Area: East Lothian

The Category East Lothian is a subset of Central Scotland.

' All around Dunbar there are the most beautiful and soul searching walks. From the short but breathtaking Clifftop Trail to the beach walks that exhilarate and of course Dunbar is at the end of the 134 mile coast to coast route, the John Muir Way. In this section we identify a few ideas for walks around Dunbar but there are many more and wandering and exploring is often just as rewarding.'

60 Things To Do in Dunbar

'East Lothian offers a great variety of landscapes for walking, with the Lammermuir Hills to the south, a coast of beaches and cliffs and an expanse of arable farmland in between ...'

'Core Paths form the basic network of paths around East Lothian and link into and support the wider network of other paths that already exist around the county. Core paths can be the most popular paths or key routes that link communities or provide access to local sites ...'

East Lothian Council

'Used in the 18th and 19th centuries when the herring industry was strong.  It was used by people bringing home a stock of salted herring for winter use and also by fishwives carrying huge creels of herring from Dunbar to the markets in Lauder ... Gradually the speed and ease of the railway lines left little need for people to carry huge weights of fish over this high pass and it fell out of use.  It is probably a long time since a herring has passed by this way. Another historic route similarly used for the trade in fish is the Buckie Fishwives Path, Moray.'

Heritage Paths

'It is now possible to walk the length of the East Lothian coast, almost 73km from Edinburgh to the Borders, leaflets are available ... with the route broken down into shorter sections, with opportunities to link into other paths and circular walks along the coast. The routes now form part of the long distance walking and cycling route of the John Muir Way which stretches 134 miles or 215km across Scotland's heartland, running between Dunbar and Helensburgh in the west.'

East Lothian Council

The John Muir Way [Scottish Natural Heritage]

'The Lammermuir Hills act as an upland barrier between the coast and East Lothian to the north and the Borders in the SE. The name (literally "Lamb’s Moor") gives a clue to their character as there are few distinctive peaks; most summits are between 450m and 535m (Meikle Says Law) and many are without cairns or trig points ...'

Scotways