219. Gullane Bents

Another superb golden bay well-equipped for the masses with a large car park, toilets, picnic areas, bike racks and waymarked footpaths. From the car park it’s a fairly steep descent to the beach, notable for the thorny sea buckthorn, which was deliberately introduced here in the 1970s to control the erosion that had stripped the dunes. According to one of the helpful information boards, the buckthorn itself is now being controlled because it has run wild and is stopping other plants from growing. I wandered along the dunes and the shore, intrigued by the number of sausage dogs being walked, and left to the screams of a few hardy sea swimmers taking their first plunge into the icy water.  A very, very nice beach.