Bass Rock

Today's the day . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . to be beside the sea

A lovely day spent at North Berwick to the east of Edinburgh - a place where I used to go often as a child.

This is looking out to the Bass Rock - a steep-sided volcanic rock, 107 metres at its highest point, and home to a large colony of gannets. The rock is uninhabited, but historically has been settled by an early Christian hermit, and later was the site of an important castle, which was used as a prison. The island belongs to Sir Hew Hamilton-Dalrymple, whose family acquired it in 1706, and before to the Lauder family for almost six centuries. The Bass Rock Lighthouse was constructed on the rock in 1902, and the remains of an ancient chapel survive.

On the right hand side of the picture, you might be able to make out a small dog on the beach, right beside the water's edge.  It took me a while to work out that he was waiting patiently for his master to finish his swim and come out of the water . . . . . . .