An East Lothian Day Out 3

We are in Scotland for a week staying at Seton Sands, Longniddry, where we have a nicely appointed static caravan. Today was our last day and, after taking sister Sue to Longniddry station, we went on to visit East Linton, Haddington, Port Seton and Cockenzie.

Here are some photos.

Sue caught her train from Longniddry and successfully changed to the marathon cross-country train from Glasgow to Plymouth, getting off at Bath for her drive home. Thanks for coming, Sue!

On Friday I picked up a leaflet at The John Muir museum in Dunbar "Explore East Lothian" produced by the East Lothian Community Rail Partnership (see here).Today, intrigued by the description in the leaflet, we took a trip to the conservation village of  East Linton.

It is on the banks for the (Scottish) River Tyne, but we couldn't see how to get to walk along it here. That is the railway bridge.

Instead we walked along the road a bit before we could get down to it passing the community orchard.

 until we got to the colourful Prestonkirk parish church. We didn't go in as it looked like a service was in progress.

After a short walk along the River Tyne we came to the delightful Preston Mill.

There has been a watermill on the site since the 16th century. The present mill dates from the 18th century and is in the care of the National Trust for Scotland. It was used commercially until 1959, and it produced oatmeal. The River Tyne still drives the water wheel, and the machinery can still be seen at work by visitors taking part in a tour. There is also an exhibition about milling, and a mill pond.

We crossed the river and did a short rectangular walk...

...via the Phantassie Doocot.  It was built in the 16th century, and has an unusual parapet in the shape of a horseshoe. Behind the 4 feet (1.2 m) thick walls, there are 544 nest-boxes which, in years gone by, would have given good shelter to the birds.

The John Muir Way crosses the river here heading on towards Dunbar.

Behind the village we could see the 60m high Traprain Law, one of many volcanic plugs in the area (along with Bass Rock and North Berwick Law).

We decided to visit Smeaton Garden Centre Tearoom for our lunch.

There is an extensive horse-jumping course nearby...

...and some highland cows.

We took the back road past Hailes Castle (but unfortunately couldn't stop) to Haddington, former county town of Haddingtonshire. During the High Middle Ages, it was the fourth-biggest town in Scotland (after Aberdeen, Roxburgh and Edinburgh). Today the whole town centre is a conservation area with a high proportion of listed buildings, some dating back to the C16th.

A golden stamp on each bollard on Court Street outside the once bustling Sheriff Court shows an image of a goat. Standing at the centre of the High Street is the Mercat Cross, adorned with the same majestic goat, posing atop a rock and gazing towards the sky. In Scotland, the Mercat Cross marks a town or city as having the right to hold a market, as granted by the Monarch. It is seen as a symbol of prosperity and authority.  Read more about it here.

We could have spent longer and explored more, but wanted to visit Port Seton and Cockenzie just along the water's edge from Seton Sands.

The tide was coming in and we saw a load of cormorants. perching

We visited Port Seton harbour with its fishing boats.

The houses along the road opposite have interesting roofs.

We found a seal swimming in the harbour. Can you see its head in the reflection of the blue boat in the photo at the top of the post?

We saw some rowers return to the harbour.

Port Seton and Cockenzie have essentially merged into one place now. This is Cockenzie harbour.

We liked this sundial...

...and this mural.

Then it was back to the caravan for our evening meal.

There was one place here we hadn't visited - the golf course, so I set out for a short walk around it.

Maybe we should have brought our clubs?

These contrails made a pretty pattern before returning to the caravan.

Well that was another great day out.  You can find more of my photos of the day here. 

This last week, we have been so lucky with the weather and have got to explore a lovely part of the country. Thank-you Hazel and John for having the do that enticed us to spend a week here. It has been great to catch up with some relatives too!

Tomorrow: The long drive home.