13.6 miles in which golf seemed a recurring theme. I knew there were more golf courses as I was walking more miles into Scotland over this past week, but I didn’t realize how truly pervasive the sport is here in East Lothian. We left our BnB after a perfectly sized and very tasty breakfast, and headed around the corner to the coast. To the North Berwick golf course (£380 green fees!) Along the way, we passed more memorial plaques to acknowledge a hundred years of important golf folk who have lived in North Berwick. I had noticed these on buildings last night, history signs that are solely recognizing golf. There are a ton of them! There was also a very polite no parking sign. The path skirted us to the edge of the course, and eventually on the road next to it. We were enjoying the architecture of the houses and the view of the ocean, we were marveling at the incredible sunshine the morning brought, and were talking and laughing with gusto. Then we realized a group of golfers across the street and on the other side of a wall, was glaring at us, one of them in mid-swing. Chastened, we apologized and immediately hushed ourselves. Unfortunately, our pace seemed to be even with theirs, and the paths came close two more times; each one with their glares and waiting for us to follow golf etiquette and silence ourselves for their game to continue. We did so, but I must admit I was slightly peeved as we were not shouting, just talking and laughing, and we were walking on a public street - not even the golf course. But, golf is serious stuff here. If you want to get along and make friends, you have to adapt to the local customs, even rather obnoxious ones.
We left the golf course, and passed through deep green barley fields, and along dunes and marshes. There were many people out enjoying this perfect weather Saturday. Families were heading to the beach at Yellow Craig with buckets and spades, dogs were trotting happily and on leash in order to protect bird nests in the area, cyclists were politely sharing the trails with walkers. Turning a corner around the dunes, the lighthouse on the rocky Fidra Island came into view. This island is said to have inspired Robert Louis Stevenson’s ‘Treasure Island’. We then gratefully headed into the green shade of a wood, as the beautiful sunshine was getting rather warm. It led to another one, and I could see on the map that there were a chain of woods that would get us to where we needed to go, or we could take the prescribed route out into open fields. Shorter but sunny, or longer but cool. We chose cool, which led us along the backs of some pretty gardens and to meet some sweet dogs living their best life on a Saturday stroll.
The forest path led us to the very well-manicured village of Dirleton. It has short clipped grass, a lovely church, castle ruins with an intact tower to entice visitors, an equally enticing pub which we restrained ourselves from since it was still early; and today the residents were setting up for the Village Fete. The tea tent was very tempting, but we had miles to cover and we had a plan for our lunch break. Leaving the village, we passed by their solar model - a 1:3.6 billion scale model of our solar system. It is very well done, and we didn’t quite reach Neptune as the John Muir Way diverged from the planets’ path. We had to cross a grass landing strip that supports the golfers flying in to enjoy the two more courses we were passing.
Some more woods followed, and some roadways with comfortably sized walking pavements. We saw other long distance walkers going in the opposite direction (which we have learned is the better way due to the winds, but today there was only a slight breeze, so all was well). We came to our lunch place in the village of Gullane, about halfway through the day. There were plenty more golf reminders here, too. The village green has even been turned into a mini course where dads and their sons appeared to be the primary users today. We left with full bellies, and walked past more fields and through more woods, before turning to three long bays to cross to reach the caravan park where we’re staying. There was a long row of the cement defenses from WWII, this time extending from the beach to weave eerily around the trees in the woods. As we walked, I looked down to find a great variety of beautiful seashells, and as I looked up and across the water I found the silhouette of Edinburgh with its spires and famous Arthur’s Seat beckoning me on for tomorrow’s walk. I climbed over probably the last stile of my trip.
This is actually my penultimate day of walking on this journey for this year. I had hoped to complete the whole way to John O’ Groats in one go, but my sister-in-laws want to join me for some of the Scotland portion and they could not make the trip this summer. If I wait till next May to finish, then I can do it with Kimberly and Sally, and that’s more important than my ego trip of pushing through. And, I have been away from family, friends, responsibilities, community, my church, for a long time; it’s time to return. I miss my granddaughter greatly. By the time I walk into Edinburgh tomorrow evening I will have walked: 1) through three countries, 2) from the south west corner to the north east corner of England, 3) 783 miles (I think I will try to make it a clean 800 before I fly home in a week by taking some walks in the neighborhoods of friends and family I will visit), and 4) for almost 3 months. One more day to go, and I am going to enjoy it immensely.
