September 2018 – ricketyrambler

Hello!

Thanks to everyone for letting me know you are still there and reading! It was lovely to hear from so many people. So we’ll keep going for a while and see how the walking goes….

Tomorrow we’re away to Pitlochry for a couple of days, it sounds like we’re meeting up with Storm Helene so not sure how much walking there will be – but there will be some pretty pictures! And last week we took a trip to Dryburgh Abbey – one of my favourite local places to go. However I’m saving that blog for after next weekend when we’re hopefully going back to watch a stonemason at work – maybe he’ll let me have a go!

Anyway – yesterday we took a trip to North Berwick – about an hour away and my favourite beach to walk along. It was very windy!! We managed a couple of miles each way and then forced ourselves to eat fish and chips before heading home with pockets full of shells and bits of pottery….

North Berwick east along the beach to Longskelly Point and back (4 miles)

Just before we reached North Berwick, as we drove past Tantallon Castle, we could look out to Bass Rock and see the thousands of birds – mostly gannets – swirling and diving all around it so we stopped for some pictures:

Bass Rock – you have to look really closely but all those white dots around the rock are gannets – and the rock is covered in them – its where they live.

The tide was out so we managed to walk the whole way without having to resort to scrambling up and through the golf course. I was impressed with how little plastic I saw on the beach, there was lots of wood – planks washed in from the sea which Mr RR coveted – and some large tree trunks, but mostly sand, shells and seaweed – just as it should be.

North Berwick beach looking back towards Berwick Law

I tried to identify some of these shells – but impossible without bringing some home and measuring them and peering at them in detail! Maybe next time.

Seaweed – another identification project for a rainy day!

Here’s a collection of stuff we brought home with us:

Yes….a pair of spectacles! Mr RR is very pleased with them and says they are better than his own! (if they’re yours, just say and we’ll post them on!).

We didn’t bring this home with us – just thought it looked good:

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There are a chain of islands in the Firth of Forth in addition to Bass Rock:

Craigleith – meaning Rock of Leith, also home to bird colonies including about 28,000 pairs of puffins – but historically a rabbit breeding warren where the rabbits were bred for food.

The Lamb – very small and apparently locally known now as Uri’s island as it was purchased by Uri Geller in 2009 for £30,000 because he believed Egyptian treasure was buried there. He spent a day there but has never returned!

Fidra – an RSPB Scotland Nature Reserve. The lighthouse was built in 1885. The island is said to be the inspiration for Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island.

There were plenty of gulls of course:

and gannets:

also a redshank:

DSCN5601 — The Macmillan Fieldguide to Bird Identification says this is ‘a rather dumpy, featureless wader’ – hmm…I think he’s quite lovely!

There was a crow sitting on a lichen covered rock very photogenically:

and a pied wagtail who really didn’t want his picture taken!

My feet had gone far enough by this time so we hobbled back into town stopping for a look over the harbour walls and to find out about the Lobster Hatchery – a project implemented to repopulate the Forth with a sustainable source of lobsters

Then it was time for fish and chips! See you next time.

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Hello,

It was April 2017 when I last posted on here and as I’ve just had a reminder from wordpress that my annual subscription is due….I thought I’d see if anyone was still out there!

Lots of stuff going on in the last year, none of which I’m talking about here except to say that my ricketiness has extended to my feet – which is pretty poor news for a walker! However, I have a lovely acupuncturist who is working hard to help me get better and today Mr RR and I did our first good walk for a long time. It was going to be just 4 miles and ended up being nearly 7 (!) which is probably a bit more than I wanted to do….but we made it back (well I hobbled) to Bamburgh for tea and shortbread which is the important thing!

Anyway – let me know if you’re reading and I’ll see if I recover enough to try another ramble later this week.

Sunday, September 9th 2018

Bamburgh to Budle Bay circular (7 miles – which included some wandering about the beach)

The Lindisfarne Nature Reserve in Budle Bay:

Home to hundreds of birds but it was really difficult to take pictures because of the high winds and also my failure to charge my camera before we left home!

The kite surfers were worth seeing too:

And across the bay – Holy Island.

The tides were all wrong for us to visit Holy Island today.

See you again soon hopefully!

J x

ricketyrambler

Writing about Rambling!

Month: September 2018

Beachcombing in North Berwick

Budle Bay near Bamburgh, Northumberland