A few consistent days of warm spring time weather & I've been busy taking advantage of the sunny days by tidying up & working in the garden, also preparing an area of my garden for a poly tunnel. But I made time for a little short trip & fancied a wee climb up to Blackcastle hill to take in some of the amazing views from there...
...So off I went for a little excursion to Blackcastle.
Passing through Innerwick farm which itself offers great views along the coast & out to the Firth of Forth & as you can see there's an old WWII lookout post just past the farm strategically placed for the wide open & long views of the Forth.
Rounding the corner following a farm track towards the old farm buildings of Braidwood which was abandoned during the construction of Torness power station in the 1980's as the electricity pylons span over the top of the buildings.
Now into a livestock field normally inhabited with evil cows but I was safe in the knowledge that the cows were not in here for now as I spied them still in the cattle shed when I cycled through the farm, happy days :-)
The gorse bushes are flowering in abundance just now & there were loads of birds around them, aswell as a few bee's feeding on the flowers.
Iv'e no idea what happened to this pylon, it's been lying here for years all mangled up.
Startling three roe deer as I cycled through the hills & they made it look so effortless running up the steep hill, unlike me who would soon be huffing & puffing climbing the hill in a few hundred yards !
Along the bottom edge of Blackcastle hill I then pass through a gateway to double back on myself to start the long & arduous climb to the top.
Stopping for a breather & already the views are starting to look good along with the big cloudy skies & wasn't even halfway up.
Finally at the top & a worth while climb it was with views like this looking out to sea & along the rolling hills with my local town of Dunbar & even on my days off I'm reminded of my work LaFarge cement works ! I suppose that's the downside of living so close to work, even in my garden I can see the plume of smoke coming from the factory lum !
After spending ten minutes or so getting my breath back from the steep climb up here & taking a few photos it was time to head off. Although it was warm & sunny below in Innerwick there was a real chill in the air up here.
Plenty of new born lambs up here & some must of been only hours old as the umbilical cords were still bright red & hadn't blackened up & fell off yet.
Before the ultra fast descent down to Cocklaw farm I stopped for a wee look over towards the new wind farm that is in the process of being constructed at Wester Dod, looking forward to new biking possabilities & views from there when it's finished.
And then a wee look eastwards along the coastal cliffs which at night when the sun is setting look totally amazing.
Down at Cocklaw farm now after blowing off a few cobwebs during the warp speed huge downhill that is too enjoyable to stop to take pictures !
More young lambs here at Blackcastle farm where the lambs mothers were very vocal & not happy with me taking pictures of their lambs, although the wee lambs were very curious & came over to the gate beside me.
A bit further along the road were these wee guffy's wrestling with each other as they foraged & rooted around the ground, I spoke to the pig's owner last year, a small holder with a large piece of wooded ground which he buys piglets annually to fatten up for the freezer, can't get better than that home grown pork !
A few bee's feeding on the yellow gorse bush & pink ribes flowers which looked very colourful, just a pity that the pylon substation is behind them :-/
Last wee bit of road cycling back towards Innerwick & the farmers are busy at the moment planting seed in the back field & the field in the foreground has already been prepared ready for the tatties to go in.
Sweet home Alabama or Innerwick in my case, cycling past the hub of the village, the village hall where it all happens ! Had many a good night up here at New Year shindigs falling about the place almost unconscious :-)
Then through the church grounds back to Mtb Innerwick Stravaiger's base camp. Iv'e said in past blogs that I intend to do a post on the local church graveyards as the gravestone are very old some dating back to the 1400's & some of them don't even have written epitaphs on them just carved pictures of the deceased's profession i.e. blacksmith, baker, mason etc. I will get around to doing it I promise ;-)
Anyway time to sign off now, although it was just a short ride out it was still more enjoyable than a day at work, well real work but after the usual arrive home coffee break & bike wash it was back into doing work in the garden again.
Anyway thanks for the visit I hope you enjoyed the hurl.
Cheers for now.
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