A wonderful wander

We climbed a volcano this morning. 

Admittedly not the biggest one ever but it suited both of us just fine. After a very wet and wild night, I'm not sure either of us had slept magnificently but, it was dry when we woke up so we headed on over to North Berwick Law. 

The strong wind, still blowing, certainly woke me up but the terrain was an easy amble, winding its way up to the summit. It's packed with goodies... A trig point, a fancy cairn, a plastic whale bone replica (used to be real) a ruin and a look out building. Not forgetting the view, which was pretty spectacular and Bass Rock has quite captured my attention since we've been here.

Tantallon Castle was our next port of call, about the closest mainland point to Bass Rock. So, great views of what I've discovered is the largest single rock colony of gannets in the world. What looks like a white bird poop topping is actually layer after layer of gannets tiered down the rock faces. In the grounds of the castle was a telescope which blew my mind when I saw the number of birds on there. (I’ve added an extra photo through the telescope for an idea of the scale of birds.)

And then there was the castle! 

I'm not really sure castles have ever particularly been my thing so I'm not sure if it was because I was on my own taking it in or because it was truly amazing but it's definitely the most emotive castle I've ever been to.

The scale, the ability to access it, the knowledge of what was there but most impressively, the cliff-side location and how they hauled up supplies from the sea below. The coastal views were tremendous. Obviously, the luxury toilet for the dungeon impressed me, as did the similarly constructed slop chute in the kitchen. 

It was worth every penny of £6!

Peckish now, we found a place for lunch overlooking the wild beach at John Muir Country Park (and more of Bass Rock) before making our way back to camp for a pooch nap. Little Dog is pretty tired.