Saturday 30th August 2025
The Saturday before this walk I had started the John Muir Way, a one hundred thirty-four miles long distance trail that traverses Scotland, coast to coast, starting from Helensburgh on the Clyde estuary. Now, I was at the start of the final stage of the John Muir Way, which would lead me to the birthplace of John Muir, father of the environmental movement, in Dunbar. I was in North Berwick on the southern shore of the mouth of the Firth of Forth and at the start of the day I paused above the golden sands of West Bay Beach to take in the view that included the islands of Craigleith and Lamb under clear blue skies that unfortunately would not last. I reflected that I must have been pushing myself to complete the whole trail in eight days. Generally, it is usual to do a hundred miles a week on a trail, but I had taken the flat terrain as an opportunity to do the whole route in less than the recommended eleven days, though it hadn’t been without problems, most notably the blisters I had acquired while traversing Edinburgh, which is unusual for me, but possibly a reflection of the large amount of tarmac walking. Turning my back on the view out to sea I headed through the gardens of North Berwick Lodge towards the notable hill of North Berwick Law, which had been dominating the view for many miles. The John Muir Way skirts the western slopes, but with a relatively short day and good weather I felt I had to take the opportunity to climb it, so after hiding my rucksack in the undergrowth I skipped along the rocky path which snakes up the steep hillside and soon afforded me with views over the Firth of Forth.
A brisk wind was blowing at the top, but I loved the steep climb which I had missed on the John Muir Way and was my main attraction of visiting the hill since the views were spoilt by the houses of North Berwick while clouds also deprived me of sunshine at that point. After the satisfying ascent I came back down and retrieved my rucksack before heading south following the edge of fields for a long tedious walk with few highlights. I had an interesting walk through a patch of woodland near Balgone House, which continued through Craigmoor Wood where the sun came out again and when I emerged from the trees I had extensive views that stretched all the way to the Lammermuir Hills. I was reminded of the Southern Upland Way, which I did in 2023, but since that crosses the southern edge of the range those were not exactly the hills that I could now see. Eventually, after climbing over Drylaw Hill I dropped onto the road that passes through East Linton where I stopped to have my lunch and a rest after coming so far through tedium. With my blisters giving me renewed problems I left the village to walk along the bank of the River Tyne, however, the scenery was still too agricultural while the river was not wide enough to provide interest and eventually I left the river at Tyninghame Bridge to follow a wide track, the Ware Road, which led me to a sudden view across the mud and sands of the Tyne estuary.
The route took me along an embankment, which was decorated with concrete blocks from World War Two, until, after crossing Hedderwick Burn, I entered what appeared to be a conifer plantation, but is actually part of the John Muir Country Park. I followed a fence beside the pine woods, with an animal park on the other side, before passing Bellhaven Bay to reach the outskirts of Dunbar, but then the trail took me onto a spectacular clifftop path. However, by this point it had started to rain while on my right was a golf course where the golfists still wanted to play their stupid game while being interrupted by innocent walkers just trying to follow a legitimate footpath. I didn’t know what I supposed to do. The poor weather and the golfists ruined the end of the John Muir Way for me so it was a relief when I finally left the clifftop path and came into the centre of Dunbar to reach the birthplace of John Muir. With the rain still falling I walked into the museum where I proudly proclaimed that I had just completed the John Muir Way, but I didn’t enjoy the trail, solely because it was too flat for me as a hill walker and I most enjoyed those sections that climbed up to visit the Antonine Roman wall.
The following day I remained in Dunbar, which provided me with an opportunity to recover from the trail and with much better weather than I had endured at the end of the John Muir Way I took the opportunity to retrace my steps along the clifftop path and I had a much more pleasant walk, uninterrupted by anyone else, while admiring the spectacular cliffs. It was a very relaxing day.
