seaside near Edinburgh?

Toms_Dad

stimpsonslostson said:

North Berwick. 
Beach, ice cream, tea shops, pubs, chippy, boat trips round the Bass etc. It's a nice touristy place.
There's a wee seafood place on the harbour that's great. 
If you're staying in Edinburgh, you can get a train to N.B. (as us locals call it). 


If you're driving Tyninghame, SeaCliff, YellowCraigs are all lovely for walking. 
Dunbar is nice (Belhaven Brewery is there too). 

@Toms_Dad you can't recommend RedDog anymore. It was on Grassmarket not Haymarket & sadly closed 6months ago.

Cramond is a good shout- just check the tides for the causeway! 

Red Dog is closed...Nooooooo!!!  That was my haven of calm when I went to visit the inlaws,  And I always confuse Grassmarket and Haymarket thx for the correction.

EricTheWeary

Nitefly said:

Not by the sea, but still in East Lothian, try the Tyneside Tavern in Haddington.  There's a plaque there where Fish from Marrillion used to sit and enjoy a pint.  Apparently when they were writing their first album they spent a lot of time there...

That would be a hard sell to MrsTheWeary! 

ICBM said:

Portobello if you want traditional run-down seaside-town vibes effectively 'in' Edinburgh. Cramond Island if you want to get cut off by the tide  (don't! The coastguard take a dim view of it). North Berwick if you want a nicer town atmosphere, Aberlady if you want a long walk to a much less crowded, countryside beach.

Not mentioned so far... Tantallon Castle near North Berwick in East Lothian - absolutely spectacular ruined castle with a couple of beaches within easy walking distance of the castle car park.

North Berwick isn't 50 miles from Edinburgh, by the way - it's about 20. It's Berwick-On-Tweed which is 50 miles away.

There’s a big campsite at Yellowcraig up the road from North Berwick so that area looking good. 

The Scottish coast in May will give the camper heater a good workout. 

stimpsonslostson

May is the best time to come to Scotland- it’s generally when we have our best (least shit) weather. Yellowcraig is nice. Go to Archerfield while you’re there.
https://www.archerfieldwalledgarden.com/
they have a nice microbrewery... just saying. 

ICBM

EricTheWeary said:

There’s a big campsite at Yellowcraig up the road from North Berwick so that area looking good.

Ideal. That's a nice site with an easy walk to a good big beach... but beware the midges!

Bridgehouse

Mrs B hails from Prestonpans. 

You should go there. You’ll never criticise where you live ever again..

EricTheWeary

stimpsonslostson said:

May is the best time to come to Scotland- it’s generally when we have our best (least shit) weather. Yellowcraig is nice. Go to Archerfield while you’re there.
https://www.archerfieldwalledgarden.com/
they have a nice microbrewery... just saying. 

MrsTheWeary likes a walled garden so may get there, ta. 

Bridgehouse said:

Mrs B hails from Prestonpans. 

You should go there. You’ll never criticise where you live ever again..

I don’t know, welcome to the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley. 

ICBM

Bridgehouse said:

Mrs B hails from Prestonpans. 

You should go there. You’ll never criticise where you live ever again..

Apparently there are plans to commemorate the 1745 battle site there now.

Not sure why they would bother, a visit on any typical Friday or Saturday night should be adequate...

Bridgehouse

EricTheWeary said:

Bridgehouse said:

Mrs B hails from Prestonpans. 

You should go there. You’ll never criticise where you live ever again..

I don’t know, welcome to the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley. 

In that case, Mrs B hails from Less-going-on-and-less-to-do-and-more-run-down-Scottish-Dudley-on-Sea-without-Lenny-Henry-or-a-Zoo

Bridgehouse

ICBM said:

Bridgehouse said:

Mrs B hails from Prestonpans. 

You should go there. You’ll never criticise where you live ever again..

Apparently there are plans to commemorate the 1745 battle site there now.

Not sure why they would bother, a visit on any typical Friday or Saturday night should be adequate...

Mrs B said it was quite nice when she was a wee girl in the seventies. 

Then again, she said salads were quite nice in the seventies so who knows wtf was going on there

EricTheWeary

Bridgehouse said:

EricTheWeary said:

Bridgehouse said:

Mrs B hails from Prestonpans. 

You should go there. You’ll never criticise where you live ever again..

I don’t know, welcome to the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley. 

In that case, Mrs B hails from Less-going-on-and-less-to-do-and-more-run-down-Scottish-Dudley-on-Sea-without-Lenny-Henry-or-a-Zoo

Well that does sound crap. 

Bridgehouse

EricTheWeary said:

Bridgehouse said:

EricTheWeary said:

Bridgehouse said:

Mrs B hails from Prestonpans. 

