Another walk – Cockburnspath and Cove, Scottish Borders / Berwickshire

We had arranged to go and visit our friend Eric last Monday and luckily it turned out to be a beautiful day for it. But then it always seems to be a blue sky sparkling sort of a day around Cove and Cockburnspath in Berwickshire whenever we go there. Why not join me on my walk there?

The lands of Cockburnspath were part of the dowry given by James IV of Scotland to Margaret Tudor (daughter of Henry VII of England) on their marriage in 1503, it’s a lovely place but so off the beaten track that few people seem to know about the place. Our visits always include a walk down to the coast to the teeny wee historic harbour of Cove. This time we went the scenic way along narrow lanes, avoiding the main road. This flowering currant was putting on a good show beside one rather remote cottage.
Flowering currant, Cockburnspath, Berwickshire. Scotland

Stone Cottages

The lane becomes a narrow footpath, as you can see the daffodils are out.
Path , Cockburnspath, Cove, Berwickshire, Scotland

It isn’t long before you catch a glimpse of the coast in the distance across some fields.
Cove bluffs

I was relieved to see that the tide wasn’t too far in.
Cove sea , Berwickshire, Scotland

Cove sea , Cockburnspath, Berwickshire, Scotland

Uther the red and white setter was in a hurry to get down there, but I lagged behind him, Jack and Eric, taking my time to get some photos.

Cove Path, near Cockburnspath

Cove, near Cockburnspath, Berwickshire, Scotland

It certainly felt like spring had sprung, but Uther didn’t brave the sea, in fact he never does. He just loves the sights and smells, and enjoys digging up crabs to crunch now and again. I suspect those crabs must be dead but they don’t seem to cause him any harm.
Uther

I’ll continue with our journey tomorrow. I hope you’re up for it, it’s just a pity that you can’t catch the fresh coastal air.

Meanwhile you can see more of my older photos here.

Cove in Berwickshire, Scotland

Cove

A couple of days ago we went to visit our good friend Eric who lives close to this wee cove, which is actually just called Cove, in Berwickshire. As you can see the tide was fairly far in but we still managed to get a bit of a walk along the beach. At least one of the houses in the background is a holiday let, fine for a holiday but a bit too close to the sea for my liking, for all the year round living.

Cove

The nearest big place is Dunbar which was at one point quite a popular holiday destination, but this wee remote stretch of beach is far nicer and I have to say a lot more pleasant smelling than Dunbar was on the same day.

Cove

It was the houses above which I was most interested in, they’ve been built on a narrow lump of rock which is surrounded by the sea, or should I call it the Solway Firth? I’ve always said I would never want a house too close to water but these two have obviously been standing there for well over 100 years and they haven’t been washed away yet. You can see Uther the red and white setter having a good old sniff around.

Cove

I don’t think anybody lives in the houses nowadays, they seem to be just used for storing fishing gear.

Below you can see the sea wall, Jack, Eric and Uther. We knew that it was hot, in fact as hot as it had been all so-called summer, but we later discovered that despite it being the last day of September, it was hotter in Scotland than it was on the Cote d’Azure. There’s really no accounting for our weather but it makes life interesting I suppose.

Cove

Cove

If you look closely below you should be able to see a couple of scuba divers who seemed to be having fun. I’ve never done that, in fact I never will as I’m not a great swimmer, but I’d love to see what it looked like underwater there.

Cove

Jack remarked that Cove reminded him of Robin Hood’s Bay in Yorkshire, but being a good Yorkshireman Eric of course had never been there. Well you never do get around to visiting the tourist attractions on your own doorstep do you?!