Distance: 13.75 miles (Tot: 511.25)
Weather: a few high whispy hints of cloud in a glorious blue sky
Number of seconds it took me to exit the tent when I mistakenly thought there was a bee inside with me: 0.3 (and in quite a comedy way)
It was a day of three parts. Under glorious blue skies, but a wind that was keeping it cold, we walked the first two miles of the day until, at Pitcox, we came across a chap known as TVPS (aka 'the trail angel') sitting at the side of the road. Out came deckchairs and a picnic for us and before we knew it over an hour and a half had passed. Bidding TVPS farewell until tomorrow night, on we went clutching the very useful map (a cycling map, as it happens) he'd lent us. If we'd had that map yesterday our passage through the windfarm would have been much smoother!
Just before East Linton we picked up the John Muir Way (JMW), and along the river into East Linton it went. It isn't a particularly big place, but somehow we were there for an hour. I think the main factors were that it was a sunny day (and by noon it was warm too, with the wind having dropped) and we didn't have very far to walk - two things that always cause us to spin out even short days to feel like long ones.
We did finally get going again, for the last five miles into North Berwick. Or was it 6 miles? Or 7.5? Depends which sign post you looked at, or whether you believed the route plotted on my map.
We actually walked further than the route plotted on my map, as with the benefit of a more up-to-date and more detailed map we found that the JMW takes paths that don't appear on my map, and in doing so wiggles around a bit. A few wiggles are preferable to road walking though.
The views coming into North Berwick were set off beautifully under the blue skies, with the two main features being 'The Law' (a 187m pimple which towers above the surrounding flatness) and Bass Rock, a big rock island just out to sea that looks completely out of place. I was sorely tempted to pop up 'The Law', to enjoy the panorama, but as Mick wasn't so keen on a side-trip, straight to the campsite we came. On reflection, we chose the campsite which probably made least sense from a positional point of view, but it's got stunning views (including the one at the top of this post, which was taken from the site). More seaside will feature tomorrow...
(Maike - I thoroughly recommend it as a past-time - particularly in the stunning surroundings of Scotland. Moreover if you get this lucky with the weather.
TVPS - big thank you for this morning's picnic and company!)
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Nae problem, I enjoyed the wee blether we had.
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