Seacliff Beach Sunrise: A Chilly New Year’s Day Motorbike Ride Near North Berwick
- Jan 2, 2024
- 2 min read
After the fiery madness of the Allendale Tar Bar’l, we made a wildly optimistic plan: a Seacliff Beach motorbike ride at sunrise, near North Berwick. It sounded magical at the time—an idyllic start to the New Year. Reality? An ungodly alarm time, arctic wind, and the kind of cold that laughs in the face of heated grips.
Still, we’d said we were doing it. So off we went—two idiots on a motorbike, freezing our way across pitch-black roads with only coffee and stubbornness to keep us going.
Why Seacliff Beach?
Aside from its ridiculous beauty, Seacliff Beach (close to North Berwick) is one of East Lothian’s hidden gems.
Privately owned but open to the public (for a small parking fee), it’s often quieter than its more popular neighbours, making it feel like your own secret stretch of coast.
A few fun facts:
It’s home to the UK’s smallest harbour, hand-carved from the sandstone cliffs in 1890. You can easily miss it if you’re not looking—it’s tiny but brilliant.
The beach offers stunning views of Tantallon Castle, a 14th-century fortress dramatically perched on a clifftop.
Just offshore lies Bass Rock, a huge volcanic rock that’s home to over 150,000 gannets during the breeding season—earning it the nickname “the gannet capital of the world.”
In low tide, you’ll find rock pools, old slipways, and even some remnants of wartime structures dotted around the coastline.
It’s one of those places that feels timeless—whether it’s golden sunrise light hitting the castle walls, or just the peaceful sound of waves lapping onto wet sand.
The Journey and the Reward
Despite freezing nearly every moving part of our bodies, we rolled up to the beach just as the sky started to glow. The sunrise didn’t disappoint. With the clouds shifting and light bursting through over the water and crashing waves, it felt like a film set.
Admittedly, it was a film starring two very tired, slightly frostbitten motorcyclists drinking cold coffee out of thermos lids—but still.
Breakfast was an elegant feast of biscuits and energy bars on the rocks. Fine dining, adventure-style.
Return via the B Roads
Not content with just watching the sunrise, we decided to make the most of the day (and the bike). We fired up the Callimoto app and followed a winding route back through some of Scotland’s best roads for motorbike riders—twisting B roads, hidden valleys, and sweeping coastal stretches. It was the kind of riding that makes you forget how cold you are—until you stop and try to move your fingers.
By the time we got home, somewhere around 2pm, our bed was definitely more appealing than another adventure. But with the frost shaken off and the photos in the camera roll, we agreed: that ride to Seacliff Beach motorbike ride was a hell of a way to start the New Year.
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