A mid winter beach break.
Trip Start
Sep 12, 2006
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18
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Trip End
Sep 08, 2008
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North Berwick, United Kingdom
Tuesday, January 2, 2007
It was a beautiful sunny day, and Dom, Anna and I left Edinburgh on the 10.37am train for North Berwick, a small coastal town about 45 minutes east of Edinburgh. It was a short walk from the train station (platform to be more precise) through the quaint seaside town to the beach. The place seemed quite old fashioned, and I think we were probably the only people under the age of 50 walking around! A cool wind greeted us at the beach, and whilst it felt like about 8am, it was actually 11.30am - the sun had barely risen beyond the hills whatsoever. It certainly was a nice feeling to walk in the sand again, and later on hear the waves rolling over the pebbles as they washed back out into the North Sea. I hadn't realised how much I'd missed it.
We walked east to the end of North Berwick beach, and then up a hill alongside what looked like a very ancient little wall. I had seen a few of these in the Scottish countryside in my three short journeys outside Edinburgh, and I couldn't help but wonder if they were just made to look old, or if they really were centuries old. The view from here was quite scenic, west along the beach to North Berwick and north out to the sea and the imposing Base rock.
We continued along the coast, past some small cottages, along a few more beaches and up a few hills before we came across a dilapidated old building behind a steel fence. Our only option was to turn back or jump another old stone wall and walk across a private field. Choosing the latter, we bypassed the old warehouse or whatever it was, before finding the huge ruined Tantallon Castle on the headland. Dom and Anna were a little confused as they had approached it from below the first time they visited North Berwick, but figured the tide must have been the reason we found ourselves having to climb the last hill from the beach. Nevertheless it was still an impressive site. We spent a few minutes walking around it, but due to the public holiday (yes, the Scots need two days to get over New Years Eve) we weren't able to go inside.
After some sandwiches for lunch at the castle we continued back to North Berwick along the road to save some time, and then wandered through the town for a while before sitting down to savour the views from the rocky headland in the centre of the main beach. There were a lot of people out, despite the now darkening skies, and I found it a little amusing to hear all the old people speaking in Scottish accents after hearing nothing but Polish for the previous few months.
It was a quick journey on the train back to Edinburgh, and after picking up my pack from Dom's we grabbed some sushi for dinner before I boarded a bus bound for the airport. I had only a day to relax before I was back in the classroom, so I was looking forward to getting home and having a rest. Despite missing the majority of the Hogmanay festivities due to poor weather and planning I still had a fantastic five days in Scotland. Edinburgh was a fascinating and lively city, and the final day's trip out to the coast was just the breath of fresh air I needed. I left the country with the feeling that it was the kind of place I'd be returning to in the not too distant future.
