Majority of cyclists are against strip resurfacing

I have read the letters over the last few weeks in our newspaper and have not been aware of any letters written by cyclists.

I am a cyclist with an interest in this byway and the future for cycling in East Lothian.

I cycle almost daily here in East Lothian, I commute to work on our country roads. I ride mountain bikes on our brilliant network of tracks, trails and railway line walks. I also ride special wide-tyre bikes on our coastline.

We are indeed lucky to live in such a spectacular part of Scotland, and for the visitor cycling on a tour of Scotland on the soon-to-open North Sea cycle route there is much history and scenery to be seen from the saddle as you ride around our coastline.

There have been comments made of protesters to the resurfacing having not looked at the bigger picture.

If touring on a bicycle, you are wanting to visit places and see scenery you won’t find anywhere else in the world. East Lothian has a lot of this which would be missed if approaching Whitekirk from East Linton or Tyninghame and your route was to take you from Whitekirk village over Becky’s Strip on a straight course towards North Berwick. You have just cycled past one of the best parts of our county’s coastline!

You will also pass a soon-to be-built hotel at Whitekirk golf course, which East Lothian Council has been saying is much-needed for visitors to our county.

You will also miss the opportunity to visit the amazing Seacliff Harbour and its outstanding views across to the Bass Rock and Tantallon Castle perched on the cliffs – Tantallon needs no description as one of the major landmarks on our coastline!

Then there are also the buildings at Gin Head, that really should have an information board as it was here during the Second World War that top secret radar jamming devices were first developed, which were vital for the success of the June 1944 Allied invasion of France. Thousands of Allied troops’ lives were saved because of this equipment, developed here in East Lothian.

The view over Canty Bay to the Bass Rock as you cycle towards North Berwick and its landmark the Law is one of the finest in East Lothian. All this will be missed by the visitor going a direct route north from Whitekirk across Becky’s Strip.

Becky’s Strip byway is the only remaining unmaintained part left of the original Pilgrims Way, which was a main thoroughfare from Dunbar to North Berwick. The route connected the churches of Whitekirk and North Berwick.

John Ainslie’s Map of the South of Scotland, printed in 1821, which can be viewed online at the National Library of Scotland, shows an inn near the bridge over the burn called Whitehall from when this was a couch road. The inn has long vanished, along with its stables, but points at the route’s historic importance.

The route has been unmaintained and unchanged since the 1950s, when many old routes like this in our county were downgraded from highways and had ‘No Through Road’ signs for motorists erected.

Only the twin hedgerows of Hawthorn were removed in the 1960s as the byway passed through East Barns farm land, then one side of hedgerow at the Whitekirk end in the 1990s.

People have walked, cycled and ridden horses (with buggies too!) for all these years since and the grass surface has survived fine for all these years.

We already have an all-weather surfaced track available, the John Muir Way, for all users from East Linton to North Berwick, which runs parallel to Becky’s Strip, which just makes this whole idea of resurfacing such a waste of money, along with destroying an important part of history – once it is concreted it is gone forever.

I was told last year when enquiring that East Lothian Council had no spare money to maintain the present John Muir Way, which in places gets overgrown in summer. I enquired about the path west from Abbotsford Road in North Berwick on to the field to Yellowcraig. Overhanging brambles, nettles and rosehip bushes make the route unusable for children in buggies and cycling, yet it is a perfect route from North Berwick to the beach at Yellowcraig.

Yet East Lothian Council is going to pay half the £76,000 costs minus an amount paid by Scottish Natural Heritage for resurfacing Becky’s Strip!

Would it not be a lot better solution and a lot cheaper to introduce cycle lanes on the present A198 road north from Tyninghame to Whitekirk and around into North Berwick?

The new cycle lanes from Aberlady to Gullane are great and cyclists I know are really pleased with this. They are a far safer solution for shared roads for both users.

The amount of cyclists that have signed the online petition against the resurfacing of Becky’s Strip far outnumber a small cycling forum which has been quoted as representing the cycling community.

I look across over Becky’s Strip at Whitekirk every day at work. I see people regularly using the byway on foot, two wheels and horses all-year round.

I would like to invite anyone interested to walk up to the cairn on Whitekirk Hill (you have open access here, just be aware of golf in progress!) and take in the great 360-degree view from the cairn.

You will see a great vista of East Lothian’s rich agricultural landscape, along with great views further afield across the Lammermuirs and across the Forth to Fife.

Note below the hill you see no roads, hidden by hedgerows. Now look north-west across to North Berwick Law and the unspoiled view of farmland and woodland.

Now imagine a three-metre-wide light grey concrete path across what is now a natural green byway, and tell me that is an improvement for our beautiful county.

Bruce Mathieson New Houses East Fortune