Autumn Ramble

I've acquired a new camera. Well it's new to me; it's a very little used Canon that was at a price I couldn't refuse. It may be two year old technology to the enthusiast but it's cutting edge for me. 

Saturday morning was a bit cold with a blustery westerly wind, but it kept the clouds moving and there were welcome periods of sunshine. I set off on the LHT with a flask of coffee and vague plan to go wherever looked sunny.

I also planned to stop for anything interesting, like this Grey Heron.

Or just to appreciate the colours on an autumn day.

Tantallon Castle, The Bass Rock and the Isle of May on the horizon, I don't know how many times I have seen this view but it's always worth another photo.

I carried on towards North Berwick where I cycled down to the harbour to see a boat that Coastkid had posted a picture of last week. It is indeed a Nordic Folkboat. I think it would have been built post 1966 as it has a carvel hull and it's obviously not one of the modern GRP ones.

The places where the paint had been ground back showed nice tight caulking but the rudder gudgeons look like they need immediate attention.

If it was mine, I would also be wondering about the keel bolts as there was a lot of filler around the keel hull joint and that is a worrying dent in the leading edge.

If you want to read more about these classic little boats, search for Lt Col Blondie Hassler and his adventures on his Folkboat 'Jester'.

Then it was back on the bike and past a cold looking east beach.

Then off to the glen where I stopped for a break in the shelter and had a good brew of coffee from my flask (and a fudge doughnut).

On by Becky's Strip and then to the John Muir Way.

Whose tyre prints could these be?

I cut back onto the road and could have headed back by Whitekirk, but as I was enjoying myself I went along by Janesfield and up the climb over to East Linton.

And after every climb comes the descent.

Over the bridge at the Linn and then back to Dunbar.

I had only headed out with the vaguest of notions where I was going but ended up being out for far longer than planned. I may have also passed a couple of fellow bloggers running along the beach and cycling along the road near Leuchie? A great pedal and all the better for not being planned.

Beach riding on the Fatty

I'm still missing my camera but hopefully a new one should be delivered next week. In the meantime I tried using my phone but didn't bother to post as the pictures were so poor. These pictures are taken on the little Vivitar camera which has an awfully small lens and aperture.

The weather forecast was quite poor on Saturday morning, so I took the Fatty out for a blast along the coast. I went east to Whitesands with clouds gathering and spots of rain in the freshening easterly wind.

I had plenty of empty beach, just the birds for company, and Fly of course.

There's not much chance of getting Fly to stay still for a photo.

On one Floater tyre print. If you read Fat Bike forums, you may be surprised to see this as these tyres are apparently no use for sand? eh?

It always amazes me how a bit of cold and damp drives people indoors. If you are prepared to put up with a bit of discomfort from the weather, then there are miles of empty coastline to be explored. Not the longest of rides but a fine way to spend a Saturday morning.

A Borders Cycle and a lot of rain

Firstly, my apologies for the images on this post. My Pentax Optio has charging issues. I eventually found an old 3mp Vivitar 'camera shaped object' at the bottom of a cupboard. On reflection, I could have used my phone to make an equally insipid record of the ride.

But lets concentrate on the cycling; My boss has been twisting my arm to take some time off so I booked Friday and a train ticket to Berwick upon Tweed. That's in England, so this post has a cross border, international traveller type theme!    Aye...

I caught the 09:28 from a very wet Dunbar station. The journey south was mostly a glimpse of flooded fields and miserable looking sheep as the train clattered it's way along the coast and cliffs. At Berwick I unhooked the trucker from it's storage compartment and struggled onto the platform.
The above photo is a cast iron support from the station canopy. The London North Eastern Railways date back to Victorian times (although LNER was a conglomeration in the 1920s) when steam ruled and Britain had an infrastructure to be proud of. As the doors closed behind me there was a hiss of brakes and the electric warmth and light of the train continued south. I stood on a very wet and windswept platform and wondered what I was doing.

There was nothing else to do but put on the waterproofs, get on the trucker and start into the 30mph gusting wind, driving rain and interminable hills.

Thing is, half an hour in and I was in my own little cocoon of damp, spinning away, watching the countryside pass by and feeling so relaxed with the world.

After a pedal along the Tweed, then the Kelso road, I turned off to Paxton, then cut back and started the steady two mile climb to Lamberton Moor.

To add to the torrential rain, I was now climbing into the clouds.

This was the best attempt at a smile I could manage.

Eventually I descended through Ayton and on into the fishing town of Eyemouth. The easterly winds will build a sea over the next 24 hours so most of the fishing boats were tied up.

A very big prawn and the fish market in the background.

Stopping to take a photo reminded me how wet and cold I was so I found a cafe that would accept a dripping cyclist and dried out beside a radiator with coffee and cake. Half an hour and the cake was long gone but I was still nurturing the dregs of coffee. The waitress had given up mopping the floor around me and I knew I had to drag myself back out into the rain.

