Yesterday I walked a portion of the John Muir Way from Port Seton to North Berwick - 24km in total. The John Muir Way is a walking track that winds along the coast of East Lothian. It was created in honour of John Muir, originaly from Dunbar, he established the first national parks in America.

I started with a short bus ride down to Port Seton. I could have walked for an hour to get there, but I already knew that area well enough and it goes through busy streets. I started at the harbour and followed the coast line along the beach past Seton Sands to Longniddry. It's pretty funny seeing how people use the beach in the UK. I saw a group of people who's parked their car in the beach car park and then set up chairs in the car park. They were sitting in the car park, rather than on the beach, and one even sat with their back to the beach! Blows my mind :)

Anyhow, at Longniddry there's also huge pieces of concrete on the beach. They're anti-tank defences from the Second World War. From here the path diverts off the beach to go through shady trees, passing by Gosford House on to Aberlady. Aberlady is where I took the photo of the two chaps sitting on the park beanch. I think that was about half way. I walked a bit further on to Gullane to eat lunch on the beach. It was pretty busy as we're currently in a heat wave with temperatures reaching 19 or 20. I have a pink face and arms to show for it! The square gate in the pictures is one of the entrances to Luffness House (or castle). According to wikipedia there's evidence of a Viking settlement there.

Gullane's a really nice beach, and I was tempted to just stay there for the afternoon, but I fortified myself with and ice block and carried on. The path followed the road for awhile before diverting off through a nice tree filled area, and then along yet another golf course, before arriving at Dirleton. There was a dog show on in Dirleton yesterday. I didn't stop for a look though. There was an interesting looking gallery and cafe, but I was keen to keep going.

From Dirleton I arrived at Yellowcraigs, the beach with a view of the light house. What a great find. It's a really nice beach, and not very far from North Berwick. I think if we ever get another nice weekend I'll catch the train to North Berwick and walk around to Yellowcraigs.

So to get between Yellowcraigs and North Berwick is an easy walk of 20 minutes or less. I followed the track, but I suspect there's a shorter way around the coast. The track went through a field of rapeseed, the beautiful yellow flowers in the pictures. The path was completely over grown and some of the plants were head high, but it really wasn't a chore making my way through there. The air smellt wonderful and there were little bees buzzing about.

At North Berwick I had the obilgatory hot chips on the beach, and then sloped on up to the train station to catch the train back to Musselburgh.

I easily forget just how nice East Lothian is. If I had the money I'd happily live there, but barring that I'll jjust have to have more days out in that direction! The John Muir Way continues further around from North Berwick, with 24 km to Dunbar. That's predominantly inland though, so not quite so appealing for me. I think I will give it a stab one day though.

Today the Edinburgh marathon is on and I'm resting up the feet and legs on the couch watching the runners go past. Good times.

Made a delicious pan fried duck breast with pearl barley tabbouleh.

Thanks D for all the treats.

I think Monday, May 1, was a public holiday. I was expecting everything to be shut like on a Sunday so I gave up the idea of going to Antwerp and slept in late insetad. It actually wasn't that extreme. I think Antwerp would have been ok, but anyway, I just had a relaxing day in Brussels instead.

I went for a stroll to a cafe for breakfast and then wandered about the Dansaertstraat area. It's meant to be where all the interesting design stores are, but I didn't have any luck finding them until the next day.

I then caught the subway to Avenue Louise. It gets compared to the Champs Elysees in Paris - great long street full of expensive shops. Not realy my kind of thing, but I caught the tram down to the bottom (it's 2.7 km in total). On the way I saw the former gestapo headquarters.

There's a nice park at the bottom. Just a few steps into the trees and you're surrounded by bird song. It was beautiful. Beyond the park extends the Sonian Foorest. I had a few hours walking it there. The sky was blue, it was about 20 degrees, just great. I even saw a Siberian chipmunk.

I think it was that night I went out for dinner at a Thai restaurant. It was ok, but not amazing.

On the last day of holiday I went back to the preferred cafe and then a stroll around the streets. It was then that I finally managed to find the statue of the little girl peeing. I also dropped in to the botanic gardens (last picture above). That was very cose to the hotel, and such a nice serene place.

I really enjoyed Belgium, i think I'd go there again. I'd really like to see Antwerp. Maybe I'll have a trip to southern Netherlands and northern Belgium one holiday.

But for this summer I'm thinking of a brief trip to Krakow, and then major saving for NZ at xmas.

I took a train over to Ghent on the Sunday. The train was absolutely packed, but Ghent itself was pretty quiet. There was a flower market which a fair few people were bustlling around, but most things were closed. It seemed to be mainly tourists who were out and about in the city centre.

