Round Trip John Muir Way In The Books


Day 20 Hiking.  Wednesday, June 22.
The Wing, North Berwick to Royal Mackintosh, Dunbar

14.78 Miles.  35,538 Steps.  6 Hours 

Mission Accomplished.  Cross Scotland both ways following in the early footsteps/route John Muir took with his family when they emigrated to America.  Didn’t know if my knees would be up to the assignment but they performed, with reluctance.  

“Travel makes one modest, you see what a tiny place you occupy in the world.”  Gustavo Flaubert



This morning asked what life was like here during COVID lockdown in North Berwick.    

Their B&B was shutdown for 18 months.
  
They didn’t see their children or grandchildren in person for 18 months.  

They were allowed out of their house for ONE hour per day, and James, because of health issues, Couldn’t leave the house for 18 months.  

They are returning to normal sort of.  James has begun sailing with his club, but doesn’t dress in the locker room with his team, but at home.  He has finally begun going out for a beer with the guys, but they all sit outside the pub.  They still haven’t gone as a couple to eat indoors at a restaurant. 



Learned that swimming in the sea is good for the body which adjusts to the coldness.  People here swim in the sea year around.  







They must have loved their nanny as she was on the wall with the rest of the Baronet’s family. 





Berwick Law.  613 feet high. Ancient volcanic plug. 



Good bye sheep until the next time.  Baa baa!!



Started walking in North Berwick this morning and the body felt totally different than yesterday.  All parts were working fine.  Loved strolling the backroads and exploring new territory.  



Scotland has been good to this hiker.  















Whitekirk. 





Met a couple up from Cambridge while looking at tombstones.  They also were disappointed that the  Kirk/Church wasn’t open. 





Hedderwick Hill Plantation after the November 2021 storm Arwen.  (Photo off the internet.). The entire plantation of Scottish pine was blown down. Previously the area had been a golf course, of course.  During WWI it was an anti-invasion defense set up.  Trenches and guns.  







Back to the North Sea. 





People on the beach, lower left.  





Electric re-(fueling). 



The trekking poles, the braces, the ME, completed walking the John Muir Way round trip.  278.99 miles.  This Spring wasn’t sure it would be possible!  It was.  





John Muir as a boy in Dunbar.  



JMW passport double stamped.  



Scottish taxi. 



Dunbar Castle (ruins). 







Kittiwakes nesting on the castle ruins. 



Ruins of Dunbar Castle. 







The Propeller was invented by a boy from Dunbar   In 1828 his idea was tested on the Firth of Forth.  







Tomorrow brings new stories with travel to Edinburgh by some sort of public transport and becoming a tourist.  

“Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where Nature may heal and cheer and give strength to body and soul.”  John Muir 


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