Eyemouth & St Abbs

Venturing south-east from my home in East Lothian, I recently spent a couple of days in a coastal part of the Scottish Borders; the seaside town of Eyemouth, and the quaint harbour village of St Abbs. I did spend a couple of summer holidays in this pretty part of the world when I was much younger (in fact, my first ever summer holidays were spent nearby, at Pease Bay Caravan Park, in neighbouring Cockburnspath), but thought it was high time I made a return visit and explored a bit more of the area, especially now as St Abbs has become quite the tourist attraction for movie fans…but more on that later!

This trip was a fairly straight forward journey for us (us being my fiancée, Lauren, and myself), as we hopped in the car and made our way onto the nearby A1 motorway (well, the A1 is part motorway, part dual carriageway and part single carriageway, to be precise!) and made the relatively short trip south towards Eyemouth, before coming back on ourselves and heading back northbound, to St Abbs.

Eyemouth is around a 45 minute drive down the road for us, but is pretty easily-accessed from anywhere, being located just 2 miles from the A1. As previously mentioned, this coastal town is located in the south-east region of the Scottish Borders, on the Berwickshire coastline and is only 8 miles north of the English border town of Berwick-upon-Tweed. The harbour is, not surprisingly, a busy hub of fishing activity, where fishing boats set sail from the harbour and where a large fish market can also be found. The subject of fish leads me nicely to a rather controversial “attraction” at Eyemouth…

With fish and fishing being a focal point of Eyemouth harbour, as well as bringing people into the area, this has also attracted another type of visitor…a furry, blubber-layered type…no, I’m not referring to myself, although that description could also be applied to yours truly. I am, of course, talking about seals. This marine mammal is common around the coast of Scotland, with two types found in our waters – the aptly named harbour seal (also known as a common seal) and the grey seal.

“What’s controversial about seals?” I hear you ask. Nothing, in most cases. However, context is everything. The seals at Eyemouth harbour are being “lured” towards the harbour walls, with the promise of a fishy treat, being offered by people. There’s a snack van located at the harbour, that offers up some cracking fish delicacies (prawns, lobster, catch of the day, etc). The controversial part, is the fact that they sell fish for the purpose of feeding the seals, with boards advertising this. A customer can purchase a portion of fish and can either throw it down to the waiting seals, or offer it down on a rod and line, with the fish attached to the end of the line. The hungry seal then helps him or herself to the tasty treat.

Now, your mileage on this may vary. Critics argue that wild animals shouldn’t be treated as pets and fed by humans, that they lose their fear of people, lose the ability, or even will, to hunt naturally. Some have even said that the seals have become obese. In contrast, this brings tourists to the area, increases revenue and boosts the local economy, helps children become interested in wildlife and the environment and ensures that the local seal population is well fed.

Far be it for me to judge anyone’s opinions on this matter. I can see the pros and cons of both sides. However, there’s no getting away from the fact that this brings people to the area and is, by definition, a “tourist attraction.” It would be completely remiss of me to write a travel blog on Eyemouth and not mention the feeding of the seals.

As one may suspect from a coastal, harbour town, with a fish market and a fleet of fishing boats, fish dishes feature prominently as part of the local cuisine! The restaurants and bars located in and around the harbour have menus that reflect this. On our visit, we popped into one such restaurant for a spot of lunch – The Ship.

We visited at lunch time on a Friday afternoon, with big eyes and rumbling bellies! The restaurant / bar is located right next to the harbour, you can’t miss it. I treated myself to a pint of cider whilst perusing the menu, whilst Lauren opted for a soft drink. Between us, we gorged on hot filo prawns (which came with wasabi mayo and bloody Mary ketchup – highly recommended!), “wild haggis” spring rolls (it was haggis-hunting season, in fairness) and, of course, we both opted for fish and chips (when in Rome. Or, a fishing port, as may be the case!). Cracking portion sizes and tasty food to boot. Would definitely pop in to The Ship again, on my next to Eyemouth. Feel free to have a look at their menu yourselves, which can be found on their website here – https://www.theshipeyemouth.com/

After stuffing our bellies, we made the short journey back north to our next pit stop – the idyllic harbour-village of St Abbs. Also known as, New Asgard….

Around 4 miles north of Eyemouth (roughly a 10 minute drive), lies the sleepy village of St Abbs. A small fishing harbour is set against a backdrop of majestic, jagged, towering cliffs, reaching up into the stratosphere and providing an awe-inspiring setting. The sea crashing into these cliffs on a blustery day, as was the case on our visit, provides quite the spectacle. In fact, the scene was quite the contrast; the fishing boats rocking gently away in the sheltered harbour, whilst an almost apocalyptic war of crashing waves, battering into jaded cliffs, raged on in the background. It’s no wonder that some slick Hollywood producer deemed this a suitable setting for a super-hero movie.

We parked up at the National Trust for Scotland car park, at the beginning of the St Abbs Head National Nature Reserve (https://www.nts.org.uk/visit/places/st-abbs-head). There is a “pay and display” meter in the car park, that requires a nominal fee of £3.00 per car. The parking fee goes directly back to St Abbs Head, helping pay towards the upkeep of the nature reserve. A small fee to pay, with the proceeds all coming back into maintaining paths, car park etc.

