Nuclear John Muir
Night No 21/2018 staying in my caravan. Second night at the Dunbar C&CC Site.
Dunbar is known to be quite a windy site, and it was blowing a gale overnight. It's close to the sea, and although it is blessed, generally, with reasonable weather, it always seems to be breezy.
Got up around 0600, and took the dogs around the field next to the site. Braw views of the cement works next door!
After breakfast, I quite fancied the idea of walking a stretch of the John Muir Way. I'd walked a few miles of it in an east direction last night, the stretch from here to Dunbar. This time it would be here to Torness Nuclear Station, west along the coast.
East Lothian has an outstanding coastline and has some stunning beaches. They're definitely overlooked, as they are often only visited by dog walkers.
The first beach (5 mins from the site) is White Sands.
We then continued on towards the lighthouse at Barns Ness.
The yellow on the broom.
It is indeed a spectacular lighthouse. Very tall and nice white finish.
Continued along the next bay, again with a cracking beach. Literally hundreds of planks of wood on this stretch. I seen miles of it to the east, and there's even more to the west.
It was the cargo which was washed off a ship in the North Sea. Must have been some amount which was lost. If I were a local, I'd be collecting it. It looks as if it's just come out a sawmill.
Safety fears over washed up timber.
As we approached the next bay, Skateraw, came across this memorial.
Torness above Skateraw Bay.
Stunning beach. Apart from the nuclear power station, it is beautiful. Stopped here for a bagel.
The return walk took about 3hrs. Very windy, but well worth it. Returned to the van for some well earned Chicken Tikka Bridies.
After lunch, took a trip up to Doon Hill, a SNH site was the site of 2 timber halls between 500AD and 600AD. Not a lot to see, but great views and a great dirt track to the summit of the hill.
I've got the SNH app, so nearby was Dunglass Collegiate Church, ruins dating from the 1400's. Really impressive place.
This particular memorial was for a person mortally wounded at the Battle of Waterloo.
This one is a bit odd, reads 'She had the lasagna'?
Dunbar is known to be quite a windy site, and it was blowing a gale overnight. It's close to the sea, and although it is blessed, generally, with reasonable weather, it always seems to be breezy.
Got up around 0600, and took the dogs around the field next to the site. Braw views of the cement works next door!
After breakfast, I quite fancied the idea of walking a stretch of the John Muir Way. I'd walked a few miles of it in an east direction last night, the stretch from here to Dunbar. This time it would be here to Torness Nuclear Station, west along the coast.
East Lothian has an outstanding coastline and has some stunning beaches. They're definitely overlooked, as they are often only visited by dog walkers.
The first beach (5 mins from the site) is White Sands.
We then continued on towards the lighthouse at Barns Ness.
The yellow on the broom.
It is indeed a spectacular lighthouse. Very tall and nice white finish.
Continued along the next bay, again with a cracking beach. Literally hundreds of planks of wood on this stretch. I seen miles of it to the east, and there's even more to the west.
It was the cargo which was washed off a ship in the North Sea. Must have been some amount which was lost. If I were a local, I'd be collecting it. It looks as if it's just come out a sawmill.
Safety fears over washed up timber.
As we approached the next bay, Skateraw, came across this memorial.
Torness above Skateraw Bay.
Stunning beach. Apart from the nuclear power station, it is beautiful. Stopped here for a bagel.
The return walk took about 3hrs. Very windy, but well worth it. Returned to the van for some well earned Chicken Tikka Bridies.
After lunch, took a trip up to Doon Hill, a SNH site was the site of 2 timber halls between 500AD and 600AD. Not a lot to see, but great views and a great dirt track to the summit of the hill.
I've got the SNH app, so nearby was Dunglass Collegiate Church, ruins dating from the 1400's. Really impressive place.
This particular memorial was for a person mortally wounded at the Battle of Waterloo.
This one is a bit odd, reads 'She had the lasagna'?
Fine place to visit, and in a really well kept private estate. On the way back, stopped at Thorntonloch, another cracking beach about 5 miles south of Dunbar, right next to Torness.
The water outlet from Torness, you could feel the warmth from the walkway of this absolute torrent into the sea.
Torness have constructed a walkway, with a high and low path which walkers can use. Very Kafkaesque, but I reckon it's actually a primary water containment bund (!) in case of a major disaster, and not as cuddly as a nice path for walking the dog!
Finally, the last significant walk of the day was at Brock Wood Nature Reserve near Spott. About 2 miles from Dunbar. I found this one by searching the Woodland Trust for a 'wood near me'. It's a Scottish Wildlife Trust managed wood and was very good. Lovely sweet smell of Honeysuckle throughout the walk.
Not a wood that sees many spaniels. There were pheasants galore, and my pair were in hyperdrive! In fact, when I put Hamish back on his lead, his collar broke. Second collar malfunction in a week. Luckily, there is a good wee pet shop in Dunbar, and they are both now sporting nice new neckware!
Nice photos, Iain, with quite a range from pre-historic to nuclear stuff. What a great country. I think Torness is in the process of decommissioning, right? By the way, usual spooky coincidence (perhaps) is that Saturday would have been the 180th birthday of John Muir. "Out of Doors" has that awful American actor on playing John Muir as their own memorial. Scotty from Star Trek had a better Scottish accent than him. Keep up the recreational family responsibilities.
ReplyDeleteLove the smell of honeysuckle, minds me of our garden in Wakefield
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