Saltcoats Castle, Gullane
This one has been a recent discovery for me, although it has been on my radar for some time (mainly as you can just about spot it hiding in the trees behind the golf course, as you drive into Gullane from Edinburgh). So I finally got round to exploring here one autumn evening with my two littlest adventure buddies, one on my shoulders and the other leading the charge. We parked right at the bottom of East Links Road just down from the Watchman Hotel- it was very quiet with lots of space but be aware that, like most of the coastal towns in East Lothian, Gullane can get pretty busy during summer holiday time or when there is a golf event on.
From the bottom of this road, the castle is only roughly a 10 minute walk, so this really is one of my easier expeditions! From the bottom of the road, you need to head onto the grassy putting green on your right. Stick close to the wall on your left and continue to the end of the green. Turn right and head towards the little row of lovely stone cottages almost in front of you, then keep right onto the grassy track that runs past an overgrown derelict cottage at the end of the row. At this point my wee adventure-buddies basically insisted that we hop over the broken wire fence and down the old stone wall to explore this ruin- which meant a great deal of nettle stings and bramble scratches, but it was absolutely worth it as we inadvertently disturbed a large hare which bounded straight through one of the old windows in front of us then sprinted away down the field in the distance- a wonderful sight in the evening light. We have a lot of hares in this area of East Lothian, they are lovely creatures, and great fun to spot bobbing up and down in the crop fields!
The derelict ‘hare’ cottage
You can just about see the castle from here, poking out amongst a patch of trees in the distance so get back on the path and continue straight on towards it. It was actually easier than I expected to get from the castle from here, though the field it stands in is pretty overgrown and the ground is a bit rough. You can turn left off the main path and easily explore the castle (at your own risk)! There are a couple of obvious sneaky route into the courtyard area from the front side but we walked around the outside of the castle first and it is very easy to get into from the back.
Approaching the castle once you turn off the main track
One possible entrance at the front of the castle…
Walking round the right hand side to get to the back
The back of the tower from the main courtyard
Looking in at the old turret staircase (you can go in from that door at the bottom left)
The front of the main tower
The castle is in a pretty bad state but it is impressive and fascinating none-the-less. Nature is really claiming it as it’s own but the mass of brambles and fruit trees just add to the adventure and charm. The main tall tower stands impressively high and you can get into two small underground chambers, one of which still has a small staircase that you can climb up (if you are feeling lucky!)- I preferred to just peer in and touch absolutely nothing for fear of it all collapsing on top of us! There are plenty of good photo ops around this central tower, and to get back out we braved the brambles, following a well trampled path through the undergrowth and right through the middle of the courtyard back out to the front of the castle and under a metal barrier that appears to serve no real purpose other than to warn would-be adventurers that the masonry is unsafe.
Nature reclaiming the castle!
Exiting the castle compound
A further barn-like outbuilding in the field also begs to be explored, but for us, that will have to be on another day... the night was drawing in and it was becoming eerily cool and dark. So a quick wee dash back up the path, across the green and back to the car- both the urban explorer and the wilderness seeker in me fully satisfied after another truly magical mini-adventure!