It’s true what they say about the joy of nature, that it helps a person's mental health and wellbeing. Finding paths away from traffic gives us all space to appreciate the nature around us, and helps improve our mood and quality of life.
This weekend, I walked nine miles on a sunny and calm East Lothian morning, and it really boosted my spirits. My route took me out of Gullane towards Kilspindie Golf Club, dropping down to the shoreline at Aberlady Point and returning past Greencraig, Harestanes Wood then through Aberlady and Luffness.
I spent a wee while gazing across the sand flats out towards the Forth estuary, with the hazy coastline of Fife in the distance. There’s something therapeutic about watching, as I did, a Heron slowly moving through a stream waiting for an unsuspecting fish to come within reach. Later, I spotted two Shelducks waddling across the sand. These beautiful birds nest underground in old rabbit burrows, in tree holes or in haystacks. As the shore path petered out, and I meandered through Harestanes Wood, I felt cocooned in a world of my own, the birdsong raising my spirits.
On the return, with the Skylark’s soothing unbroken call high above guiding my way, I took a path which skirted field margins at Aberlady then into woodland, where hides in seclusion the ruins of a 13th century Carmelite friary. As I stopped to look for the Knight’s Tomb, a robin burst into song inches away.
The path then tracks through peaceful woodland behind Luffness House, dotted with wild primroses at this time of year. As I walked the last steps back to Gullane, although physically tired, my mind felt energised. Suffice to say I slept like a log.
Our Drem-Gullane path, once constructed, will give walkers and cyclists that freedom to listen to the birds, take in the fresh air, to stop and survey the beautiful East Lothian scenery.
