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Berwickshire Coastal Path: 2 days Cockburnspath to Berwick

Berwickshire Coastal Path: 2 days Cockburnspath to Berwick


Postby ceholts » Sun Jul 31, 2022 11:26 am

Route description: Berwickshire Coastal Path

Date walked: 29/07/2022

Time taken: 2 days

Distance: 48 km

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After living in Scotland for over a year, I decided it was high time to get out and take advantage of the beautiful countryside. I haven't hiked in ages, so I decided on a relatively modest distance with a lighter pack. I'll add my gear list at the end. I found that doing this walk in two days was quite challenging, but extremely doable if you know what to expect.

Day 1: On 29-July, I walked from my house in Edinburgh to the bus station and caught the 253 to Cockburnspath, scheduled for 0854. We were late leaving the station and I ended up arriving at the bus stop closer to 1100. The bus stops just south of the War Memorial (labeled on OS map). Just north of that is a gate to your right, and you're off.

I followed the well waymarked path around a few bends and under a bridge. It's mostly easy trail with little change of elevation for awhile.

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Just after Cockburnspath start


I soon started to get great views of the coast.

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early still


Onward until the path comes out onto some tarmac, leading down to Pease Bay Leisure Park. For a Friday, it was still quite busy, so be careful on the road. Some people did not bother slowing down.

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View of Pease Bay

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At the park


After the park entrance, there's a small footbridge going over a ford and the path sets off uphill along the road. Note that the gate to the trail is on the left side, just as the incline begins. It was pretty overgrown and narrow. Likewise with much of the trail immediately thereafter.

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Overgrown a bit


I continued towards Old Cambus West Mains. I was warned the path turns up towards the road here and to not get confused and think I needed to follow the coast through the thick bracken. Around this point, I saw "St. Helen's Church remains" on the OS map and decided to take a look. It was just off trail and I decided the ruins would be a good windbreak, so I stopped for lunch and coffee.

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St. Helen's

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Coffee break


I continued on, taking in the great views through Dowlaw. Not much to say about the path except that it's easy to follow and pleasant. Now, between Dowlaw and St. Abbs, it was a bit more challenging. That could be due to me just being tired, but still, it felt like I was trudging uphill quite often.

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What is this?

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Onwards and upwards


I finally reached a field just at the base of St. Abb's Head Nature Reserve. Note that there seems to be a path continuing forward, and I suppose you could take that straight to St. Abbs, but the path proper veers to the left and goes up and around the reserve. Beautiful views as you start to climb the road up the head.

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Pretty.


Up I went until I caught a view of the lighthouse and finally saw St. Abbs, my stop for the evening. In the future, I plan to camp, but I didn't quite have all my gear yet, so I booked a room at the Seaview B&B. Great host, comfortable clean room, and an excellent breakfast. I highly recommend.

Important note. NOTHING is open in that town after 1700. I ended up eating one of my camping meals in my room. It was a sad dinner.

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Lighthouse

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Started to wonder if I'd ever find this place..

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Thor!


Day 2: I woke up at 0630, made a coffee in the room, and went down to an excellent breakfast at 0700. I chatted with the host, packed my gear, settled my tab, and set off at around 0800. I felt okay at this point, a bit tired, but not terribly sore. I'll tell you now though, the latter half of day 2 kind of sucked. I'll get to why in a bit.

From St. Abbs, I continued on through Coldingham Bay. The rains had just passed and it was pleasantly cool and dark.

Sands.jpg
near Coldingham


There was quite a bit of up and down until I eventually reached Eyemouth. I have to admit something here - I cheated. The path heads up along the coast around the holiday park and back down in Eyemouth proper. I looked at the map and said screw that. I was concerned about timing, as I had a train ticket back to Edinburgh from Berwick and the rail folk were striking that day, so I was anxious to get there asap and see what I needed to do to get home.

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Don't judge me


I walked by some homes and down a hill into the city center. There's a Co-Op at the point that I rejoined the path, so I stopped in for a Lucozade, which I proceeded to chug. I continued on by a memorial to the fishing disaster of 1881, around the pretty harbor, and up to some football pitches.

