Sunshine After The Rain.

The U.K. has been absolutely battered by the worst Atlantic storms in years with southern England & Wales taking the brunt of the weather with severe flooding & 100 mph+ winds causing millions of pounds in damage & misery to the people affected, the mountainous north of Scotland has had record levels of snowfall & us down in the south east of Scotland have had rain albeit a bit more than normal so really we have been quite lucky.

Today's plan was to cycle up past the farm of Woodhall then cut onto the Woodhall Dean walking route, the start of this walk is never used & is pretty much unknown about, I only know about it as it's on the road to my old house at Weatherly, then to head down into Dunbar as I wanted to get some photos of a huge Swedish tug called 'Tor Viking II' that has been anchored really close to shore just off Dunbar...

...Time for some pictures...

After passing the farm & cottages of Woodhall climbing a short steep hill towards Weatherly stopping to look along the field where at the other end is the Woodhall Dean route.

Along the edge of the oak wood & the winter pond which dries up during the summer months.

The non existent pathway which follows the fence.

Following the fence line & I'd forgot how nice this walk is, when I lived up the road at Weatherly I walked this way all the time with my dog & the great thing about this way is that it's so secluded that you always come across wildlife from roe deer, squirrel's, foxes, buzzards & I remember one time I saw a badger down the hill foraging in the bracken, but today it was 4 roe deer on the far side bank but my wildlife photography skills are terrible !

Out of grassy field into what's left of an old turnip field that the sheep have had a good time eating.

 Over the fence & onto an old days road which linked up the farms of Woodhall to the now disapeared East & West Heartside & then to the Halls farm & beyond. The photo's above the top one looking east to Woodhall & the bottom looking westwards to East Heartside which no longer exists.

Crossing the old bridge & linking up onto the Woodhall Dean walking route. I have been told by various locals that this bridge is Roman but I can't find any literature to prove this but personally I don't think it is, I think the old farm roads had to cross the Weatherly burn so they built a bridge simple as that ! But I could be wrong !!

After emerging from Woodhall Dean I decided to climb up to the top of the Brunt Hill to get a high altitude photo of the 'Tor Viking II' Swedish tug & to my disappointment it had gone !!! Just my luck it's been anchored there all week & the day I want to take a photo it' gone !
Anyway it was a fine chance to try out my new camera's zoom capability with a zoomed in shot of the Bass rock & below Dunbar's parish church with the Isle of May in the background.

An old forgotten cottage at the bottom of Doon Hill, the fireplace & pig sty are still holding on but only just as the ash tree is breaking the pig sty apart & the chimney wall has had a few of it's stones deliberately kicked out ! I don't know why people feel the need to do things like this, idiots is all I can say.

Normally it's just a trickle of water that flows through these pipes but with all the rain that we've had there's a bit more than usual, in fact the water often floods this whole area covering the road above the pipes.
Also came across this dead Grey Heron, I had a look at it & couldn't see any visible wounds on it, so have no idea why it died ?

Finally a wee ride along the coast passing by Whitesands & Barns Ness before heading inland back home to Innerwick, hopefully this is the weather starting to settle & hopefully many more bright blue fresh days like this to come. Oh & before I go here is a picture of the 'Tor Viking II' courtesy of google.

Thanks for visiting & please come back for another tour of Scotland's south east scenery.