riverside ramble

 

22nd Feb.

Often Mary calls the shots about routes and runs but it was myself that suggested this one a few days ago. The forecast was bright and mild for Feb. I didn't fancy another slow parkrun so we jumped on the North Berwick train as far as Longniddry. Instead of going down the coast as usual, we headed inland on the railway cyclepath to Haddington, then picked up the riverside trails to East Linton.

The subplot was butterflies and birds. I had a hoped there might be an occasional butterfly. It was possibly way too windy but you never know for sure without checking it out. The Tyne river is a decent candidate for an early Spring butterfly wandering out of hibernation to check flowering aconite, butterbur or willow catkins but we didn't hold out huge hope. Shortly off the train and I asked Mary for her opinion of how many butterflies we'd see today. ZERO! was her immediate reply and although I hoped we'd prove her wrong, I felt it was a fairly safe prediction. And as it turns out, was 100% right. 😭

the only butterflies we saw

a mile or 2 in and it was taps aff

I love this building, or rather the colourful window surrounds. Otherwise it is a boring shoebox but evey time I pass I take its photo. Inexpensive way to really make a humdrum design sing. Still a shoebox, but a pretty one!

taps back on

running down the Tyne

taps back aff

busy over Haddington bridge

I was scouring this wall as I saw the first butterfly of 2022 sat warming itself on the cobbles and this wall on the right. Alas none today. However that was 19th March and several species appeared in the warm weather down this same or similar route. Blog here.

past Haddington and down the riverside trails to East Linton

behind

Mary would go at a fairly continuous speed while I'd run ahead or fall behind taking photos and looking for kingfishers etc. None of those appeared either which seemed strange. Usually I'd see at least a flash of one flying past. In fact it was quite a poor day for wildlife. I had been swithering about which camera(s) to take and accidentally took 4! I had my mobile phone for bus and train times etc. I ran with the compact TZ100 in my hand. It is great for scenery but not much use for zooming in on birds and butterflies. In case we came across any of those I had my bridge camera, an FZ2000 in my backpack. It is light enough to travel on my back without grief and good enough (just about) to capture distant birds and butterfies. I took NO photos with it on this occasion. I also carried the DJI Pocket which is ace for stabilised running video although I didn't bother with it on this run.

ahead

Mary got a little bit upset if I ran ahead of her and then slowed down to look at stuff. She started today feeling tired and not at all up for a long run. And seemed to get less tired as the day progressed. I stuck to a more traditional strategy of being fresh at the start and fairly tired at the finish. We weren't absolutely sure of the distance but had options at East Linton to call it short or continue to North Berwick. We thought the distance to East Linton was about 11 or 12 (in fact 13+) and then another 6 (in fact 7) to NB. However as Mary was improving the whole way it made sense to keep going. Last time I did this run the weather deteriorated before EL and I got the bus home. 

many moles or a very industrious individual

I take this photo every time I pass

Repetition: having taken a successful image it is hard not to attempt the same photo next time along the same stretch, even if conditions may be different. I was boring Mary with anticipations of what would be coming up next corner as the coffees we had on the train were making me chatty. Not that I need an excuse. I even began to bore myself saying stuff like there will be a female goosander coming up on the river and a small group of bullfinches just beyond that in the trees on the left. To make it worse, many of the regulars were nowhere to be seen, or were (like the sparrowhawk) seen only at great distance flying in the opposite direction from my monotonous blathering. 

Hailes Castle

Mary signals a left turn

there were a few fallen trees and branches to hurdle

A1

the only dipper of the day and a very poor photo
(could not be bothered getting out the bridge camera)

willow catkins in bloom
they can be useful for attracting early butterflies

under the A1

photo Mary

the blue hare at East Linton as you leave the riverside

We bought food and drink at the East Linton coop. We moved under the bus shelter for 5 minutes to avoid the only sustained rain of the day which thankfully blew over quickly. We felt a bit restored by the refreshments (though sadly had to settle for Danish Pastries as no Portuguese Custard Tarts) and then headed up the hill chatting and joking to pass the remaining miles to North Berwick. 

rainbow alert!

The camera got some rain on the lens, which I wiped off with a sweaty corner
of t-shirt which explains the soft focus smear in the next few photos. 

looking towards Traprain

photo Mary

We often stop to chat with the horses here - I'm not convinced they recognise us even though I imagine the smell is fairly similar each visit!

Nice to bump into Anne who had parked at the Law and was doing

90mins out / 90mins back as training for the John Muir ultra. 

photo Mary

we recognised Lesley and Bob from a distance away

then chatted for a while

then into the final mile or 2

sheep in the ploughed field beside the Law

there were pigeons in this field of cabbages
and they were remarkably well camouflaged

beginning to hallucinate

ahh, that's better!

Actually I didn't enjoy the traditional pint of cider in the Golfer's Rest quite as much as usual. (Mary had a pint of Stella this time.) The rugby was on the telly, and there was quite a Saturday crowd in to watch it, or just boozing. As a result it was more roudy and less relaxing. I changed into dry kit in the toilets, we finished our drinks and ran to the station. The whole route was just over 20miles plus the 2, to and from the station. Running down the last mile from Waverley through a massive matinee crowd spilling out the Playhouse was unpleasant. Good to get home and have a lovely hot shower as I hadn't taken quite enough dry kit to stay warm. Great run albeit nae butterfluffs!

20 miles in 5hrs (including pub/drinking time!)