Waiting

These men were anxiously watching and waiting to see if they would catch any fish on the incoming tide. I don’t know if they were successful but we didn’t need to wait long for our fish sandwiches and soup as we sat on the Gegan, the red sandstone rock in the distance beside the beach at Seacliff.
 It seemed hard to imagine how noisy it would have been in times past but the distant ruins of Tantallon Castle are a reminder of Seacliff's strategic military position throughout history.  The beach here was used many times as a base to attack the castle and hundreds of Cromwell’s soldiers bombarded the castle from the beach and during the Napoleonic Wars troops were stationed nearby to guard the Forth against French attack.  Even a hundred years ago its location meant that on the nearby cliffs there was a top secret naval base called HMS Scottish Seacliff.  Apart from the sounds of the waves it was now very quiet and seemed far away from the conflicts of the world.