Gullane Bents.
Start. Gullane Bents car park.
Route. Gullane Bents car park - Gullane Bay - Black Rocks - Freshwater Haven - Jamie's Neuk - Rabbit Warren - Gullane Bents - Gullane Bents car park.
Notes. Bents being a term used to describe an area of coastal grassland playing host to a wide variety of flora and fauna. The bents rises from a wonderful crescent of gently sloping golden sand, Gullane Sands one of the finest beaches in East Lothian. This short walk traversed the beach rounding the point at Black Rocks before exploring delightful Freshwater Haven, our return was made through Jamie's Neuk and the vast dune system.
We left the car in the Gullane Bents car park, immediately descending to the beach, there's something special about wandering across a strand, the song of the sea, the cry of sea birds, salt spray in the air, childhood memories come flooding back. We paused for a brew at Black Rocks before continuing round the point, the ruins of a black house guard the point, named on 1853 OS maps as Red House this must have been a bleak place in winter.
After crossing Freshwater Haven we paused again before following the path back to the black house, somewhere in the dunes behind the black house lies the ruins of St Patrick's Chapel. We didn't hunt them out, our route followed a green trod inland, along the edge of a ruinous wall before turning to follow the boundary of the pine plantation, into the woods we blindly wandered, a wrong turn saw us re-tracing our steps to a faint path junction before crossing the dune system to reach a metal barn. With the boundary fence of the Muirfield Golf Course to guide us, a sandy trod ushered us through vast swathes of sea blackthorn, this spiny plant planted in the 1970s to combat coastal erosion has become a real monster, steps are under way to remove it. The sandy path lead onto a wide gravel trod which in turn carried us through the overflow car parks back to our starting point.
Gullane Sands and the point at Black Rocks.
Waves break over Gullane Point.
The dunes of Gullane Bents.
Fife across the Firth of Forth, the two bumps on the horizon I believe are East and West Lomond.
Perched on high ground behind the beach the community of Gullane.
Black Rocks with views across Gullane Bay.
I'm quite pleased with this shot, yes I know it's not good, you couldn't see the bridges with the naked eye, I just pointed the camera at the narrow bit that might be a river mouth, and hey presto the Fourth Rail Bridge and the road bridge.
Freshwater Haven seen from the ruined Black House on the point at Black Rocks.
Freshwater Haven an idyllic arc of sand visited by few.
Striding out across golden sands, not a soul in sight.
Freshwater Haven as seen from the ruinous wall that guided us away from this delightful stretch of coast.
A change of scenery, Jamie's Neuk.
Traversing the vast dune system known as Rabbit Warren.
Our guide back to the car park, with Muirfield Golf Course on the left and a vast forest of skin piercing sea blackthorn our right, there's no chance of getting lost.