An up and down day

Today’s guest pictures come from my son Tony who was given a flying lesson by his partner Marianne as a present.  She took this picture of him beside his little aeroplane….

…and this picture to prove that he got off the ground.

As far as the weather went, we had a day of two halves on our holiday today.  A typical east coast misty morning and a lovely sunny afternoon and evening.

We weren’t deterred by the slight gloom in the morning and headed off to the beach, which was understandably not very busy  on a grey Sunday morning.

This left plenty of room for Matilda to enjoy herself in the traditional manner.

I had a look at some rocks as we went past.

After we had had fun on the beach, Matilda and her parents went back to the flat and Mrs Tootlepedal and I set out to climb up North Berwick Law, a volcanic plug just behind the town.

It wasn’t the best day for views but there were plenty of flowers to enjoy as we scrambled up the path.

When we got to the last section to the summit…..

…which involved walking very close to a steep drop, I left Mrs Tootlepedal to bag the glory and sat and waited on a handy bench.  I had time to look inland….

…and out to sea….

….without being able to see very much in either direction.

I was entertained by a jackdaw and impressed by a gorse bush growing out of what looked like solid rock…

…before the intrepid explorer returned from the summit and we pottered back down the hill, taking things very carefully on the rocky and steep bits.

When we got down, I had one last look back at the summit…

…where I could see a ruined cottage, the famous (now plastic) whalebone arch and a curious structure that Mrs Tootlepedal said might have been from the Second World War.  I would have liked to have been up there myself but vertigo is vertigo and I just can’t cope with steep drops.

We walked into the town and were mildly peeved to see breaks in the clouds and hints of blue sky so soon after we had left the hill.

The weather got better and better and soon after Matilda had had her post prandial snooze, it was time to hit the High Street to see what the town had to offer.

W hat the welled dressed shopper is wearing these days

Purchases were made and Matilda and her parents headed for home to try out a new game and some small toys while Mrs Tootlepedal and I found a bench on the sea front and enjoyed the views of and from the West Beach while we ate a pain au chocolat each.

The sea was quite busy too.

But that was nothing compared with the huge number of birds circling above the Bass Rock.

This is one of the most important gannet colonies in the British Isles.

We enjoyed an excellent evening meal, prepared  by Mrs Tootlepedal, and while Matilda’s father Al put Matilda to bed, her mother Clare and I went for a walk along the Glen Bay in the evening sunshine.

The wind had got up but it was milder than we expected and the walk was delightful.

There were wild flowers to see….

…and some moderately wild waves too.

As you can see, the Bass Rock looked quite close in the evening sun.

And even the Isle of May, far out in the middle of the Firth of Forth was clearly visible…

…and I remembered seeing thousands of puffins there this time last year when we were on holiday with Matilda on the other side of the Forth.

The sun was going down as we walked back to the flat.

I am hoping to see about getting out car fixed tomorrow so fingers crossed.

No flying bird but a perching gull in the setting sun instead today.