Friday 30th May 2025

After a very hectic work week we headed east along the M8 towards Dunbar, it’s not a long trip but as always we got snagged up around the A720 Edinburgh Bypass and it took around 2hrs to get there.

We’d been to Belhaven Bay once before, in March 2023 and it was bitterly cold and windy and so we wanted to see it in more summery weather.

A highlight of that trip had been a tour of the Belhaven brewery and we were not repeating that this time, but we did still have a great time.

We pitched up, levelled off the van and set off into town - our last memories of this were of a long walk into town, it’s amazing how different it was on the long bright evenings of late May.

We wandered down to the harbour, where a seagull had a flatfish and was dragging it around the ground attempting to pull it apart.

We looked at Nauti which is a seafood shack, and they had some nice sounding seafood items, not much for non-seafood eaters (like me), and toured the various harbour-side eateries looking for something to pique our interest.

We wandered as far as East Beach and turned on to Castle street - a sign pointing to Dunbar train station was our cue to investigate the Station Yard which is owned by the Winton Brewery a local craft-brewery, and brewers of some of my favourite local beers.

Gayle got a local Thistly Cross “Scottish fruits” cider, and I had “Oh Ya Bassa” and we sat in the beer garden, there were a lot of flies around but we still enjoyed our pints, it’s a really nice atmosphere in the place.

We were hungry, and while they did have pizzas from Hector’s available we set off in search of something else and ended up in Shapla Tandoori, it was not particularly busy, and we both had an enjoyable meal.

For starters I opted for the lamb shami which came with a delicious raita sauce, and Gayle had the chicken pakora.

And for our mains, Gayle went for the chicken tikka pasanda with fried rice (with spring onion) & I had the lamb tikka biryani.

We shared a peshwari naan and the whole meal was delicious.

It was well after 10pm when we got back to the van, again a benefit of the summer nights, and we went to bed pretty quickly.

Saturday 31st May 2025

Up fairly late, it was a bit misty and grey and we set off for the bay without even a cup of tea - we were still full from last night’s (late) dinner, but we did pack some food.

There’s an easy exit from the Caravan Park out onto the John Muir Way, and we were onto the beach pretty quickly.

A bit of drone flying in gusty conditions gave us some footage of Belhaven Bay, it was definitely one of those classic Scottish days where everything looks grey.

We had a quick coffee and a cherry bakewell flapjack a food shack in the carpark and we continued on around the John Muir way, last time we were here it was very windy and cold, this time it wasn’t cold.

Dunbar’s coast has some amazing geological rock formations and stunning views and we stopped for some frittata and GORP.

By early afternoon it had definitely brightened up, and the sun was showing the geology at its finest, red and grey sandstones - we were only around 12 miles from Siccar Point where James Hutton figured out the significance of these rocks and earned himself the “The Father of Modern Geology” moniker and so it was a fascinating walk along the clifftops and into the wider bays.

We spent some time zooming around the larger rocks with the drone, this time in fairly bright sunshine, it was still windy tho’, but when the wind dropped there were a lot of annoying flies (not midges, fortunately).

Eventually, we arrived back at the Leisure Pool which has a box collecting £10 to stay overnight in a campervan (there are toilets nearby) and we wandered along the familiar Castle street again, popping into “Love Sweets and Ices” for ice-creams, I had very nice Oreo and coffee flavours, while Gayle opted for honeycomb and rum & raisin, they were both very good.

We were a bit parched, and so the Station Yard beckoned and we wandered round, it was still very windy but not particularly busy and we enjoyed a couple of great pints again, definitely a must-visit in Dunbar, and I need to find our way to the Haddy Tap at some point!

I have to highlight the outside toilet at the Station Yard…not the usual smelly grim place full of dead flies, it’s very nice (claimed to be the nicest toilet in Dunbar, and definitely could be!).

We went back to the via The Co-Op for some antihistamines, we were both feeling the hay-fever a bit and when we got back to the van we spent some time reading and relaxing.

For dinner we had sweet chilli chicken stir-fry with noodles and a wee dessert of Cadburys chocolate trifle.

We had a relaxing evening of reading in the van!

Sunday 1st June 2025

We were up fairly early and we got organised then walked along to local shop to pick up some bits & pieces for a snack on the way home.

On our way back to site via the pond we spotted a couple of swans & six cygnet and we realised that there’s a big area west of the campsite that we’ve never even been to, next time….

We were hungry, so we popped into Bostock bakery in East Linton, we couldn’t find a space to park the van, so Gayle had to drive on into East Linton while I got on with picking up some goodies.

I picked up a couple of their amazing chorizo & egg brioches (which we snaffled while waiting on the A720), a couple of their raspberry & pistachio cruffins which tasted amazing (when we got back home) and a cardamon & cinnamon bun with a chocolate & pistachio escargot, Bostock has never let us down, their food is amazing!

We were home by 12pm!