I’ve shared about this walk in two out of the last three posts here, which tells you something: we love this walk. This stretch of coastline between Yellowcraig and Gullane has become our favourite walk so far this year – after John Muir Country Park that is, as my second home will always hold a very special place for us.
But we keep coming back to this walk for its views, its variety – beaches, dunes, winding paths, rocky shores – and its quietness.
I was unsure of whether to share this post directly after my previous one, as it’s the same walk, leading to the same beach, but the light was incredible and I couldn’t resist sharing this place again so soon. It’s funny as in my bio at the bottom of the home page I’ve written: ‘this is my blog about coastal living and exploring Scotland,’ and yet, really, it’s become my blog about walks in East Lothian. We haven’t explored much beyond our local area since 2020 – and I’m sure we’re not alone in this.
This has, without a doubt, become one of our favourite walks, even though – and I can’t quite believe this – we only discovered the section around St Baldred’s Cradle a few years ago. We’ve walked at Ravensheugh for years – along Lime Tree Walk, through the woods, and then along this incredible expanse of beach. I’ve taken umpteen sets of photos here, and have another blog post to share from several weeks back when the sky was even more moody and photogenic than it is here. But somehow, up until a few years ago, we’d missed the section of this walk that leads around the headland that is St Baldred’s Cradle.
We drove down the coast on Sunday evening, hoping for a cooler walk after another warm day. Also, our evening walks are about quietness. We want to get to the beach when most other people have gone home, which is making these midsummer walks happen later and later in the day. But that’s okay. And Sunday night didn’t disappoint. We followed our usual route: through the woods, enjoying the dense, lush green; across the grassland that’s now scattered with wildflowers, with bursts of purple and pink; along the top of the dunes, winding along the sandy paths, which Bracken (strolling along the beach above) and Harris (below) always enjoy; and then down onto this wide expanse of sand.
Hello and welcome to Copperline. My name is Fiona Reid and this is my blog about coastal living in Scotland.