Now on the last week of my holidays & with heavy rain forecast for the rest of the week I decided to brave the wind & head for Traprain Law an old hill fort a few miles along the road with a strong south westerly wind I set off..
The Dryburn railway bridge in the foreground with my home village of Innerwick in the background to the left.
There's a lot of golf coarses along the coast of East Lothian, Recently these signs have popped up to advertise to tourists.
Belhaven smokehouse, The Trout hatchery & one of my favourite fishing spots when I was a bairn.
More old road sign posts.
Nearly there.
A braw view looking over to North Berwick Law with the Gorse bushes & Oil Seed Rape in flower.
At the bottom ready to go up to the top, Not a bad deal the people who look after the Exmoor ponies bag up some of their dung & leave it below this sign & if anyone wants it for their garden they can just take it.
Some information boards about the law.
Finally at the top with amazing 360 degree views, Traprain Law is steeped in history, it was first occupied as long ago as the Bronze Age in the centuries around 1500 BC. Bronze tools were made here, & people were buried here
Exmoor ponies were introduced a couple of years ago on loan to keep the grass down, they are a hardy breed & need to be as it can get very cold up here being so exposed & today I could hardly stand up as the wind was so strong.
The 360 views looking North, South, East & West.
Some steep drops around the law.
This is the 'Maiden Stone' & the folklore goes that if a man or woman should squeeze through the gap between the Maiden Stone & the Mother Rock, they will improve their fertility & also bring good fortune, you must also be naked at this time ! & apparently if you are aware of this tradition ( as I am ) & choose to ignore this tradition while visiting the Maiden Stone or Traprain Law you will bring bad luck to yourself !
A zoomed in shot of North Berwick Law, I'll do this on another post.
Below a wee Go-Pro video of going down the Law.
Now heading towards the river Tyne & the path that runs beside it.
A nice bridge crossing the Tyne to access the footpath.
Hailes Castle, is a 14th century castle on the banks of the river Tyne.
The river bank is really green with the waterside plants & the smells are superb.
Some Mallard ducks & riverside views.
Phantassie doocot near to the village of East Linton, There are more pigeon doocots in East Lothian than anywhere else in the U.K. The doocots were very important to estates as a source of meat through the winter months & the pigeon shit was used for fertilizing the fields & tanning leather.
At East Linton I joined up with the John Muir Way which follows the Tyne to the estuary.
This is a zoomed in shot of a Badger, it had me fooled for a minute as I was standing on a bridge taking a rest from the wind when I spotted it, slowly getting my camera out to catch a photo then realised it wasn't real it was a photo of a Badger printed onto clear perspex!! But from a distance it looked real.
Tyneinghame road bridge, It takes a real hammering during floods maybe this is why it has the extra arched tunnels to help let the water through.
Anti tank blocks dating back from WWII there is still hundreds of these all along the coast, they were to help deter a land invasion.
The end of the way for the river Tyne as it goes out to sea.
A Grey Heron.
What's left of Dunbar castle, even in my lifetime I can see how much it has eroded.
Anyway time to sign off now today was a hard day fighting against the wind until next time.
Oh !!! nearly forgot remember the Maiden Stone & the folklore story..........
Bye for now ;-)
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