John Muir Way Archives - Scones, history and a dollop of politics

For this scone at Graze Coffee House we have left the Covenanters Hotel in Falkland far behind and crossed the river Forth to Dunbar. As it happens though we are still maintaining our link to Covenanters and Covenanting. Dunbar Castle was a major fortress in medieval times and became the centre for that well known war criminal, Oliver Cromwell, to provision his invading English army.

View of Dunbar Castle and Victoria harbour — Ruins of Dunbar Castle above the harbour entrance

Martyrs

Fishing boats in the harbour at Dunbar — Fishing boats in Dunbar harbour

The Battle of Dunbar in 1650 is still controversial, even today. The Scots covenanting army was defeated and about 4000 soldiers were taken prisoner. They were marched south to be imprisoned in Durham Cathedral so they could take no further part in the conflict. They were treated so badly, however, that only about half survived the journey. Some died of exhaustion and others were simply shot. Many survivors were sold into slavery but many others died in the Cathedral. In 2013 scientists unearthed a mass grave near the Cathedral containing their remains. It is thought that other such mass graves exist nearby. There is now a campaign to repatriate the remains of these “Dunbar Martyrs” back home to Scotland.

View towards the Bass Rock from Dunbar — Looking over the river Forth towards Fife with the Bass Rock left of center

John and Greta

The reason we are here, however, has nothing to do with Covenanters. We thought that, since we had visited one end of the John Muir Way at Helensburgh, we should have a look at the other end in Dunbar. John Muir was born here in 1838 and went on to become the leading conservationist of his time. It was said of him that he was “saving the American soul from total surrender to materialism“. If he was alive today, he would doubtless be amazed that it has been left to youngsters like Greta Thunberg to carry the torch.

Sign for dangerous cliffs on the John Muir Way at Dunbar — a sign, thoughtfully placed by the EU

We elected to walk the last mile or so of the trail along the coast to Dunbar itself. Along the way we found many warning signs of the fast approaching Brexit date at the end of this month. The path meanders along the clifftops and eventually ends up at Dunbar Castle.

Artillery gun at Dunbar — Pat getting ready to repel Johnny Foreigner after Brexit

View of Dunbar Castle at the end of the John Muir Trail — the end of the trail with Dunbar Castle in the distance and a large picture of John Muir himself …. it’s either him or Billy Connolly

Needless to say, after such exertions on a bright but blustery day, a scone was called for. We were reliably informed by two women hanging around on a street corner that the best scone in town was at the Graze Coffee and Chocolate House in the High Street. They seemed to know what they were talking about and it was only a few yards from where we were. In no time at all, we were settled in and ready.

Date and walnut

The staff were were extremely friendly and welcoming and soon had Pat sorted with a cheese scone and me with a date and walnut one. Date and walnut? Is this a step too far? No worries. Pat thought her scone was good but not quite deserving of the topscone accolade. My scone was very good as well. the walnuts gave it a delightful crunchiness. Although I had passed on the cream (Rhoddas) the overall combination with jam and butter was very good. Not quite a topscone from me either but a great wee café and thoroughly recommended.

Hard to believe

We feel slightly nauseous as Boris Johnson soaks up the adoration of his supplicants at the Tory Party Conference and tries to pretend that his seven page cobbled together ‘deal’ is worthy of consideration by the EU. We are increasingly dismayed. Hard to believe, in such desperate times, that we have someone as weak as Jeremy Corbyn leading the opposition. Heyho, fingers crossed, he can pull a rabbit out of a hat before the 31st.

EH42 1EW tel: 01368 864619 Graze Dunbar

///recovery.reserving.chip

ps with only about three Brexit weeks to go before we leave the EU no one can express our feelings better than A A Gill. He wrote this article shortly before his death in 2016. We’ve included it as a ps so you don’t have to read it if you don’t want to, but it’s worth it … and there’s a K6 at the end to keep you going … enjoy!

Three weeks to go

“It was the woman on Question Time that really did it for me.
She was so familiar. There is someone like her in every queue, every coffee shop, outside every school in every parish council in the country. Middle-aged, middle-class, middle-brow, over-made-up, with her National Health face and weatherproof English expression of hurt righteousness, she’s Britannia’s mother-in-law. The camera closed in on her and she shouted: “All I want is my country back. Give me my country back.”
It was a heartfelt cry of real distress and the rest of the audience erupted in sympathetic applause, but I thought: “Back from what? Back from where?”

pps We found two Falkirk made K6s in Dunbar. This one is in the High Street. The campaign to get Falkirk Council to preserve some K6s is ongoing with Falkirk Made Friends on Facebook

For some time now Pat has been dropping hints about visiting Helensburgh. As a wee lass she and her mum used to go there by train from their home in Drumchapel. They would play on the beach and swim in the outdoor pool. On the other hand, I didn’t know the town at all. However, recently I have become increasingly aware of it as the start-point of the 134 mile long John Muir Way. It begins in Helensburgh before passing very close to our house in Falkirk then finishing on the east coast at Muir’s birthplace in Dunbar. It’s very popular with walkers and cyclists.

