North Berwick- 26th till 28th August

St Abbs Head. Morgan would like to point out that he saw some people having sex on the beach - and no, not the cocktail. And no, it wasn't warm, or private - the beach was overlooked from a car park. Jane thought they might have been putting on their pants because they 'had just had a swim'. Bless. I pointed out people normally put their shoes on AFTER putting on their pants..

Our first stop in Scotland was St Abbs Head, a nature reserve next to the town of St Abbs.  It's a very good bird watching site apparently, although I seemed to only spot sea gulls. 

It was amazing how the landscape changed as soon as you crossed the English-Scottish border.  The coastline was more dramatic and trees more sparse.

Mire Loch. 

St Abbs town

Morgan, having just fallen over on his bottom!

We stayed the next two nights in the town of North Berwick.  Our site was great- very close to town and with incredible views out to sea and the nearby islands of Bass Rock and Craigleith.  While the views were great the site was a bit exposed and we had one fairly horrible night when the wind was so strong we couldn't sleep.

Our campsite with Craigleith Island in the background

North Berwick was a fun little town with seemingly few tourists.  We were very happy to find a great wine boutique, a French chap selling cheese, a fabulous Cantonese restaurant and an equally good Italian Restaurant.  Probably our best meal though was at the Lobster Shack, an atmospheric place down at the port.  The half lobster was only 8 pounds and was AMAZING.

North Berwick with Craigleith Island in the background

And to the east Bass Rock

A beer at the waterfront

The Lobster Shack

THE CLAW!!!!!

A Golf links

Boats in the port

In the background of this photo is "The Law".  To quote Wiki, it's "a conical hill which rises incongruously from the surrounding landscape (indeed, this is the definition of the Lowland Scots word "law")"!  For us it merely meant having the song "I fought the law and the law won" stuck in our heads.

We went on a boat trip out to see the nesting birds on Craigleith Island and Bass Rock.  Both are bird sanctuaries; gannets on Bass Rock and puffins on Craigleith, although unfortunately we had missed puffin nesting season.  Bass rock was incredible.  It looks white from a distance but when you get closer you realise that is because of the thousands of gannets nesting on every available inch.  Thousands more circle above the island, all moving in a co-ordinated anti-clockwise direction.  The sound and smell was also pretty impressive!

For our boat ride we were equipped with this fetching outfit and the instruction "don't look upwards, particularly with an open mouth"!

Bass Rock.  Out of nesting season it appears black apparently.  There used to be a prison on the island and the lighthouse was manned until 1988.

On our way to circle Craigleith Island

Bass Rock

Nesting gannets.  Apparently they mate for life and always return to the same nesting spot

 So thumbs up to North Berwick.  Now it's on to Edinburgh.