Cycle Run to East Lothian

I was not allowed to relax in the sun and read the papers this morning: no, His Lordship had other ideas which meant we were up, saddled and out of the door by 9am.
To be fair, early is the best time to hit East Lothian, before the roads get clogged with cars heading for the sands of Longniddry, Gullane and North Berwick.

The countryside was in lush high summer apparel. The verges, mostly uncut, were burgeoning with yellow vetches and buttercups , white ox eye daisies, purple cranesbill and the omnipresent saxifrage and rosebay willow herb, while the hedgerows bloomed with white and pink dog roses and cream elder flowers.

Beyond the hedgerows, the crops appeared blue green in the sunlight with only the flowering potato fields showing purple flowers. The acid yellow rape was in retreat and poppies and daisies had stolen in.

And overall, a wide blue sky studded with summer clouds. If only we could have a week or two of this, we might forget the first half of the year.

And so we cycled to Haddington on quiet country back roads for this photo shoot before returning by the railway line path to Longniddry.

Now showered and pomandered, and with cider and a G&T in hand, we are watching the agony of a Murray, Djokovic tennis final in a temperature of 40 degrees at Wimbledon. Better them than me, definitely.