Today seemed to be all about heavy downpours of rain, cycling along trails where the grass was so long & wet causing it to bend over covering the trail tracks & being stung to bits with all the nettles, thistles, gorse & even holly at one point, but all part of the fun of mountain biking ! Today I decided to head east & return along the coast...
...So lets go...
Climbing from Innerwick on the Oldhamstocks road where I turn off onto this nice little manicured pathway at Old Branxton which leads me onto an alternative road towards Oldhamstocks.
And from this road I then turned off towards Springfield Farm where there is another track way which I use a lot & takes me into the Dunglass estate.
Cycling through the estate there is an an abundance of rhododendron plants in full flower which looks absolutely amazing. The majority of estates have these plants within their grounds, first grown in Britain in the 1760's & became widely distributed throughout estates in the late 18th & early 19th centuries as ornamental shrubs.
What's left of the 'Govenor's Bridge', the bridge was located north-west of the walled garden & crosses the Bilsdean Burn which links several roads between the Mansion House (demolished) Dunglass Mains Farm, and two other estate farms, Springfield & Birnieknowes. As you can see by the bottom black & white photo which was taken around 1900, the bridge has been robbed of it's splayed ends & I could only see the 1 stone urn. Such a shame that these beautiful structures are allowed to decay like this !
After crossing the Governor's Bridge I spotted the above track sneaking through the Rhododendrons & copious amounts of Stinging Nettles where I eventually came out at one of the old lodge houses at Bilsdean, legs well & truly stung !
After a short road cycle crossing the Dunglass Dean bridge then turn right passing another lodge house & up along another one of the estate tracks.
Through the woods to cut through a sheep field following an old path & along the edge of some trees & I soon arrive in the village of Cockburnspath.
Today I seemed to be jumping from trail to trail with a little bit of roadwork in between, this track called 'Chesterfield Road' links the Neuk Farm to the Tower Farm.
Through the underpass of the A1 into a field passing the ruin of Cockburnspath Tower on the way to the Pease Dean woodland walk. There are a few different walking routes throughout the Pease Dean with some good single track for mountain biking.
Time for a wee break, something to eat & sit back & take 5 to enjoy the nature around me.
From the Pease Dean Nature Reserve which ends at the Pease Bay caravan park it's a climb up hill & onto the cliff edge to follow the Berwickshire Coastal Path for a short while to the Cove where it then veers off to Cockburnspath village where the route ends.
Some beautiful rock formations along here from the cliffs & along the shore & nice clean sandy beaches in the carved out coves.
And the bottom two pictures are of what I think could have been a WWII lookout post but I'm only guessing :-/
And the bottom two pictures are of what I think could have been a WWII lookout post but I'm only guessing :-/
The Cove harbour, the little cottages are no longer homes, but are now used by the fishermen to repair their lobster creels, nets etc.
Hollow rock (red) & Long rock (grey).
I love the geology down here the way the rocks are arced & emerging from the sea & the wooden bench incorporates this in it's design.
Pictures from the Cove hamlet up on the cliffs.
Love this short blast down to the seashore of Dunglass beach.
My favourite beach, always deserted & I always find interesting stuff when I'm here which makes me feel like a kid on an adventure.
Leaving the beach & up past the huge ivy covered tree & the Linn waterfall to continue along the cliff top which soon slopes off to just a few metres above sea level
Battling through the heavy rain & heading away from the coast back to my base camp of Innerwick.
A really nice cycle today despite being soaked & my legs stung to bits with all the long wet overgrown grass & weeds along the trails & if I'm not covered in Ticks in a couple of days I will be very surprised !!
Anyway thanks for reading the post cheers for now.
A really nice cycle today despite being soaked & my legs stung to bits with all the long wet overgrown grass & weeds along the trails & if I'm not covered in Ticks in a couple of days I will be very surprised !!
Anyway thanks for reading the post cheers for now.
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