Cockburnspath to Dunbar – 23 July 2022
Our second and last visit to Scotland this year and we are heading to Dunbar with the added feature of going right at the power station. The power station in question is Torness Nuclear Power Station and there is a large concrete path that goes around the seaward side. By now all the routes will be on the John Muir Way and heading towards Dunbar but the routes all start at various drop-offs before they come to the power station.
The first walk that gets off the coach is the 13-mile route that starts on the A1107 road close to Old Cambus and heads towards the coast to pick up a short section of the Berwickshire Coastal Path. The Berwickshire Coastal Path is a scenic route that passes St Abbs Head and Eyemouth and is 29 miles (48 km) long and runs north to south from Cocksburnspath down to Berwick-on-Tweed. As the route reaches Pease Bay it picks up the Southern Upland Way and shortly after at Dunglass Old Bridge it joins the John Muir Way to finish at Dunbar.
The second walk off the coach is the 12-mile route that also starts on the A1107 road just at the point where the Southern Upland Way goes across the road. The Southern Upland Way is Scotland’s first and only official coast-to-coast route. It is 214 miles (344 km) long and starts in Portpatrick on the west coast and finishes in Cockburnspath over in the east of Scotland.
The John Muir Way is a 134-mile (215 km) route starting in Helenburgh on the west coast of Scotland and finishing on the east coast at Dunbar. However, there is a linking part of the route that goes from Dunbar down to Cockburnspath. This link route lets walkers access the Southern Upland Way and the Berwickshire Coastal Path.
The 10.5-mile route starts in Cockburnspath and follows the John Muir Way north-west out of Cockburnspath towards Dunglass Dean where it turns north towards the coast. It has to go under the railway line and across the A1 road before following the two other routes to the finish in Dunbar.
A small part of the Berwickshire Coastal Path, a little bit of the Southern Upland Way or a start on the John Muir Way, are all choices if you would like to join us for a walk just don’t forget to turn right at the power station. You can get in touch with us using the Contact Page of our website and you can also download the walk descriptions below and the GPX routes here.
The image for this post was taken on the Berwickshire Coastal Path during a walk from Cockburnspath to Eyemouth in August 2013. In the distance is Torness Nuclear Power Station and the smoking chimney is the Tarmac Cement Plant site close to the A1 road. The small white object on the right is Barns Ness Lighthouse which all the routes also pass.
