A day's walk

Yesterday's weather made me a bit apprehensive about walking with the club today, but it seemed we made the right decision to go east, as we had constant sunshine and no rain at all.  Mind you, it was bitterly cold (those in the know said it was -3C with the wind chill) and very windy!

We started at Alderston Mains and walked on the Garleton Hills, and the height though not high gave us some stunning views of the North Sea; in my picture you can see Berwick Law in the left distance, and near the middle of the picture is the Bass Rock, just off the coast of North Berwick, a rock that supports a very large colony of gannets.

We continued past the ruins of Barnes Castle and turned towards Athelstaneford, the little village where legend has it the Saltire of Scotland was seen in the sky, during a battle,  and adopted as our flag.
The church in the village is well worth a visit, and behind it is a little Dovecot which has the story of the legend on its walls.

We had lunch in the village, actually in the grounds of the church which  very conveniently had some nice benches.  As it was very cold we didn't tarry for very long, but continued out of the village towards Kilduff and round Kilduff Hill to Camptoun, then towards the Hopetoun Monument where our coach was waiting for us.  As we had walked for over three hours in the bitter wind we were glad to see our coach and driver, and after changing out of our boots, we headed for Haddington Golf Clubhouse where we had refreshments before the journey home.

It was a wonderful day, great company, good walking,....... but my, that wind has made my face sore!!!!