muir Park near Dunbar,worth the 10 minute drive (not cycling in that wind!). woods are dangerous in gales but the safest are Scots pine woods and here you can ride the trails out the wind...
First i decided to fit the Bar Mitts i got just as the snow and cold temps ended!,

It was really wet today so an ideal day to use them,i had previously tried them but the inside grip attachment to hold them secure would not fit around my Ergon grips...
So i stuck the kettle on for a brew and had a think about how to solve this...
Then i sussed out how to do it...
I put an O ring around the end of each grip...

Then just pulled the Velcro strap under the O ring and fastened it,looks untidy in the pic but my hand didn't rest on it and get irritated...

Bar Mitts make the velcro strap longer!.
Down to John Muir Park and the car was all over the place as was debris on the roads.Into the woods and i was soon out of the sideways rain and enjoying the dry sandy single track...pictures were taken with the Tachyon sports camera (on time lapse 2 second intervals) because of the rain so excuse the quality...


The bridge near Hedderwick was nearly underwater and it was 2 hours to high tide such was the strenght of the wind...


There was still some sand on the coastline to ride around but the wind blasts were unreal..trees and branches washed down into the river Tyne Estuary here were being washed up,the water was brown from silt out of the fields and foam blew onto the shoreline,it was wild!.
I followed the tideline around to Spikey Point...




Out at the point i could hardly stand in the gusts, Oyster Catchers hardly bothered about me cycling by,usually you cant get near them.Sand had blown around stones leaving them exposed...

watching the wind rippling the sea and waves spraying as they broke was amazing...



No one else was out there which made it feel more surreal...i filmed the waves then kept moving.With the East beach getting very soft and a 8 ft vertical sand cliff between me and the incoming tide i didn`t want to get cut off so headed up across the matt grass covered dunes...
Theres several miles back and forth of paths through this stuff,twice i got blown over by the gusts, could not stop laughing trying to keep cycling...



Across the salt marsh flats and into the shelter of the pine woods again i did a lap of some of the trails then back to the car park...

A great wee 2 hour ride and although the rain cleared for a while the Bar Mitts were good to use,just wearing fingerless wool gloves made using the camera easy.
They will be good for the coming cold and damp spring time easterly days ahead.
I did a bit filming which i uploaded to Flickr...

Tweed Love 2011...

As promised by the hard working organiser`s of last years week long TweedLove cycling festival held in the Tweed Vally in the Scottish Borders, this years event to be held in June 11th -19th is promised to have something for everyone with an interest in cycling.
From Mountain biking rideouts around Glentress and Innerliethen to the natural trails of the surrounding hills of the Tweed Vally,
To Road touring the vally roads below and this year a road race in the Town of Peebles...
Check out the website link and have a look around the site for event dates and links; TweedLove.
There will also again be a Films night for aspiring film makers...You may recognise the runner up film maker from last year...
It also has the trailer for `Find` the sequel to `Home` filmed in Scotland. Now everyone talks about Canada for Mountainbiking...and i believe it must be amazing...but i think were doing alright here in Scotland for scenic natural riding...
Check this out...3 generations of riders; Hans Ray,Steve Peat & Danny macaskill...

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...

My New 2nd Blog...

I met fellow East Lothian Blogger Alistair for a couple of pints and a chat Thursday evening over at what is to me my local village Pub...

Alistair`s excellent blog crivens, jings and help ma blog which you may well follow and read, If you don't its worth a look through, he has brilliant Historical reference to Scottish history and also wrote a great series of his late Dads experiences as a WW2 RAF Avro Lancaster tail gunner in 153 Squadron...you can read the full story going back from the end post here some great writing and there is a lot of other great stuff.

