Start

Tumbles at Portobello, 20 Westbank Street, Edinburgh, EH15 1DR, Scotland

Easy parking and about 200m walk to the water across the promenade. Watch walkers and cyclists. It's a sandy beach and very sheltered therefor giving the illusion of flat conditions. It's possible to use the facilities in Tumbles when they are open. When launching paddle approximately 2km towards the Inchkeith Island before turning for the downwind. Aim for Berwick Law, the conical shaped hill. Approximately 5km from the landing point the hill becomes hidden behind Gullane Hill, at this point aim for Fidra until Berwick Law comes back into view. Once again aim for Berwick Law at which point Gullane homes on the hill will come into view. It's advisable to set a GPS location on your device for an accurate landing point. 

Finish

Gullane Beach, Marine Terrace, Gullane EH31 2AZ

Gullane Beach is a large bay often busy with day trippers during the summer.

Run Length

20 - 22 km

Shuttle Length

27 km

Weather & more

This run works best staying a good distance offshore. It's very easy to be lured in towards land by swell. It's quite easy to head into shore too early, if you're using your garmin for navigation only start the turn towards shore  when the arrow is at almost at a right angle to land.  Going in too early would mean negotiating a rocky outcrop with a lot of breaking surf. Works best on a South Westerly from around 20km/ph upwards. It works best on an ebbing tide.

Apres paddle

There is often an Icecream van at Gullane, the soft serve is delicious. A visit to Miro's Bistro, Portobello afterwards is very much worth the time.

Contributor

Lizelle Kemp