Well prompted by TJ's route last Wednesday me and Orangina headed off today. Sorry its a bit photo poor as the camera was serving as a gps tracker... if your edinburgh based you will probably recognise where we went..
Out from Musselburgh on the John Muir way, along the ash pipe concrete walkway from Cockenzie power station. Always a nice run along the sea. Then to Aberlady and across the bridge round Gullane golf course. This was a first for us and gave a great perspective along the coast back to Edinburgh. Continuing to Gullane, keeping on the coast to the ruins of an old Chapel. Really neat single track on the top of the coast.. lovely.
Keeping going round Archerfield golf course (another poverty affilicted area judging by jags and mercs in the car park)
This is where it gets a bit interesting... we met a fence and razor wire at a place called Marine Villa near Dirlton
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So it needed checking out as did this gun battery emplacement thing:
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Orangina is German so its only right to check out war stuff...
The standing stone seems to be a grave from 1933.
The view from this part of someones back garden was brilliant:
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Back over the razor wire to the bikes and along the fence to a road... tootling around the Archerfield estate it looks like all the services are ready for an exclusive/expensive property development...
Anyhow, need to get back off home after having the usual tail wind west, its into a headwind home. Quick stop at Falko's cake emporium and back to Preston Pans and a pint in the Gothenburg. Its a day that just keeps giving... a full on sing song with 8 musicians. As a microbrewery they do some ace beers, especially the one they will only serve as half as it is 7.5%...
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So overall, a great afternoon, loads of new singletrack, historical interest and a poke around a very exclusive part of East Lothian...
My tracking thingo on the phone failed....
Hi, you were just along my backyard 😮
for info on the stone have a look here; [url= http://www.ancient-stones.co.uk/lothian/041/047/details.htm ]www.ancient-stones.co.uk[/url]
The WW2 building beside it was part of RAF Fidra during the war, the garden in the pic is Marine Villa, owned in the 1980`s by an Arms dealer who was executed abroad (true). in the garden on the coastal side is a new white washed wall on top of a ruin that was a gun emplacement during WW2, heres a pic;
[url= http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5137/5503455444_8cfec82577_b.jp g" target="_blank">
[url= http://www.flickr.com/photos/coastkid71/5503455444/ ]Artillery3[/url] by [url= http://www.flickr.com/people/coastkid71/ ]coastkid71[/url], on Flickr
[url= http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5018/5502872529_774b2a864d_b.jp g" target="_blank">
[url= http://www.flickr.com/photos/coastkid71/5502872529/ ]Artillery1[/url] by [url= http://www.flickr.com/people/coastkid71/ ]coastkid71[/url], on Flickr
And the searchlight Bunker is still there below where you were;
[url= http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5134/5503455644_4b7058bdf9_b.jp g" target="_blank">
[url= http://www.flickr.com/photos/coastkid71/5503455644/ ]Battery1[/url] by [url= http://www.flickr.com/people/coastkid71/ ]coastkid71[/url], on Flickr
I have collected around 150 WW2 East Lothian coastal defence pictures to post on a new blog in the future, reckon there should be a sign posted route of all this stuff and it be preserved, a lot of it is dissapearing into sand dunes and Sea Buckthorn which will break it up...
Golf is a big thing along the coast and Archiefield is the latest big money Golf Resort around here,
hard to believe theres a recession...
but some Head Greenkeepers are bike friendly 😉
A lot of Romanian and german POW`s settled in the county after WW2 hence a lot of German Surnames,
Thanks Coastkid.. we did think that we would see you on the back wheel of the Pugsly across some of the beaches.. The route along teh coast through the dunes was brilliant. Good views across to Fife, really interesting....
Thanks for posting the info. Do you know who owns Marine Villa... its quite a spot. Also, that gun, ever fired in anger? I like what looks like a canvas painted wall as camoflage...
I will try and find out the owner of Marine Villa, My friend works on the Golf Course there,
The big gun was on a rail so slid out of view to hide it from Axis Aircraft,
I read it was once fired at a U boat picked up on Radar,
And indeed it was a canvas front painted to look like a cottage!,
Theres loads of stuff like this on our coastline being a prime place for glider landings close to Edinburgh...
Hmm, really interesting. I reckon its got potential as a history ride one weekend..