I have no interest what so ever in Internet Dating (girls of course-:)
however i am used to meeting folk `off the internet` because i do mountainbiking and as im sure Al felt its like you kind of know someone a bit already through reading there Blog. So we were chatting about blogs and writing and a lot of similar interests and surprise`s about what folk do and don't read...also how most readers you will probably never even visit there country never mind meet...
The world is a small place online but still big if you tried cycling there!,
We both agreed if what we do makes folk happy then its all good.
So Alistair asked why i don't do another Blog along side coastrider as my niche cycling seems to fill the blog on its own and diverse to other stuff on another blog, i had thought about this before a few times and then decided i had enough to do with coastrider and making wee films and uploading pics online etc...
I cycled home from the Pub having enjoyed meeting Al and having had a good blether, then thought about it mostly since and a bit more today at work! (called day dreaming) and decided what to do...

And now its up and running...


Why that name?, well most places i like to go visit,find or explore are often a bit off the beaten track and quite often once had an old Thoroughfare (Road) to them,
I'm doing this as some readers i know dont cycle and love the scenery pics and places i go while some just like the cycling stuff.
So what I'm going to do is keep coastrider going as normal but when i pass or visit somewhere/something like for instance an old castle instead of posting a lot of pictures and info on it i will just post 1 or 2 pics saying what it is then put a link to the other blog where there will be a full post just on the Castle, so if someone wants to read further and see more they can do,i will keep the info basic but also add links to the expert websites (Historic scotland etc..) so anyone can read more into the subject.
Hopefully it will become like a wee database of places of interest around East lothian and further afield on days away and holidays. Often places and things i see can be seen all over scotland like for instance Cold War ROC Bunkers.
Alot is related to all of Scotland and sometimes all of the UK.
Both blogs will have links back and forth often with a small overlap with the emphasis on cycling on Coastrider and whats about to see on No Through Road.
I Will be copying some posts already on Coastrider over to the new blog with maybe an update on information or more or even new pics, using Post titles of the place and labels folk can go straight to places of interest. again films will be split between blogs and sometimes linked,
It will be easier for me to have 2 Blogs instead of trying to cram everything into one post which i try to do all to often-it takes a lot of time!. A cycling only post with pics `from the saddle` is easy and quick to write, write ups on one place take the time researching etc but some places will already be done when i have spare time and sitting in a Draft post ready to post up...
And so that means more time for me to get out and about...theres still plenty to go see and explore...
So come over for a look,I have still to tweak it a bit then will be posting soon on
No Through Road

A Walk on the Coast...

Sunday i drove east down to Dunbar and went a walk along the coast at Barnes Ness,
A beach i visited a lot when i lived for about 6 years in the nearby Town of Dunbar.
Before that we visited with Parents often and during School Holidays when out with my Dad working when he was County Ranger.
It is famous for its Geology and has a Geology Trail with information boards that to be fair are overdue for replacement as barely readable now.
The Area near here and to the East at Dunglass has been linked to Edinburgh's famous Geologist James Hutton who is regarded as the Founder of Modern Geology...
Its a place of interest for the experienced Geologist and visitor with an interest, has a variety of beaches within a mile and reefs offshore, a secret surf spot and of course its Light House is a famous landmark of East Lothians coast,
Was a bit overcast but i was today going to be looking mostly on the rocks under my feet...
Arriving on the East side of Dunbar Links Golf Course is Whitesands,
The whiteness of the fine sand here gives the place its name...

The view here is from a track up to the top of an old Lime Kiln, where nearby is an interesting stone entrance/shelter,
The rear wall looks original and being south facing i don't think it is a larder of some kind...any ideas?

The Lime Kiln here has been fenced off as deemed unsafe...

Behind the kiln a track leads to the abandoned cottage that was once home to the County Ranger here, Victor, which we visited with our Dad, now purchased by the Cement Works as its Quarry has slowly moved eastwards closer to the coast swallowing up fields to its south,
It lies empty,sad as once a lovely place to have lived...


Down below the old kiln is the quarry from where the limestone was dug which would be layered in the kiln between coal and a fire would burn to produce lime,
a water wheel here in the picture used to open a large pipe of fresh water from an underground water table which must have been dug into when quarrying,
sadly it doesn't anymore,it was nice on a hot day as kids...