View from Helensburgh beach over Clyde to Greenock — *A rather sombre view across the ‘beach’ towards Greenock, three miles away*

So on this rather wet and humid day it was a kind of nostalgia trip for Pat and, for me, an introductory visit to this west coast town.

Memories

Memories are funny things and sometimes they can play tricks on you. The beach that Pat remembered so well is actually a rather dismal strip of sand about four or five feet wide and about thirty feet long. When the tide’s out, it consists, almost entirely, of a vast area of dark slippery seaweed over rough rocks. The swimming pool is now closed though apparently it is due to be completely rebuilt in the next year or so.

TV and all that

The town’s sea front consists mainly of fairly dilapidated ice cream parlours, the usual charity shops and the odd rather sorry looking pub. In the 2014 Scottish independence referendum one of the claims from the union side was that this town would be devastated by independence and the withdrawal of the nearby Royal Naval Base. Well today it was looking pretty devastated even with all the phantasmagorical benefits that the UK supposedly brings. Most of the workers on the base live in the south of England so the town derives little benefit.

As we walked along the front we came across a memorial to John Logie Baird, inventor of television and a native of the town. He gave the first ever demonstration of the new fandangled technology in what used to be Falkirk’s Temperance Hotel. It all happens in Falkirk! By the time we reached the west end we were feeling pretty depressed by the general state of decay so we decided to go one street back from the sea for our return journey. What a good idea that was. Otherwise we would not have come across the lovely Colquhoun Square and this delightful little bistro/café, the Sugar Boat.

Dog biscuits

We were welcomed with open arms into a beautifully appointed restaurant, come wine bar, come coffee house … fab! We did think about sitting outside since the rain had stopped and it was still very warm but there was a nice little café area just inside the door so we sat there instead. There was a really nice restaurant area at the back but we were not in the business of a full meal … just a ‘you know what’. The ones on display looked promising. The service was great and we were soon kitted out with our drinks and scones complete with jam and clotted cream. We enjoyed everything about this place. Lots of nice touches. Beer from one of our favourite islands, Colonsay, and even a glass jar with complimentary dog biscuits. Apparently we didn’t qualify due to our lack of dog.

Jamon Serrajo Zaragoza at Sugar Boat, Helensburgh — *Jamon Serrano Zaragoza*

An overall lovely experience and no problem awarding a topscone.

In case you are wondering who Helen of Helensburgh was, it was Lady Helen Sutherland, wife of Sir James Colquhoun who owned everything around these parts in 1785 … his descendants probably still do! Before that it was known as Millig.

Thanks largely to the Sugar Boat we left Helensburgh feeling in a much more positive mood than when we first arrived. Even the weather had improved. Our route took us through the lovely village of Rhu with its marina and beautiful Victorian country houses to the Faslane Naval Submarine Base. Home to the famous Faslane Peace Camp, first established in 1982 and still going today.

We’re doomed

From there we drove over Glen Douglas to Inverbeg on Loch Lomondside with an ever increasing sense of impending doom. Our progress was halted by a herd of cattle standing on the single track road. None of them looked very happy and certainly didn’t seem inclined to move. Perhaps it was due to the fact that the hill on the right behind the white cow. It is actually hollow and filled with enough nuclear warheads to blow the entire world to kingdom come.

The cows are not the only ones that feel dismayed about these useless weapons of mass destruction. Scotland overwhelmingly would like them all moved to a warehouse next to Westminster. Even better, since all the warheads actually belong to the USA, to a warehouse near the Whitehouse. Scotland, of course, has no voice in such matters. Eventually, the cows wandered off and we were able to continue. It has to be said though that Glen Douglas has a decidedly spooky feel about it.

G84 8AQ tel: 01436 647522 Sugar Boat

ps. Speaking of the USA. The Pedant has just returned from adventures in the New England and sent this photo of a K6 in Ely, Cambridgeshire, Old England. He sent it because it is still a fully functioning call box. Not a book swap library, not a CD exchange, not a defibrillator point, not for growing geraniums … a call box! And why is this wonderful thing still functioning after all these years … because it was made in Falkirk of course! Told you it all happens in Falkirk.

Scones, history and a dollop of politics

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