There are lots of roads in East Lothian just waiting to be explored and many places that we have rarely if ever visited. So this route was an attempt to discover some of this new territory by bike.
Our first destination was Haddington, which we approached by the same route as we did earlier in the year. The day was calm, with sunny intervals and pleasantly warm. Also, the road was relatively quiet, which made for an easy run all the way there without any stops. It took just 1 hour 10 mins to get into the centre of the town – at an average of nearly 14mph! The route as far as Haddington is predominantly downhill, it has to be said.
We grabbed ourselves some “subs” from Subway and stopped beside the river to eat our early (11am!) lunch. Sadly for the black headed gull family that was hanging out nearby, we had absolutely no leftovers.
Next, we headed over the bridge next to The Waterside restaurant and turned south in the direction of the Lammermuir Hills. There was a noticeable incline to the road from this point, but fairly gradual and not too taxing, especially as we were now taking it easy. We met up with the B6369 at Cockles and continued southwards and upwards. A few miles of climbing (and some descending) later, we passed the Chippendale School of Furniture and soon after that rolled into Gifford.
Tea and lovely carrot cake at “Love Coffee …and Food” in Gifford
Historic Gifford
We stopped off at the cafe in Gifford for a cup of tea and some delicious carrot cake. The people running the cafe were looking after a cute wee one-year old boy, who had just woken up and was looking all confused. After a while he was up on his feet, and we watched as he toddled over to the door and made his way outside to examine our bikes. Don’t worry, he was well supervised throughout this by the cafe folk. We said bye-bye outside the shop and went on our way.
We didn’t go far though, as Colette took some pictures around the village. Gifford has a lot of history and is best known for tales of goblins that inhabit the “Golbin Ha'”, part of a nearby castle. We visited it last about 30 years ago but didn’t have time for it today. It would have also required some walking, which Colette’s sore foot would not have been able to cope with.
They don’t make them like this any more. Really must try that route to Lauder some time!
So we carried on in the southeasterly direction after leaving Gifford, along a single track road which took us to Longyester farm. There was a fantastic old-style signpost there, with distances given to the nearest eighth of a mile. We were right at the foot of the Lammermuirs here, and the sign indicated routes “impassable for motors” running right over the hills, which we may investigate at some time in the future. However, the plan for today was to keep to the roads running closest to the foot of the hills as we made our way back west towards home.
Carrying on, we soon noticed an interesting-looking building on our right in Pishwanton Wood. It was a series of low domes roofed in turf, looking like a modern take on a hobbit hole. Further along there was an entrance and a notice board, showing a set of paths running through the wood. That’s just our kind of thing, so we decided that we should take some time to explore the tracks and started by heading round by the turfed building. It turns out that this is a visitor centre for the “Pishwanton Project”, a kind of alternative spiritual re-connecting with nature concept. Once there, we were stopped by a woman who told us bikes were not allowed in the woods, due to the presence of disabled people. We were told that we were welcome to leave our bikes and walk around the woods, but this was not possible due to Colette’s foot, so we left feeling a little miffed. In actual fact, a look at the map when back home showed the wood to be quite small, much smaller than we had first thought, and in retrospect, we were shattering their fragile idyll and it was best that we left them to it after all.
Our route took us west for a few more miles along the foothills before heading through Humbie and onwards to Fala. There, we picked up the A68 and headed north. We stopped at the junction with the B6458 on our left. This was our best route home but the road was closed due to resurfacing work. However, we noted that it was just the edges of the road that were being resurfaced, with the middle left by and large untouched. We took a gamble that we would be able to get through somehow on two wheels, and it paid off. The work seemed to be halted temporarily at Saughland, and we sailed past the works vehicles without any delay. This was good, as tiredness was beginning to set in. At the end of the road, we turned right onto the A7 and were back in North Middleton in no time at all.