Archerfield & Aberlady adventures

How weird it felt to get back on the train this morning to North Berwick and head back to the wooden statue of Ben Sayers (golf something...) and pick up the trail from yesterday. But in much better weather - sunscreen and shades today instead of rain jackets and hoods. My walking buddies today were my colleague, Marie, my ex-colleague Robert, and my very best work pal, Lisa, who has been my partner in crime in Sustrans volunteering for 10 years, and whose last day in that job was today. The end of an L-team era, so great to spend the day walking and talking. And with these friends the conversation is always far-reaching - yes, there was a fair bit of work chat and some discussion of recent breaking news, but also horse urine in suncream, whether Bambi was a fallow or roe deer, and how to decide when to get a tattoo. We walked past a giant field of sunflowers to pause at Archerfield Walled Garden to get my passport stamped, scoff some cakes and pick up some fresh walking socks, and then on to an Aberlady bench for lunch and a quick gallery visit at the Scottish Ornithological Club. Oh yeah, and then an extra mile and a half added on for me to go back to the lunch bench and get the binoculars I'd left there - oh well, it made up for a couple of metres of sneaky corner-cuts that Robert persuaded us to take - he was responsible for working with SNH in 2013 to sign the John Muir Way and knew all the secrets about route alignment. By the time the route circled the site of the old Cockenzie Power Station and then merged into the beginnings of Prestonpans, the jelly babies were out (not the ones that got melted on the radiator last night while drying my kit) and the FitBit clocked 25 km by the time we reached the train. Managed a bigger litterpick today using my #2minutecleanup bag and was clearly very excited to empty it into the bin. Hares, eider ducks, common carder bees and gannets all logged on iRecord too. Feet and knees intact so far - ask me again tomorrow.