September glow
Belhaven beach, 17 September
I wasn’t sure about sharing this walk as I only have a few photos, and so I wondered, is this post enough? I shared this walk on Instagram, but should this space maybe only be for multi-photo and longer form posts?
And then I realised: there are no rules. If something feels right, it fits here. Which might mean that some posts will be shorter.
The initial title for this post was: ‘why you should always just get outside’ - only that was a little clunky. But that explains what led us here on Tuesday night. We knew that Raf needed a walk, but had considered staying local as we were both tired, and maybe it was a night for a nice meal and settling down with The Perfect Couple on Netflix. But no, we decided, let’s head down the coast. Let’s just get in the car and go. Because these walks are always nourishing - physically, but also mentally, which I’m focusing on at the moment. Walking below big skies is (almost) always a better option than being on the sofa with a Netflix binge. (I say ‘almost’ as if it’s pouring rain with no sign of a break in the weather, the sofa is a fine choice.)
As we were driving down the A1, heading for John Muir Country Park, we reached a point where the light was glowing across the Lammermuirs, and then, looking north, we could see that glow of the setting sun spreading across the sky over the Firth of Forth. When we turned into the road that leads to John Muir, the sky was ablaze with orange. We knew that if we walked around the edge of the woods, as planned, that light would be gone by the time we reached Hedderwick Sands, so we headed across the salt marshes to Belhaven beach instead. The photo above is the scene that met us as we walked over the dunes.
And then this… this glowing light with pink-tinged clouds; a scene that looks overly edited when shared, but it was just as magical in reality.
I shared two reels of these views on Instagram: here, as we arrived on the beach, and here, with the cloud reflections above. It was low tide and the sea was so calm as we walked along the shore, looking towards the Bass Rock in the distance, with Raf running and running, delighted at this freedom. (You can just about see him in the photo above.)
And then as darkness fell, and when it was time to turn back, we walked along the sand in the light of this magnificent moon. I couldn’t do this scene justice with a photo, but this moment below perhaps gives a taste of what this felt like, with the light reflecting in the pools of water and dappling across the rippled sand. Now imagine this with only the sound of the waves and the calls of the sea birds. As we edge towards the darkness of autumnal evenings, these are the moments that we’ll miss.
Belhaven beach, 17 September 2024.
#belhaven #eastlothian #scotland