The next ten miles were actually quite pleasant. I thought I would be climbing up from the coast to Coldingham on a road I know well, but instead the signs pointed me onto little used lanes across the moor. I still had to climb, but there were no traffic worries.

No I didn't see any Red Squirrels, but the colour of the trees was amazing. Unfortunately the rain got the better of the camera and that's the last of the photos. The rest of the cycle was mostly in the mist until the descent from the moor to Pease Bay. I set a new best on the trucker with the computer showing 37mph with me tucked in and grimacing at the needle like rain. Not surprisingly I couldn't stop for the turning down to the bay, so shot on to Pease Dean and the over to Cockburnspath. The rest of the route home was pretty familiar and quite uneventful. As I entered Dunbar the rain stopped, and as I turned onto the last few yards to home, the sun came out.
I think my cycling shoes might be ruined, I am without a camera, the cycle computer is telling me I am averaging 70mph whilst standing still, but it was a great trip.

Back on the Trucker

I haven't been out on the Long Haul Trucker for over a month. Building and riding the On-One Fatty then getting caught up in all sorts of boat mischief has meant that I've not been putting any decent cycling miles. There's only one way to sort that out, so a bit of air in the tyres and off I went on Sunday morning.

Last week's storms have passed but there was still a northerly wind and a bit of sea running. I just headed along the coast to Cockburnspath then turned back and went around the power station at Torness on the way back.

Big sea and a bigger sky.

  

 
Just some of the thousands of  13 tonne 'Dolos' blocks that dissipate the waves around the power station.

Barns Ness lighthouse in the distance.

Rowan berries at Broxburn on the way home. Not very far, about twenty miles but it was good to get back into a couple of hours of steady cycling.

Last Sail of the Season.

It's the end of the sailing season in Dunbar and the Heron came out of the water on Thursday. Stuart has decided to keep the Seline at Anstruther for the winter, where the better shelter and a mud ground, make it a safe proposition. So on Saturday morning me, Stuart and Davie loaded the yacht with supplies and headed back out into the Firth of Forth.

The crowds of well wishers on the pier waved us off!

Here is a rare picture of the Shearwater working as it tries to deepen Dunbar Harbour. Hopefully the all-weather lifeboat will be able to return to Dunbar but there will still be a problem with winter swell.

A couple of miles out and the Seline was racing along at over six knots and we were having a great time.

The wind was generally steady on the port quarter. I tried to get a few pictures but there was quite a bit of water coming over the bows. The cockpit stayed dry although I got a bit wet hiked out on the windward rail. Good sailing and a really quick crossing of two and a half hours. 

The Seline was tied up and we had a beer before going for a wander in the unseasonably warm October weather.

The little yacht (above) is the Katie L owned by Dylan Winter who has made many wonderful films of his odyssey around the British Isles. Take some winter evenings to look at his site at Keep Turning Left. Dylan is a professional film maker and this shows in the way his work is beautifully filmed and edited; yet he still captures his essentially amateurish, and very British, record of a circumnavigation of our little island by the simple plan...keep turning left. 

Sunday morning dawned reasonably bright, the tide was out, and the mud was exposed. You wouldn't want to fall in there, although it was just as noxious in the cabin as the fumes of pizza, kebab, and last night's beer threatened to overwhelm us.

Coffee and bacon rolls at the cafe and then the long journey home by road. A great trip in good company.

 I don't think it will be too long before Stuart is back across to "check the boat is safe".

End of the season for Heron

Sails have been taken down to be cleaned and stored.

The mast is dropped, the running rigging removed and the standing rigging needs washed in freshwater then given a squirt of oil.

It's that time of the year again and the poor wee Heron is ready to come back on to dry land for winter.

There's always next year,

although I'll have to replace that front mooring before spring!

A Lazy Sunday with Fatty

I really meant to get the LHT out for some more serious miles this weekend but I got too tied up with other matters. By Sunday afternoon I had a chance to get down to the harbour to sort out a few things on the Heron, so as it was going to be a short ride, I grabbed the Fatty. Turned into an hour to cover half a mile. 

The wind was fair whipping through town and it would have been a hard pedal out on the open roads so I just wandered about, bouncing off rocks and marveling at the grip.

When I finally calmed down, and started acting my age, I paddled out to the Heron to start to get her ready for coming back onto land for winter. I tidied up, put the kettle on, then sat in the September sun re-reading the Riddle of the Sands. Not exactly what was planned but very pleasant none the less.

I did manage some tasks, cleaning up an old multiplier reel, but generally it was a lazy afternoon.

This lady came over to visit whilst 'Sammy' the bull seal was away but she wouldn't pose for a photo.

The Fatty is a lot of fun, and a lot of exercise, but I have to get the 'trucker back out for more regular slow paced outings.