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Great Fishing Disaster of 1881

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The harbor

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Footy


I then crossed some golf courses and went over a fallen signpost to the path that climbed up and along the coast again.

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Out of Eyemouth


It was a short and scenic walk before Burnmouth became visible. The path turned sharply downhill and I followed it into the village, which smelled like you'd imagine it would at low-tide. At this point, my day turned sour. It was in the mid-20's and humid. I was tired and feeling a bit grumpy.

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Burnmouth from the top

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Burnmouth harbor

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Burnmouth


The path takes a sharp right soon after the colorful flats and switchbacks uphill. It's not very well maintained. At the top, I went through a small field with some sheep and hit a stretch of tarmac that paralleled the railway. At the end of that short stretch of tarmac, I hit a gate with a big "Private Property" sign and a little step-over to the right. What followed was a frustrating mess.

There might as well not have been a trail. There's a long stretch of the path that follows the railway and it's mostly overgrown with everything that has thorns on it. In some places, it was completely impassable. Is it gorse? I don't know, I'm not from here, but I'll tell you, it sucks. At some points, I could stomp them down, at others I had to crawl, and I even went off trail for a ways, only to find myself stuck between a sheer drop and more of these damnable devil shrubs.

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Burn them all


This went for seemingly ever. It was a real low point of the trip. This eventually ended at the point called Tods Loup. I stopped and had a quick lunch before pushing onwards.

The path improved as I crossed the border into England and went through a caravan park. I knew when I saw Needles Eye that I was pretty much there.

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Border

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Needles Eye


Soon after there's another caravan park after yet another golf course. The path continues onwards into Berwick, where I'm sure there's lots of pretty things to see, but I was ready to get back to Edinburgh. As far as I was concerned, I did what I set out to do. I took a sharp right onto a public footpath that skirted the caravans and crossed the golf course into a residential area. It wasn't long before I saw the train station.

I took a well-deserved seat, rewarded myself with a sugary drink, and watched the boards announce delays and cancellations. I managed to change my ticket to an earlier train and headed back Edinburgh.

Berwick.jpg
Going home

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Sugary reward



My gear:
    Osprey Talon 22
    Trekking poles
    2.5 liters of water (between bladder and bottle)
    3 dehydrated meals
    Bag of assorted snacks
    Dry bag with a change of clothes
    Powerpack with cables and wall plug
    Toiletry kit
    First aid kit
    4oz fuel canister
    Toaks 550 and 375 cups
    Soto Amicus stove
    Titanium spoon
    Rain jacket, pack cover
    Knife, lighters
    Small nylon mat
    Patagonia puffer (which never got used)
    Long sleeve layer (which also never got used)
Attachments
IMG-2708.jpg
Ugh
User avatar
ceholts
Stravaiging
 
Posts: 2
Joined: Jul 14, 2022
Location: Edinburgh

Re: Berwickshire Coastal Path: 2 days Cockburnspath to Berwi

Postby jembo1963 » Thu Jun 29, 2023 2:47 am

Completely empathise with you on the thistles: two guys I met said I’d be glad of my light long trousers but the buggers still got through. I think I know where you had the real problem on the final stage and, in retrospect, until the undergrowth is cut back, I’d parallel the railway right along to the overbridge. Faced with the precarious drop and the dense undergrowth, I slid down on my backside to recover the route.
I thought I’d manage to do the first two stages (Cockburnspath to St Abbs) in one go, but the heat and ascents got to me. Instead shortly after Dowlaw I took the old Post Road back to Coldingham. Caught the earlier (15.40) bus instead of the 16.50. The shops, two adjacent pubs - which serve food - and medieval priory make the village well worth the exploration and it’s walkable from St Abbs.
I did the same shortcut in Berwick, which brings you out by the Castle Hotel opposite the station and has a nice bar. All good walks end in a pub!
jembo1963
Mountaineer
 
Posts: 7
Joined: Jul 14, 2016

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