Dunbar –> Berwick upon Tweed coastal path – rideable? Expereinces?

hello all, has anyone rode this section of trail? from what i can tell, the john muir way goes to cockburnspath, and the berwickshire coastal path supposedly starts at cockburnspath going south now (though my map and Bing still shows it starting at Coldingham/St Abbs).

i’m looking at doing this tomorrow! any tips?

I’ve walked Berwick-Eyemouth and IIRC that’s all rideable. Mind your footpath “restrictions” once you cross the border 😉

thanks for that druidh, i’ll bear the restrictions in mind! i’ve cycled a bit of the section you mentioned and it was both ridable and fun. i’ve rode from edinburgh to dunbar before on the john muir way so i expect the john muir way from dunbar to cockburnspath to be similarly ridable. which i guess just leaves the cockburnspath – st abbs section of the berwickshire coast path. i can’t even see many paths that could constitute this route. i think for that section i’ll stick to the minor roads.

there’s never a coastkid around when you need one! 🙂

Do let me/us know how you get on. I quite fancy this too.

Have you tried wheresthepath? That seems to show more paths than the OS map. It might be possible to join some of them up?

thanks again. i’ve heard of the website but never found it before. it really didn’t seem to highlight much in the way of potential coastal paths though i could be missing something. one of the routes i was considering instead is shown as a double track on the OS map, but looks kinda vague on the satelite view. which is worrying. without better guidance (and with light being limited) i think i’ll stick to easy-to-navigate roads for the cockburnspath – st abbs section…

Mr O Cromwell had a spot of bother on this route but worked it out in the end. Large amounts of luck were involved though!

well, i managed to get to berwick-upon-tweed, but not without some difficulty! druidh – i’ll give you the potted highlights.

– tried for the 6.57am train for dunbar from haymarket – they wouldn’t let me on without a pass for my bike! so i missed it and had to wait two hours…

– the john muir way is all ridable from dunbar to cockburnspath, except for the very last bit between The Linn and Dunglass Bridge, where the trail is on the beach and is a push through the loose pebbles.

– from dunglass bridge, i followed the (decent) signs for SUW/cockburnspath which takes you up a nice trail past dunglass and then breaks left to CBP. i followed the SUW along the coast south from here.

– at the end of the SUW at the caravan park, lots of signs for the new section of coast path abound, so i took a chance. all i can say is, DON’T! a lot of the paths were new so not easy to follow. many were fairly deep grass and/or muddy. it was exhausting!

– i spoke to a guy who was surprised i got through this section of coast path as there is a farmer (i think at dowlaw) who doesn’t let people across his land. i would have been devastated had i have had to turn back then!

– i missed the original berwickshire coastal path (st abbs – berwick-u-t) because time was getting on. next time i might ride the roads between cockburnspath and st abbs and get back onto the the coast path there, as from memory it’s a lot easier to ride….

that is all! it was a great day really, 40 miles all in 🙂 plus a bit more in the morning when i took a spin on some of the tracks on arthur’s seat while i waited for my train 😉