We will be driving from Berwick-upon-Tweed to Edinburgh on the A-1 in early July. I have found the location of several beaches along the way and I know the kids will want to stop for a few hours if the weather is appropriate. Which would the best for a picnic and swimming: Coldingham Bay, Whitesands Bay, Yellow Craigs or Seacliff (private)?

A fabulous drive with stunning scenery!

I have no idea of names, to me they're just beaches, to be honest I doubt whether it will be warm enough to swim, a picnic certainly, but the water is always very "fresh" to say the least!

When I was a kid growing up in East Lothian, our favourite beach for family outings was at Tyninghame, in the John Muir Country Park (north of Dunbar).

It's a lovely sandy beach with dunes, rocky coves and inlets which can be reached by a short trail through a wood. There are nice walks across the dunes and cliffs behind, as well as good birdwatching (and occasionally the odd bit of seal watching for those with sharp-eyes). Scottish beaches are often windy so having rocks that can act as a natural windbreak is an advantage!

There's some good information about the park and beach on the East Lothian council website : http://www.eastlothian.gov.uk/conten...4,1002,00.html

North Berwick has a reasonably pleasant beach with a good view of the Bass rock as a bonus. However, unless they have another summer like last year, you might want to bring wet suits or lots of whale oil. The water is COLD!!

Swimming in Scotland?
We were there at the beginning of August for a wedding.I had brought a silk dress.
Some of the locals were wearing their fur coats in church! The first thing I did was buy a sweater....rather several sweaters.
I'm not sure they know what summer is!

I could take offence at this!! I was brought up on the east coast of Scotland and have swum in the sea every year since I was 3 or 4 years old. The beaches you identify are off my radar so I won't express a choice for you. My guess is that the kids will swim on agood day and the adults not.

Incidentally we don't "do" private beaches in Scotland. They belong to the Crown and are ALL public. getting to them can be a challenge, tho'

We were in Scotland in July for more than a week a couple of years ago and it was nowhere near beach weather. Although it had been about 85 when we left London by the time we got to Scotland 4 days later the high temps were around 50 - with rain and wind. It warmed up a little the following days but the high never got above 60 - and drizzled on and off most days.

We had a great time - and as long as you're prepared with a jacket or a couple of sweaters its fine - but not beach weather (although to be fair they said it was usually a little warmer than this).

Good weather in July, I'd expect 75- 85 degrees. Although as has been so wonderfully pointed out, it can be chillier.

And then there's the east coast haar

Thank you all for your input! I will be aware that it may be cold - Sheila, you are right - the kids (one is a competitive swimmer) will get in the water, the adults won't! We will try John Muir Country Park - it sounds like just what we were looking for.