Continue along above the coast and into Barnes Ness car park and Links,
gone is the Caravan & Camping Park also purchased by the Cement works and the Park is now sited West of here beside the Golf Course,
A short walk over the Links which is a raised beach covered by fine Bent and Fescue grassland,
what a lot of the East coast would have looked liked if not developed or had Golf Courses been built...
And here you cant miss the Lighthouse...

Built in 2.5 years it operated from 1901 - 2005.
It is 37 meters tall and when operational its light had a range of 16KM in clear weather.

The stone work of these buildings is remarkable in there strenght,the stone was brought from a Quarry near Crammond and Barnton Quarry in Edinburgh.
Barnton Quarry on Corstorphine Hill is of course where the infamous abandoned cold war Sector Operations Nuclear Bunker was built after being the RAF Turnhouse HQ during WW2 after the Quarry closed in the 1920`s.
The Lighthouse was machine Gunned during WW2 but remained undamaged.
The coast continues here along to Torness Nuclear Power Station but i came to have a wander on the rocks here at low tide...
A bit of beach combing along the tideline and i found this complete Sea Urchin...

Another for the collection at home,best leave them outside a while though as they do smell for a few weeks!.
The rocks out here are a bit slippy but a good explore...

The Dunbar Lifeboat,which is moored East of here at Torness sped by,
Probably on a training exercise...

under rock shelves and the rock pools there is lots of places to look for crabs and other wildlife,

back below the coastline near the old Lime Kiln and you can see the limestone here,behind is a pebble beach, lovely rounded pebbles from years of waves washing them up and down the beach,

The Grey Limestone slabs are some of the youngest rock in the UK,
The oldest being the Gneiss Rock i have walked and cycled over on The Isle of Harris
behind you can see the holes from Tree`s where once this area was woodland...


Looking closer and the orange colour older Limestone is covered with coral fossils...

Which give it`s nickname of `Macaroni` or `Spaghetti` Limestone...

Above in the small cliff is a Coal seam...

Coal is created from dead trees and plants,wood,leaves and bark accumulating over many years, the soil though above contains Marine Fossils so the area was at a later time covered again by the Sea.
Below the Kiln are the remains of a pier...

and around about are mooring rings...



Most of the Lime produced was taken by horse and Cart to Berwickshire.Some was taken by small sailing boats to Aberdeen. The Kilns closed in 1921 during a Miners Srike after producing Lime since the 18th Century...

Time for some recent Geology...
Walking along to Whitesands Beach and in the Sea Wall a brick from a famous brick works which closed in the late 1980`s in an area of Edinburgh which once had a bit of a reputation..One hard tough brick!

Onto Whitesands and recent storms had washed out some stone rubble from the Coastal Defence, a brick from Whitehill Brick works in Mid Lothian, where my friend Andrew stays,we Pass the remains of this long gone Brick works on a trail when riding there,

And then i found this Brick, made here in East Lothian near Prestonpans,this one is going home to sit in the garden...

White Sands to Barnes Ness is a great little corner of the East Lothian coastline,
All this in about a Half Mile,Hopefully new signs will be installed as already on most of the coast now or maybe the Lime Kiln made safe as its part of our heritage,

Made in a Shed...

Man (and woman) have made things in sheds since...well since sheds were invented.
This film is doing the rounds on various cycling forums and Blogs, thought i would post it up for non cycling readers who may find it of interest.
Folk often drop there jaws when told the price we cyclists sometimes spend on our steeds,
Often we spend more for just a frame or even forks or wheels than they will spend on a leisure bicycle for themselves and partner/and even there kids too...
But they also see how much pride and love we have for (some) of our bicycles, especially frames handmade (in whatever country) which we then purchase all the desired parts then build ourselves...
Well maybe to shine light on the time and labour sometimes put into these bikes heres a film of a man-in-a-shed...doing what he loves-building frames so we can do what we love... a labour of love you could say...
enjoy...