Seacliff Beach, East Lothian, Scotland

Seacliff in Summer

The Bass Rock from Seacliff Beach, East Lothian, Scotland

Seacliff Beach, Scotland

pony and trap on Secliff beach

Rubin

me and Rubin at the beach

The Bass Rock from Seacliff Beach

For weeks now, I’ve been hankering after a trip to North Berwick.

I like to go there at least once a year – “to blow the cobwebs away”, as my mum puts it. Unfortunately for me, though, the weather this summer has been so bad that those cobwebs wouldn’t have been blown away so much as they’d have been drowned in the non-stop rain we’ve been having for weeks now, so I’d pretty much given up hope of a trip to the seaside. One day last week, though, the weather forecast informed us there was to be a brief break in the downpour, and as that seems to be the best we can hope for this summer (I mean, “sunny and warm” would be nice, but you have to be realistic, you know?), we packed up the car and headed east. Which is where this happened:

dog in a stroller OMG

Don’t laugh. Or, at least, don’t laugh too much, because yeah, this IS a dog in a stroller, but it’s an older dog in a stroller, and that makes aaaalll the difference, trust me on this. See, the thing is, now that Rubin’s getting older, he hasn’t been able to walk as far as he used to. He’s still very enthusiastic about his walks, and he’d try his best to walk for as long as we’d let him, but, well, that wouldn’t be very fair, obviously, which means he’s been having to miss out on most of our recent adventures. I’d been talking about getting him a doggie stroller for months, but Terry had firmly put his foot down on that one: I dunno, I guess pushing a fluffy white dog around as if it was a baby just isn’t his thing or something? *shrugs*

Anyway, as I said, lately we’ve been having to leave Rubin behind if we know we’re going to be doing a lot of walking, and even Terry had to admit that a little pushchair would be just the thing to solve that problem, so, luckily for us, my parents very kindly stepped in and bought this for him. I think they secretly quite enjoyed pushing him around in it, too: I know I did – and so did Rubin, for that matter, who has never had so much attention in his life. When we arrived at North Berwick, we decided to go for a quick walk along the high street: Rubin actually walked all the way, and it was only when we decided to turn back that he started to get a bit tired, so we popped him in his pushchair – LOLS! – and almost instantly he was surrounded by random passers-by, all wanting to pet him. He sat there like a little king, thoroughly enjoying the attention, so I guess you could say it was a bit of a hit.

(Oh, and because I’m unnecessarily embarrassed by all of this, I just have to add that the neckerchief isn’t just for show, either: as I mentioned in this post, he has a skin tag on his neck, which the vet is reluctant to remove, because it would involve giving him a general anesthetic, which would be risky at his age. It doesn’t bother Rubin in the slightest, but it IS quite alarming to look at – plus he has a tendency to catch it on things, and make it bleed – so rather than have people lean in to pet him then recoil in horror, we’ve been covering it up with a selection of little neckerchiefs. I’m pretty sure quite a few passers by will have assumed I’m one of those women who pretends their dog is a baby, but I swear to God, I was only, like, 15% pretending he was human, and the rest was pure practicality, honestly. Ahem.)

(And Terry bought him the most recent set of neckerchiefs. Ha! I dunno, it’s like, one minute you’re all, “God, I would NEVER treat my dog like a child: how tragic!” and the next, there you are, wheeling him around and wondering if the gingham neckerchief would’ve been a better match for the pushchair? WHO EVEN AM I?)

What was I talking about? Oh yeah: the seaside! After our stroll around North Berwick, we got back into the car for the short drive to nearby Seacliff beach. Sing it with me, people: “Seeeaacliff! It’s me, Cathy, I’ve come hooooommmeeee…. ” Wait: that’s not right, is it?

horse riding on Seacliff beach

me and Rubin at Seacliff

Seacliff is just THE BEST, seriously. It’s an awesome beach any time you go (even when it’s absolutely freakin’ FREEZING...), but this time it was even more awesome, because there were horses everywhere. There’s a riding school nearby, which brings its horses down onto the beach at regular intervals – my inner 12 year old has never been so jealous in her life, seriously. It was lovely to watch the beautiful horses cantering along the beach, though, and we spent a lovely couple of hours there, eating our picnic, and just watching the world go by, before coming home to perform the usual ritual of looking up property prices in the area, and then whining endlessly about how TOTALLY UNFAIR it is that we’re never going to be able to afford to live there. Well, I did that, anyway. Terry just came home and went about his business as usual, but one of us has to bring the crazy to the party, and it looks like it’s going to have to be me, huh?

