Monday 21 February 2011

Weekend on the Coast...

Surly Saturday
Its been an overcast dreary week with a lot of rain. Trails everywhere are saturated but the beaches and sandy coastal trails were mud free as always...
Went cycling with friend Jason around the coast at Gullane, Jason riding the pugsley as interested in getting one so i rode the Karate Monkey 29er...
Because of the rain i took pictures with the Tachyon sports camera so excuse the quality...
Out onto the Nature Reserve and an incoming tide kept us near the high tide line...


Jason's grin as he rolled onto the beach and just kept rolling through the soft sand was what i expected to see as i still get it too!,
Meanwhile my 29er was still moving but under a lot of hard effort, a quick roll down the dune path out at the point showed the difference between the 2 bikes and the tyre tracks showed the difference...


Along the beach and apart from alongside the incoming tide i was struggling to keep moving easily while the pugsley kept on rolling...


Jason also loved the 8 speed Alfine Hub,and agreed an internal gear hub seems the way to go for beach riding.
We rode for another hour around the soft sandy trails above the coastline where the 29er was unable to climb the soft sandy trails and had me off and alongside running along after a disappearing pugsley!, my legs were like lead by the end of the day.
Bitten by the the Bug!...expect to see another pugs soon -:)


Here's some film from the day...



On Any Sunday...
Back down to Peffersands on Sunday via Scoughall...


Old WW2 Coastal Defence checkpoint, gateway to fun...


Time for some techie rock riding out to something i have wanted to visit for a long time and today's low tide of 1.2 meters should reveal it...


A lot of sand washed out from the dunes covers some of the rocks making it a bit easier to ride...




Got a good way out from the coastline..


Still a bit to go but out on the exposed reef ahead i can see what im looking for...


Ship ahoy!...


This is according to the RCHMS website the wreck of the Iron Steam ship PODEROSA which ran aground on 27th November 1896...


Massive boiler...


732 tons in weight and had a crew of 17 men,it was on its way from Grimsby to Grangemouth when it ran aground on the reef and broke up...




Be good to come out again at a really low tide and have a better look, basicly i was on the sea floor here as you can see by the kelp, here is some film which shows its size...


Tide was coming in fast out here so time to get moving...back on the bike and over the rocks towards the coastline...


Up above the dunes on the Headland a row of old Telephone poles lead to the old Coastgaurd Lookout...






Researching the Steam Ship wreck its understandable why this was built with dozens of wrecks recorded here along the coast...




Along the coastline to Peffersands...


And remember the wooden fishing boat wreck Davie and i found last week here in the Peffer Burn?...


Well look at this, after a week of strong swells its gone!...


Vanished back under the sand...thats at least 2 feet of sand moved to cover the wreck, still working on its name as several wooden ships are recorded around here,

Some of the boats wrecked along this coastline were lured ashore by `wreckers` who lured boats onto the rocks using lanterns, you can read a bit more about this and an amusing story of another ship wreck on the coast here over on my other blog; No Through Road

Around the Peffer and in the woods are lines of WW2 Coastal defence Anti Tank Blocks,sitting on top of a block is a `Dragons teeth` anti tank obstacle...


There are more of both types of obstacles in a line back onto Peffersands beach...


Down the beach alongside the frothy incoming tide...




I can sit and watch waves forever...it is so calming,and the power of the sea to move stuff is amazing...


Along the secret trail and around the point at Sandy Hirst. The row of rocks here was i read supposed to once be a fish trap, small rock shelters have been built by Wildfowlers shooting...


On the shoreline a WW2 Army screw in pole,often used for barbed wire fencing...


With the southerly breeze it made sense to reride north back along the coast to Scoughall and enjoy the roar of the sea...a great half days ride...
Happy Laddie...


Some film...

1 comment:

  1. I like the post bruce, the info and pictures of the ponderosa were ace,

    ReplyDelete