I hadn't put much effort into finding out what there was to see and do in Ghent, so I just wandered around. I came across an old mediaeval castle, Gravensteen, which I had a look around. It's pretty impressive, and there's nice views over the city from up the top. They had a display of mediaeval weapons in one of the halls. Geez, that was pretty scary stuff.

I had a cheapo lunch at a burger place, and then went to the design museum. I thoroughly enjoyed that. They had a temporary exhibit of outdoor furniture which was interesting, and down on the next level was an exhibition of contemporary glass work. They have a strong collection of art nouveau stuff, which I was really interested to see, espcially the glass. There were also some random little plastic figurines about the museum. I'm not sure what that was about. They were in display cabniets and sitting in chandeliers. Odd.

I also popped into the Saint Bavo Cathedral to see the Van Eyck's altarpiece. There was a copy on display which was absolutely crowded out with people taking photos. I was surprised there was no security, until I worked out it wasn't the original! The actual piece is at the back of the cathedral. It was very impressive. 

And of course, the obligatory photo of a sea of bicycles :)

 

Off to play board games this evening. I spent the morning baking lamingtons to take with me. I began one sponge cake and decided it wouldn't be enough, so baked a second. It's deceptive though; once you start cutting them up you find you have an abundance. The freezer is full of the little fellas, the flatmate has orders to eat and deliver some to his parents. If I could post some down south I just might!

On Saturday I spent the day in Brussels wandering about. I did a spot of shopping - goodies on the way for those of you having a b'day this month - and some sightseeing. I went to see some of the famous little fountains of children peeing, and I also came across one of a man puking. Belgians!

I had lunch at a kebab place and notice a steady stream of tourists walking down the hill from behind me, so after eating I strolled on up the hill. The cathedral was at the top so I thought I may as well have a look.

There a numerous museums in Brussels. I was keen to see the Horta museum, but didn't quite make it. I also wanted to see the museum of figurines, but I couldn't find the location. However, I did get to the museum of musical instruments, housed in an art nouveau building. It was very interesting. You get a set of headphones to walk around with and plug in to various exhibits to hear a sample of the instruments on show.

I was also quite intrigued by the amount of art painted on the side of buildings. Tintin was getting a fair bit of attention, but there's much more around various corners.

And ahhh, the waffles ....

I caught the train from Brussels to Bruges on Friday - it's about an hour or so. Bruges has a whole lot of urban sprawl around it, but I bypassed that and stuck to the mediaeval bit in the centre. It's very pretty, with little ally ways and cobbled streets to explore.

In Bruges I did a bit of cafe hopping, munching down delicious waffles and cake. I also went on a bit of a self guided tour around various places featured in the film In Bruges, some I stumbled across without realising too.

I also went to the Groeninge Museum to see some van Eyck and Bosch. They also have a selection of works which feature the town of Bruges which was pretty interesting to see.

I arrived in Brussels on Thursday afternoon last week. There were bursts of torrential rain and thunder; pretty disapponiting. I went for a wander about the city centre, but got absolutely drenched. I was a bit down about it because the weather forecast was for pretty much the same for the rest of the week. Luckily it improved dramatically over the next few days.

Anyhow, I had a look at the main square. The first photo shows a row of guild houses which line one side of the square. I also went into Galeries St Hubert, one of the oldest shopping arcades in the world. It has lots of chocolate shops - the box of chocolates above retails for 95 euros (approx NZ$200)!

I stayed in a hotel near the train station to the north of the city. There's a shopping mall and street of shops just behind the hotel, so I swam in there to get some food for dinner before retiring for the evening.

There are waffles literally everywhere in Belgium!

I arrived on Thursday afternoon and got soaked through in torrential rain. The forecast is not good for the duration of the holiday, but yesterday was lovely.

I caught the train over to Bruges for the day. It was a little over a hour to get there. Bruges is beautiful, with pretty paved streets and gorgeous old buildings. I wandered around most of the day, just taking it in, stopping for waffles and wi-fi as needed. I had a look for various locations from the film In Bruges. I managed to find some, and stumble across others. I also went to the Groningen Museum - to see some van Eyck, Bosch and the Judgement of Cambses. Exciting stuff to actually see the works in person.

Last night I went roaming around Brussels. I'll stay in Brussels today to get a better look and take some daylight photos. I'm keen to get to the Horta museum and do a spot of shopping. Feeling a bit overwhelmed by the amount of chocolate shops though!

Just having delicious breakfast at a cafe near the hotel. Beautiful, delicious tea - off to find the tea shop to stock up.