Coastal walk from Gullane to North Berwick

By the time I have walked about four miles, my toes are screaming at me - it's the arthritis, you see.  One of the joys of being that little bit older than I was.  However, for a long time, I have been keen to walk along the beaches, and follow the coastal path, between Gullane and North Berwick. So, having worked out the tide times, I decided today was the day, and off we went.

Below is our starting point, the bay at Gullane.  It's a lovely beach, very popular with dog walkers. This is looking east, the direction Tilly and I were going to take.

Looking back, up the Forth, the unmistakable bulk of Arthur's Seat, and Edinburgh's skyline, just clear enough to see.

For most of the walk, there is the choice between wandering along a series of beaches, or following a path along the top of each.

There's no denying it, at heart I am a shell-seeker.  I have loads of shells at home.  We lived on one of the out islands in the Bahamas for a just over a year, a long time ago, and that's when I started collecting shells.  Although, when I was a little girl, I did have lots of the pretty little pink thin tellins, which I found on holiday.  They are the kind children use to decorate boxes, along with pale yellow periwinkle shells.  

There was the usual amount of stuff washed up on the beaches.  Some of it was fair enough, a few lost lobster cages, and an unfortunate seaside bucket, but there was far too much rubbish, left behind by careless visitors.  I even saw a big 2 litre water bottle, covered in barnacles!  That would have been knocking around, without the slightest trace of decomposing, for at least a year!

There were a lot of jellyfish.  I looked up this rusty coloured one because I hadn't seen it before  I think it's a lion's mane jellyfish, and the violet coloured one is the bluefire jellyfish.  

We passed some great rock formations,

and there were some seriously good waves.

Lots of wild flowers, including this Scottish lovage, which I haven't seen before.

 and wild strawberry, which tasted as good as it looked!

The beach below is Yellowcraigs.  It was pretty busy today!  The sun was out for the first time in quite a while.

The waves were pretty big, especially for small children.  These two young boys were psyching themselves up for this wave

 and then thought better of the next one!

In a world which is rapidly changing, there is something very reassuring, almost endearing, about the British at the seaside.  It just wouldn't be the same if they didn't cart the windbreaks, buckets and spades, and folding chairs along, to keep themselves amused and comfortable during their day by the sea,

and not forgetting the football, of course!

Not a moment too soon, North Berwick appeared on the horizon.  My feet were screaming at me, but we had another couple of bays to go.

But, hooray, 6+ miles and 3 hours later, we arrived.  Mr Gaucho met us and we went to our favourite Steampunk, for a cup of coffee, a very good savoury muffin, and some restorative wafts of thyme, lavender and curry plant, growing alongside the tables outside.