Chairman’s Run – East Lothian

A great turnout of 18 bikes met at Dreghorn service station on a really sunny morning, but still with a cold nip in the air that lasted at least until lunchtime. We left around 10 a.m., organised by the Johnsons; Peter (BMW R1250RT) leading and Mandy (Honda NC750X) TECing. The group included an assortment of Hondas, Yamahas and BMWs, plus a small pack of beautiful Triumph big cats (Tiger 900s). I hope I didn’t miss anyone’s bike in that summary listing? (Attendee names can be found by clicking the run in the club calendar). We headed off around the Edinburgh bypass and then through the Honest Toun of Musselburgh to pick up the coast road to North Berwick. Great views of the Firth, lots of pedal cyclists on the route and some roadworks, notably as we came towards N Berwick town centre causing a rather tortuous diversion towards our first stop in the Tesco car park. Some of us took on liquid at the Tesco garage, some of us did the opposite at the Tesco loos!
After a brief-ish stop we continued on the A198 past Tantallon Castle and brilliant views of Bass Rock, then turned south towards the A1. Some drama on the straight stretch towards Tyninghame, as Philip Gill-Simmons’ very new PanEuropean had some electrical problems, with the engine cutting out. There was a steady stream of traffic, so Peter moved us all off onto a nearby narrow side road, where we waited to see if anything could be done. This was a great opportunity a chat. George Kay and I had a great discussion about his almost 20 years in the club and 10s of 1000s of biking miles on a wide array of bikes over his biking life and I took a look (a guided tour really) at his current hybrid bike-scooter (Honda ADV350). It was decided nothing could be done for Phillip’s bike, except wait for a breakdown service. Brian Torley, also on a PanEuropan, waited with him initially, re-joining the group later..
We were all pointing the ‘wrong’ way up the narrow road, so Peter led us round a rectangle of narrow country lanes, through Tyninghame village (past the Old Smithy coffee shop) back onto the A198. From there we joined the A1, bypassing Dunbar and passing Torness Power Station and the sweeping bays beyond it. We left the A1 for the A1107 towards Coldingham, a really nice biking road, and then into St Abbs, where the lunch stop was to be the Ebbs Carr café down at the harbour. The car park at the harbour and the small roads around it (and also the café) are always packed, moreso on sunny days, so Peter sensibly had us park at the top of the hill that St Abbs spills down, where we filled all the available space in Briary Law. Four of us towards the back of the pack rode on into Murrayfield (no, not THE Murrayfield!) and parked, myself (BMW R310R), Duncan Calder (Yamaha Tracer 7), George (as above) and Niall Finlay (Yamaha MT-10?). A good move as this led us to a short but steep walk down into the harbour and we were in the café and ordered first before the queue formed! Coffee, a roll and good banter.
After the break, we re-traced our path out of St Abbs to Coldingham, then headed south to cross the A1 near Reston, the Edinburgh-bound A1 traffic stopping to wave a group of us through! Then on the B6438 and A6112 to Duns, for a quick stop outside the Jim Clark museum for a photo opp for anyone doing the 2025 Challenge who needed to ‘bag’ that one. For me, it was my first one ticked off. Mandy also grabbed a group photo outside the museum (see the gallery for this run). Just south of Duns we turned right onto a narrow road that I for one had never ridden or driven before, a great biking road over the moors through Longformacus. We all squeezed into a long layby at around the highest point, with long-distance views of Bass Rock and Berwick Law. More banter and bike chat. Peter did the run wrap-up there and some of us then headed off before the rest of the group, as things were running a bit later than intended. The rest of that road was also fun, back eventually towards the A68 and Edinburgh.
I really enjoyed the day, only my second run with the club. My old (25 yr) ER5 died between my first run last November and now, so it was my first run on my smaller R 310R, which I’ve only used around Edinburgh up to now. It held its own among the bigger bikes and felt as much fun as when I was riding even smaller bikes when I was young! Thanks to Peter for organising and leading a great run, to Mandy for bringing up the rear and for the rest of the group for a great day.