You should go there. You’ll never criticise where you live ever again..

I don’t know, welcome to the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley. 

In that case, Mrs B hails from Less-going-on-and-less-to-do-and-more-run-down-Scottish-Dudley-on-Sea-without-Lenny-Henry-or-a-Zoo

Well that does sound crap. 

I’ve been to both. Believe me - you live in the nicer place

Bridgehouse

As a more positive contribution... my other interest away from instruments of a stringed and fretted nature is sailing...

One of my fave YouTube type posters is this guy - he’s doing the slowest most drawn out sail round Britain you’ve ever seen, but his videos have a meditative and addictive quality that makes them just brilliant..

He did a whole series on the Forth and it gives a really good flavour of the coastline there. Well worth a watch and a dig around his other East Coast of Scotland vids for inspiration..

https://youtu.be/JD1UEklQWLs

EricTheWeary

Just completing our higgledy piggeldy mini tour of Scotland. 

After a flying visit to Northumbria got to North Berwick based on the multiple suggestions on here. Very picturesque, great little town. The campsite was at the far end of the beach so I earned my ice cream calories ( from the ice cream seller who told me about when he lived in Dudley). 

https://i.imgur.com/0kJ8gXs.jpg

We then stopped at the big campsite near the Crammond foreshore which is very pleasant although didn’t make it across to Crammond Island.

https://i.imgur.com/aC1KMci.jpg

We got the bus into Edinburgh although just mooched around and had more calories. Then up to the Falkirk Wheel and the Kelpies.

https://i.imgur.com/nIqPfQG.jpg

Struggled to find a place for the night near to Ayr and ended up in Haven; I want to say imagine a prison camp with a branch of Burger King in it but prison camps don’t allow that much rubbish left around. Currently in Kirkcudbright on a lovely community run campsite ( with free wi fi). Very nice little town. 
Probably in a pub car park near Carlisle tonight before heading home to see what the kids have trashed. 

Nitefly

All looks good, Eric, hope you're enjoying yourselves.

I was thinking about you last night when I read this: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-48288433

Isn't that what you used to do?  Another masterpiece of planning from Mr Grayling...

stimpsonslostson

Looks like you had a great trip & managed to have it coincide with our entire summer! 

EricTheWeary

Nitefly said:

All looks good, Eric, hope you're enjoying yourselves.

I was thinking about you last night when I read this: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-48288433

Isn't that what you used to do?  Another masterpiece of planning from Mr Grayling...

Yes, I was made redundant as part of the changes. Changes pushed through by Grayling against advice from judges, police, house of lords, probation. In some areas of the country the new organisations renegotiated redundancy policies after privatisation before making redundancies so people with huge experience got sent off on minimum pay outs so I could have had it worse. There was a lot of buying cheap suits and toadying up to the new management and saying we have to understand we are a commercial enterprise now which all stuck in my craw. I had a belief in public service not a desire to spin a few bucks for the American corporation that owned us. I was glad to go but not happy about how I went or how Grayling and the private companies were trashing previously high performing public agencies. 

Grayling initially set up pilot schemes which weren't working, abandoned them and pushed everything through anyway. Hung onto his place in cabinet since  by being May's most faithful minister despite this and his other cock ups. I don't know how he sleeps at night. 

Very tempted to stay North of the border and campaign for independence as we've had a lovely time in Scotland and the British government are awful but  just arrived outside of Carlisle so back in England where there's less shortbread in the shops. 

EricTheWeary

stimpsonslostson said:

Looks like you had a great trip & managed to have it coincide with our entire summer! 

Fantastic weather. I have a bag with thermal underwear, jumpers, wooly hats and a raincoat all unworn. Even have my wellies! 

ewal

Didn't want to tempt fate earlier in thread, but May and June are easily the most reliable months for decent weather in much of the UK, especially the further north you go. I'm crossing everything for my trip to the Outer Hebrides in early June!

EricTheWeary

ewal said:

Didn't want to tempt fate earlier in thread, but May and June are easily the most reliable months for decent weather in much of the UK, especially the further north you go. I'm crossing everything for my trip to the Outer Hebrides in early June!

Just take plenty of midge repellent! 

stimpsonslostson

ewal said:

Didn't want to tempt fate earlier in thread, but May and June are easily the most reliable months for decent weather in much of the UK, especially the further north you go. I'm crossing everything for my trip to the Outer Hebrides in early June!

Yup. I used to teach a field trip to Mull & Iona every May. We always used to tell the students to bring sun cream... There were always a few who ignored us & got fried. 
These were taken there:
https://i.imgur.com/cXIEVEJ.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/zkYZ0Xk.jpg