the calm of low tide

St Baldred’s Cradle and Ravensheugh Sands, 17 August

Even the familiar walks can feel so different on the coast. I know this is true everywhere, as shifting seasons and weather will always create a different mood or look to any landscape, but when you add in shifting tides a scene can change dramatically.

While we usually try and time this walk around St Baldred’s Cradle and on along Ravensheugh Sands for low tide, on this sullen-skied Saturday back in mid-August we arrived on the headland of St Baldred’s Cradle to find a very low tide, exposed rocks extending below us. We’re used to sitting on this stone bench listening to the waves crashing on those rocks, but not on this day. Instead, this was a quiet scene, with nothing but birdsong to accompany these moments.

This walk begins in the woods, and, as usual, we headed first to the rocky shoreline that looks towards John Muir County Park, briefly, simply to take in the view, before following the main path that winds through the trees, leading towards St Baldred’s Cradle. The rhododendron blooms had faded, leaving our path fringed in dense green foliage, and we walked on through the pines to the point above, nearing the edge of the woodland. I’ve mentioned this route before, in ‘from darkness to light’, and in that post I wrote about the impact of Storm Arwen back in November 2021 and how while some areas of this woodland were untouched, others had been ripped apart.

And this area above is an example of this damage, trees gulped from the earth, creating this domino effect into the woods. A scene of chaos. At John Muir Country Park, the fallen trees have been cleared away and you’d arrive for the first time and wonder what had happened when faced with churned earth and tree stumps. Here, this woodland is a constant reminder of the power of the storms to be faced in the years ahead as our climate shifts.

From the woodland, the path winds up to the grassy headland, and to this spot: the stone bench seat that sits on the edge of St Baldred’s Cradle, looking out to sea.

If I had to choose between pristine blue skies or this sky, I would always choose this sky. I prefer moody over blue any day, and certainly for photos. The low tide had revealed the rock formations below St Baldred’s Cradle, a rockscape that we don’t usually see here, and just look at these tones, from the warm ochre hues of the lichen to all the mixed greys of the rocks. I could live in this palette.

The views are also incredible from this spot, looking south towards Belhaven beach and Dunbar, and north towards Bass Rock in the distance. For anyone who follows our walks on TWATH and knows the walk from Whitesands to Barns Ness and beyond towards Torness - this walk I shared here on ‘a new path’ - the second photo above also shows the smoke plume from Dunbar Plant, the cement works that sits behind Whitesands beach. The plume is tiny in this photo, and possibly not visible (although you can zoom in if viewing this post on your phone), but for years I’ve looked at this distant plume of smoke and wondered what was there, having no idea that this industrial site was also the start of a coastal walk that would one day become a favourite. This detail alone has left me wondering what else we’ve been missing around East Lothian for all these years - a thought that will be fuelling some new walks as we head into autumn and winter.

Leaving the bench seat, we continued around the headland to this view above - another different perspective of this familiar place as the tide had receded to reveal this rockscape. Again, we usually experience this view with the waves undulating in to shore, but here, stripped back to rock, this scene looked like a different world. Which is what I was meaning when I started this post by mentioning how much the tide can shift a view. How the shoreline we thought we knew can become something else.

From here, we walked on around the edge of the shore, taking the narrow path that winds above the first section of pebbly beach and on to the long stretch of Ravensheugh Sands beyond. Even here, this beach shifts character subtly the further you walk, from the pale golden sand to the deeper amber hues that appear later as the sand picks up a more grainy texture. It’s all part of what I love about this walk: those big skies and endless views, and the rich textures and subtle hues. Some walks, some places, feed your eyes as much as your mind, and this is one of those places.

St Baldred’s Cradle to Ravensheugh Sands, 17 August 2024.

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