Seacliff, we love you: and I promise that one day I WILL become a multi-millionaire and buy a house right next to you. Until then, here’s a slightly awkward photo of me and Terry, for you to remember us by. You’re very welcome…

me and Terry, Seacliff Beach, East Lothian

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COMMENTS
  • I’m so glad it wasn’t just me singing “Seacliiiiiffff, it’s me, Cathy, I’ve come home…” XD This sounds like such a lovely day and OH MY GOODNESS, just look at Rubin in his stroller – that’s brilliant and I totally understand the reasoning behind it! If only I could do that with my cats…they may protest just a little though, sad!

    July 20, 2016
  • The Other Emma

    REPLY

    The doggie stroller is adorable, he looks like he is totally owning it as well.

    Love the striped dress on you, it looks like one of those perfect throw on and go dresses.

    July 20, 2016
  • beautiful photos on the beach!
    xx
    http://anoddgirl.blogspot.com.au

    July 20, 2016
  • This looks amazing and Rubin ist just too cute. <3
    I also really love your dress. 😉

    Many hugs,
    Sandra

    July 20, 2016
  • I’ve been to lots of places in Scotland but never Seacliff beach! It looks so pretty I’ll have to make it a point to go there <3

    Gisforgingers xx

    July 20, 2016
  • I totally think my dog is a baby. I like to tell myself it’s not deranged because I’m aware it’s weird, which makes it ok. But yeah, I’m one of those people. Frankly some of my best conversations happen with my dog, which says a lot about my life to be honest….!

    July 20, 2016
  • Rotem

    REPLY

    Pretty pictures! And I totally laughed out loud at the whole Baby Rubin thing 🙂

    July 20, 2016
  • Myra

    REPLY

    Rubin deserves to be part of the adventure and if a stroller works, why not. I bet he loved all that attention. It sounds like a perfect day. Bet Cathy would have loved it too lol.

    July 20, 2016
  • Tracey

    REPLY

    Looks beautiful! How old is Rubin now? I feel like he’s been around for a long time.

    July 21, 2016
  • It’s so good you got such nice weather and…. All the horses!! It’s on my bucket list to ride on the beach (because a sand arena isn’t close enough to the real thing) and that beach looks amazing! I think I know where I’m going to try this out… 😀 ❤

    xox,
    bonita of Lavender & Twill

    July 21, 2016
  • What is all the fluff covering the cliff? Is all of that a bird colony? What a beautiful beach, I love that it’s horse friendly too! Rubin looks very dapper with his neckerchief, I’m now hoping we’ll see a post of Rubin and Terry #twinning in matching neckerchiefs in the future 😛 😉

    July 21, 2016
  • Steph Hay

    REPLY

    That’s where I ride! I can firmly say it’s one of the best places to hack and everyone gets taken down to the beach. Totally recommend it! And hey if Rubin needs a stroller, he needs a stroller. One of the things I never realised about getting a dog is that everyone will try to tell you something or other about what you are doing/not doing. I don’t have a thick skin on that front yet but working on it! North Berwick is lovely, my other tip for there is Tynningham beach and then a visit to the cafe in village. That beach is also beautiful.

    July 21, 2016
  • Lori L.

    REPLY

    Absolutely adore your dress! And Rubin is a dollbaby in that stroller!!! He looks like he’s king of the world:)

    July 22, 2016
  • Aw, I don’t know what is more adorable, Ruben in the stroller or you and your husband 🙂

    They have strollers for cats and I may or may not have considered it since one of my cats would love to go walking but hates leashes but I am going to resist being THAT cat lady for now.

    July 24, 2016
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