The beaches around South Queensferry in Edinburgh are only a recent discovery for me (I’ve only lived here most of my adult life!). You can park in Queensferry itself, or drive to the end of the the winding Longcraig Road, where the pier lies. A short walk east from the pier and you’ll come across a whole range of beautiful beaches, bays, dunes, trees, pillboxes from the war, an oil terminal, a castle, a stately home… and wilderness. On a sunny day, you could almost be somewhere a lot more exotic (well, maybe not, but you can imagine it).
You’ll come to Whitehouse Bay first, then Peatdraught Bay follows only a short distance after. I captured the image below with the drone, taken approximately 100 metres above this small and beautiful sand-filled location.
The view West from the bays on a clear day takes in all three bridges.
I took the image below with the drone facing Peatdraught Bay, and from behind Hound Point terminal. You can see Arthur’s Seat in the distance. In the foreground, you can see the workboat Cormorant. These smaller boats play a vital role in assisting the berthing of larger tankers that arrive at the Hound Point terminal to load up with crude oil, which gets pumped from a nearby tank farm in Dalmeny.
Walk around the point and further up the beach and you will see in the distance Barnbougle Castle. This structure was built in the 19th century, although previous iterations have been built there since the 13th century. A legend surrounds the name Hound Point, and it’s connected to Barnbougle Castle, as described in the quote below.
Through the gloom of the wood, beneath the stately trees, an avenue such as Rembrandt alone could have pictured, emerges on the platform curving towards the Hound Point. Connected with this remarkable spot, an old legend of the house of Barn or Baron-bugle, represents that whenever the death of any of its lords is about to occur, the unwonted apparition of a man, accompanied by a hound, appears upon the point, and winds from his bugle the death-note of the baron.
Summer Life on Land and Water (At South Queensferry) by William Wallace Fyfe (published 1851)
I love abstract aerial photos because they offer a different perspective of a familiar world. The viewpoint shows patterns and shapes that are not visible from the ground. As an example, I took the drone photo below using the Mavic drone, flying at around 105 metres above the beach near Peatdraught Bay. The tide was falling and it was a sunny August afternoon.
This could almost be an abstract painting, until you zoom in on the dark area near the centre. Here, you’ll discover water ripples, and some footprints made in the sand by… someone? A dog?
Pareidolia is a psychological phenomenon that causes people to see recognisable images in random arrangements of shapes and lines. I know that because Google told me so. Bunnies in cloud formations maybe? Or a giant fish-like creature with its mouth gaping, as if about to eat some smaller unfortunate animal, as in the image below. Or is that just me?
I will create a separate post about the 4.5-mile shore walk from South Queensferry to Cramond, but hope you’ve enjoyed seeing some of the area around the bays at South Queensferry.
