Smeaton Lake

Smeaton Lake

Good evening, or should I say Good Morning to those family and friends over in the USA.  Evening falls upon us here in Dunbar, and it has been a fun day.  I couldn't fall asleep last night so caught up on some of my shows on my iPad.  Of course that meant I slept in a little later than I normally would.  I think I got up around 9 am.  It was overcast and a little windy, but that didn't stop our plans to do some walking around the East Linton/Smeaton Lake area.  So we hopped on the bus that would take us down the road to East Linton.  East Linton is about 6 miles via bus or car down the highway from Dunbar.  Its a quaint little town that has always captured my attention as we drove through there.  We got off the bus in East Linton to walk to a place called Smeaton Lake.  It is a small man-made lake down a long country road.  There is a mossy path that winds around the lake.  The pathway is surrounded by many trees and plants.  Lots of rhododendrons with new buds line the way.  And all the snowdrops are popping up through the leaves on the ground.  This little area kind of reminded me of my trip to the HOH Rainforest in Washington State a few years back.  After we walked around the path, we headed further up the path to have lunch at the Smeaton Nursery and Tea Room.  This was a beautiful nursery with lots of different plants.  The tea room was to the rear of the nursery, and they had the best food ever.  We all had Leek & Potato soup with a crispy roll and then finished with a scone, jam and fresh cream.  Yum Yum.  The scone and cream wasn't good for my diet, but oh well.  How can you say no to fresh baked scones.  After lunch we headed back down to the main roadway (with a stop off to visit the horses in the field).  We wandered over to Preston Mill.  Preston Mill is a watermill on the River Tyne.  It is no longer a working mill.  The last time it was used was in 1959 to produce oatmeal.  Preston Mill consists of a kiln, mill and millers house.  After the mill, we headed back the main street in East Linton to catch the bus home.  We did stop and take some photos of the bridge at the River Tyne and the rushing water.  All in all we had a very nice day.  Got 4 miles of walking in.  Just finished dinner (stovies), and now just relaxing catching up on this blog.  Going to try to go to sleep early tonight as we have more adventures planned for tomorrow.  Going to get up early and walk around the neighborhood, and then later in the day head into Edinburgh on the train to do some birthday shopping for my niece and a little sightseeing. Oh and more walking lol.  Going to walk the Royal Mile.  The Royal Mile for those of you who are not familiar with it, is a thoroughfare that runs a mile between Edinburgh Castle at the top end, down to Holyrood Palace at the bottom end.  Holyrood Palace is where Queen Elizabeth stays when she visits Edinburgh. The road is cobbled in many areas and is lined with shops, churches and underground streets.  It is steep near the castle, so should get quite the workout.  So tomorrow be sure to check back in for photos and an update of my day in Edinburgh. Well I guess that is all for today.  I wil leave you with this quote from Oprah Winfrey - "  The biggest adventure you can take is to live the life of your dreams".  I can certainly say that I am blessed that I am able to be doing that as we speak.  Night all.