After a breakfast of brioche and biscuits and a slow pack down, I walked into Dalgety Bay town along the coastal path. It started raining lightly but gradually got heavier as time went on so I gave in and put on my waterproof trousers going out of the town. Once through some woods it was absolutely lashing it down as I made my way towards Inverkeithing passing the occasional person obviously doing the Fifie Coastal path. Despite the rain I was boiling which was very annoying so as soon as it started letting off the temptation was there to remove my coat. Just before I reached the forth bridge it had stopped completely for a short while so I took off my waterproof trousers too. Unfortunately, going over the bridge the weather closed in again and my legs were soaked very quickly. Someone beeped at me up there too but I think it was actually a friendly one for a change.
Over at Queensferry the rain stopped again and I started to dry out as I made my way through the woods and grounds of Dalmeny House. The river Almond forced me inland to the road bridge then I went straight back out along riverside paths, now in bright sunshine and warmth. At the coast again I came to a little harbour and got an ice cream. I’d had to take my bag off to fit through the door and had a little trouble getting it back on with an ice cream in my hand as people watched on. A guy did offer some help, albeit too late, and I had a brief chat with him and his wife. I walked on a bit then sat down to finish my ice cream, then as I set off again the guy came running up with my map. Yet again I had left it somewhere but thankfully there was a very nice bloke around this time. I could go along the front up to Gorton Harbour where I had to get onto road which I followed along the edge of Edinburgh. It took ages so it was good to finally get to the beach on the other side and onwards through Portabello to Musselburgh. My parents were coming up for the weekend so they had booked a Travelodge there that I headed towards. I had to come right in through Mussleburgh and out the other side, getting some snacks along the way. My parents didn’t arrive until 1am and I had their key so I had to wait up for them to get there.
I was woken by knocking on the door at 8am, thinking it was mum or dad I shouted something then slowly made my way to open it. Turns out it was a breakfast. I told the girl I hadn’t ordered one but she said it must have been paid for by someone who had left early so I may as well have it still. We drove into Musselburgh then walked out along the river to join the John Muir Way on the coast. This took us past old ash lagoons then to the road over to Prestonpans. Between there and Cockenzie is a power station that we were able to walk in front of and continue to Seaton Harbour. Not long out of Seaton we were able to get onto the beach for a while but my friends Amie and Aiden were up visiting Aiden’s parents and I had arranged to meet them around lunchtime. As a result we came in at Longniddy to find somewhere to have a bite to eat. The first place we found was a sandwich shop y the train station and we definitely lucked out, the sandwiches were pretty good. Amie and Aiden turned up and we all had a very lovely lunch. We all set off again around 2 but Amie and Aiden were only able to go a little way before they had to head back. We went along the beach path again but the John Muir way cut off a headland so we took a track out then had to get around the edge of a golf course to Aberlady.
Aberlady is on one side of a bay and we walked along the shore to a wooden bridge over to a Nature reserve up the other side. A sign said dogs weren’t allowed but we saw plenty of other people walking there’s around there so we figured we would be alright with Ally. The path went alongside another golf course then onto a beach. The beach was quite pretty and at the other side we came up onto dunes again then over a hill to Gullane where we stopped for the day. Whilst waiting for a taxi to take us back to the car I tried a Sea Buckthorn ice cream which was slightly strange. In the evening we had tea in a pub the taxi driver recommended, we were the only people eating but it was alright.
I was up at 7:30 the next morning but really wanted a lie in for an hour or 2. It was looking sunny outside at least though. I was dropped off with Ally back at Gullane whilst mum and dad drove on to Dunbar before getting a taxi to North Berwick. The walk up and round to North Berwick was a really nice one along the beach most of the time and took almost 2 hours. Annoyingly my camera batteries were dead so I didn’t get any photos of the views as I walked along. I met mum and dad at a bird observatory in North Berwick then we all carried on along the beach. Cliffs started to rise up but we stayed along the bottom rock jumping as the tide was out with Bass Rock, turned white by all the gannets on it, as a constant companion. The little bay beneath Tantallon castle made me feel like I was back in medieval times and was seriously impressive with our voices echoing around it. We could have come up a few times but decided to carry on along the bottom as it was more interesting and there weren’t actually paths up top so it would have been road walking. Gregan bay opened up in front of us and I ventured out to a weird little harbour carved down into the rock out on the beach. We stopped for lunch at the bay, which had quite a few people enjoying the slight sun on it. The beach further on had loads of witch stones on it so I collected up a few.
At Ravensburgh Sands there were loads of people again, these were having champagne picnics and allsorts so we looked a little out of place in our walk gear. It was here that we had to finally come up off the beach and take roads inland to get over a river by taking the most direct route possible. This turned out to take us through the front garden of Tyninghame house. They weren’t impressed to see us there but didn’t have a go really so it was ok. To be fair we had ignored a few ‘no public access’ signs. Once over the bridge we were back onto the John Muir Way, taking us to the coast once more. We skirted the edge of a pretty estuary then got through some woods to pass a farm park. Before getting to Dunbar there was a foot bridge over a river that had a second bridge over it right on the beach. The second bridge had both ends in water as the tide was now coming in. We had to go around another golf course at Dunbar then into town where mum and dad had left the car. I retrieved my bag from the car and set off alone as my parents and the dog drove home. I had another golf course to get through on the other side of Dunbar then past a lighthouse before settling in the dunes around Barns Ness for the night. The weather had said it would be windy and rainy overnight so I was hoping they were wrong.
Nomad's Land 
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