Take off your thermals. It’s always sunny in Scotland! That’s our experience anyway! Had a wonderful day with lots of new cultural experiences. Like eating fresh gooseberries when we walked to the greengrocer to stock up on some fresh fruit. Can I just say that the taste of fresh gooseberries is enough to curl not just your tongue, but your teeth too!

Rosie’s friend, Lizzie from her Israel trip last year happened to be in Edinburgh for a few days and she picked Rosie and I up and the three of us set off in her little red car driving east from Edinburgh to East Lothian. Very quickly we were driving through rolling green hills and beautiful countryside, lots of golf courses and narrow country roads. John had given us the names of some places to explore. First stop was the village of Dirleton. A classic “English” village- but don’t tell the Scots that!  Around a freshly mown village green is a village church with a squat square tower, stone cottages with front gardens full of bright colourful flowers, a ruined castle hidden behind a high stone wall and huge thick green trees and a village pub called the Castle Inn. I found it enchanting.

Parked the car and we walked down a wide path, through wheat fields ripe with grain and then through the dappled shade of woodlands over grassy hilly sand dunes to Yellowcraigs beach with a long, wide beach of orange sand and gently rolling ripples of waves. Most of the occupants of the beach were children with their bucket and spades and dogs. I think Britain has more dogs than people. It reminded me of my childhood reading of books of English children at the seaside. It exactly fitted my preconceptions!  Close by the shoreline was a little island that is supposed to have inspired Treasure Island by R.L. Stevenson who had lived nearby. Do children read that book any more?

We walked for a few miles down along the the long, wide beach where the water isn’t quite as frigid as I expected it to be. But I’m not at all tempted to go for a swim, not even with the offer of a borrowed wetsuit from John. We then walked up through a golf course that was right on the beach, being graciously waved through by the golfers. And then walking back along a John Muir marked pathway.

 

A wonderful 2 hour walk. Red poppies glowing in the sunshine on the edges of the wheat fields and paths. White or pale pink wild roses, bright yellow little buttercups, lots of wildflowers, some of them probably weeds – pink, purple and yellow. A blue moth with red spotted wings. The tumbled down stone fence walls, the ferns in the shade of the high woodland trees, the knotted gnarled trees twisted and bent by the cold winds.

We had a very late lunch at the low white Castle Inn built in the 1800s. I asked the waitress the interpretations of some of the menu items. And Rosie and I tried haggis! It was soft textured and mainly tasting of herbs. Probably to make it interesting enough to eat.

Then we drove further east to North Berwick. Which by the way is very long way from Berwick-on-Tweed, Drove down through narrow streets to the sea front and little harbour. It has a long seafaring history. Rosie and Lizzie had ice creams from a van. Because when you’re at the seaside you eat ice cream. The sea breeze was very cold. Scottish fishermen must have a very hardy breed. But there were families on the beach. While their children played with their buckets and spades, some of the adults had their shirts off and trousers rolled up, happily turning bright red. Sunburn is a badge of honour and experience here.

We walked around the remains of a little medieavel chapel right on the headland, and a little exhibit on the breeding of lobsters. Drove back through rolling green hills to Edinburgh where Lizzie left us to go on a 3 day hike of the West Highland Way, carrying all that she needed for her tramp on her back. John, after a frustrating day at work that culminated in a puncture of his bike, took us to a really nice seafood restaurant in nearby Leith. Right on the waterway with old houses lining the canal. We needed lots of interpretations again for the menu. I should have written them down because I’ve forgotten them now.

By the way – “clapshot” is mashed potatoes and turnips together – in case you were wondering! We had a wonderful meal with all sorts of British seafood. Rosie tried oysters and mussels for the first – and last – time.  We both tried black pudding. Which tasted all right – again it was mainly the flavourings I could taste. But I find it hard to get past the remembrance of the ingredients! It was very lightly sprinkling with rain when we left the restaurant. just to remind us that it does rain in Scotland after all.