Dunbar lies on the rugged East Lothian coast, round the eastward curve from Edinburgh.
First published in: The Times Click here to view a map for this walk in a new window
Facebook Link:
The town’s most famous son, John Muir (1838-1914), was a hugely influential pioneering conservationist, founding the National Parks movement in his adoptive America. Muir acknowledged as a lifelong inspiration the wild coast ‘around my native town of Dunbar by the stormy North Sea’.
Today lay cold and still, a pearly January morning with sea light slanting across wide freshwater marshes, shaggy dunes of pale green marram grass and long tan-coloured sands. The red sandstone houses of Dunbar crowded to their headland across Belhaven Bay, backlit by the sun. Its muted glow picked out the details of the volcanic lumps and bumps that litter this low-lying East Lothian coast – the hollow-backed cone of North Berwick Law, triangular Traprain Law, and out in the Firth of Forth the flat wedge of the Isle of May and the white rectangle of the lighthouse on the looming dark face of the Bass Rock, rising from a white collar of breaking waves.
Stefan Sobell, Dave Richardson and I strolled the dunes away from the town, talking of citterns (Stefan makes them, Dave plays them) and bitterns, holy fools and godwits. A small brown bird with a dark head and yellow bill went hopping among the empty snail shells of the dunes. ‘Twite?’ – ‘Yep.’ A plump little bird with dark green legs and a china-white belly stooped and probed the mud of the Tyne estuary among a crowd of grey plover. ‘Greenshank?’ – ‘Yep.’
To landward lay the long dark bar of coniferous Hedderwick Hill Plantation, cover and concealment for birds of prey. Suddenly one was overhead – ‘Peregrine!’ – a little dark hunter flying with quick wingbeats round a flock of two hundred knot. The waders formed themselves into a dense, defensive ball of birds; then one of their number panicked and made a break, quitting the safety of numbers in a desperate dash towards the open sea. Pursuer and prey chased out over the firth, the knot managing to keep out of the peregrine’s clutches with a series of last-second jinks and swerves. ‘Who’ll win?’ I asked Dave. ‘The one that’s got more fuel on board,’ was his reply.
Wartime tank traps leaned at the edge of the trees, green-topped and crumbling. Beyond them rose the candlesnuffer turrets and fantasy roofs of Tyninghame House, a Mad King Ludwig extravaganza of a country pile. In a mossy forest hollow we ate our ham, mustard and spelt bread sandwiches, and headed back along the John Muir Way. Would Dunbar’s famous native son have enjoyed the morning’s walk in our company? I’d like to think so.
Start & finish: Linkfield car park, John Muir Country Park, West Barns, Dunbar, East Lothian – nearest postcode EH42 1XF (OS ref NT 652785)
Getting there: Train (www.thetrainline.com; www.railcard.co.uk) to Dunbar (2½ miles by John Muir Way coast path). Bus X6 or X8 Edinburgh-Dunbar (www.firstgroup.com). Road: A1 to Dunbar; follow brown ‘John Muir Country Park’ signs to car park.
Walk (5½ miles from car park, 11 miles from Dunbar station, easy, OS Explorer 351):
From Dunbar station walk down to Dunbar Castle; then follow coast path (‘John Muir Way/JMW’) for 2 miles to cross footbridge (657784) into John Muir Country Park. In ⅓ mile (653787) bear right off JMW.
From here (or from car park) follow shoreline for 2¼ miles, NW to Tyne estuary (642800) then inland along shore, then edge of Hedderwick Hill Plantation to cross footbridge (640788). Join/rejoin JMW here; follow it along shore for ¾ mile; leave JMW where it angles sharp right along estuary basin at noticeboard (627784). Left here for 300m, then left again (628781) along field edge, following ‘Hedderwick Hill’ fingerposts. In ¾ mile at right bend (639787), go left to recross footbridge (640788); follow JMW back to car park/Dunbar.
Click on Facebook “Like” link to share this walk with Facebook friends.
Lunch: East Links Park Tearoom (01368-863607)
More info: Dunbar TIC (01368-863353); www.visitscotland.com/surprise
John Muir Trust: 01796-470080; www.jmt.org
www.ramblers.org.uk www.satmap.com www.LogMyTrip.co.uk