Just as you exit the car park on foot, you’ll come across the Borders Pottery Workshop. According to their website (www.borderspottery.com), the pottery was established by Katie Forsyth in 2020, as a means of providing pottery lessons, with the added positive mental health benefits that accompany sociable group environments. An admirable cause, particularly with the way the world has panned out in the last 3 years. We did plan on popping our head in for a nosey, however the workshop was closed when we visited. From here, we meandered our way down to the St Abbs harbour.

Once we’d had a saunter around the picturesque harbour, we popped into Ebbcarr’s Café (their facebook page acts as their website)for a coffee. A lovely little stop off, which serves up typical café fare to visitors. We only had a coffee on our visit, but I believe the crab sandwiches come highly recommended. I’d also like to touch on the privately funded lifeboat station based at the harbour; St Abbs Lifeboat. The RNLI station here was closed down a few years ago, but was reopened in 2016 independently, being birthed from the will and spirit of local volunteers, campaigning for a means of rescue to be reinstated. A lot of community spirit and fundraising helped reopen a lifeboat station, and for that, the campaigners deserve enormous respect and admiration. More information can be found here – www.stabbslifeboat.org.uk.

From here, the only way was up, as we decided to tackle the imposing cliffs that towered over us.

Heading up the path, we ventured towards the cliff-tops that dominate this scene. This was the main reason for our visit; to immerse ourselves in the spectacular cliff-top walks. There are notice boards dotted around the reserve, detailing different walks that can be taken, differing in difficulty and length. Or, you can just wander whichever way your feet lead you.

After heading up from the harbour, we followed a path which ran alongside a field, then leading us through a gate towards the cliffs and views of the Berwickshire coast line. From the first vantage point looking out into the sea, we could see a small crowd had gathered. A lady with binoculars pointed out to us that there were a pod of dolphins cruising out in the bay, around half a mile off shore. We could just make them out with the naked eye. Then, as we followed another person’s gaze, we could make out the white fur of a seal pup lying on the beach below, a couple of hundred yards beneath us. We could also see what we presumed was the seal pup’s mother, bopping about in the water just off the beach. The mother and baby looked quite content, and didn’t seem too phased by the group of us watching from above. We were all a respectful distance away, as well as remaining quiet, as we watched the mother come back ashore with some dinner for her pup. Quite the start to our walk, encountering seals and dolphins.

The best way I could describe the next stage of the walk, would be to simply say awe-inspiring. Standing atop these cliffs, reaching up to around 150 metres in height, really does take the breath away. Waves crashing into the rocks below, clouds darting across the blue sky, the wind howling into your face…it really is a sight to behold. It’s actually a wonder, that it took so long for Hollywood to come calling here.

As I touched on earlier, St Abbs has become quite the must-see location for fans of the MCU – Marvel Cinematic Universe. One of the biggest success stories of the MCU, has been the “Avengers” franchise. After attaining global success and millions of fans throughout the Avengers chain of super-hero movies, “Avengers – Endgame” serves as a conclusion for the MCU up to that point, and with it, bringing to a close the story arc of several of the main heroes of the movie. The reason this is pertinent to St Abbs, is the fact that the village featured in the movie, but under the guise of “New Asgard,” a settlement on Earth for Asgardian refugees. If you know your Marvel movies, then I’m sure that will make a lot of sense to you. If you don’t, well…I’ll leave it up to you to watch the movies and catch up, because it’ll take more than a blog to explain all of that!

In the scenes filmed in St Abbs / New Asgard, Thor (Chris Hemsworth) was the star who featured most. I’ll not spoil it for anyone wishing to watch the movie, but it’s fair to say that Thor looks to have made himself right at home in Scotland…and eagle-eyed Scottish viewers, would have spotted Scotland’s other national drink, Irn Bru, lurking in the background!

I believe the producers of the film were very generous in their compensating of local businesses, who had to shut up shop for a small period of time, to allow filming to take place. In fact, the producers also awarded the life boat station a generous donation also, and the station would go on to become known as “New Asgard Marine Station.” As well as Chris Hemsworth, the other main actors / characters who filmed at St Abbs, were Mark Ruffalo (Bruce Banner / Hulk) and Tessa Thompson (Valkyrie). So if you’re ever wandering around the village, and hearing a lot of accents that aren’t local, and seeing signs saying “St Abbs, twinned with New Asgard,” well now you know!

Another recent claim to fame for St Abbs, is the fact that pop sensation Harry Styles filmed the music video to his single “Adore You” here, in 2019. Again, the name of the village was changed, with St Abbs becoming “Eroda” for the purpose of the video.

After descending back down from the cliffs and completing a circular walk back to the car park, via the pretty Mire Loch, Lauren and I jumped back into the motor and made our way to our digs for the night, in the previously mentioned Pease Bay Holiday Park (https://www.verdantleisure.co.uk/south-east-scotland/berwickshire/pease-bay/). A short drive away, at Cockburnspath, lies this lovely little caravan park, which holds a special place in my heart, set in a beautiful sheltered bay. It was the perfect way to end our trip, and we shall most definitely be heading back here soon, for yet another warm welcome.

So there you have it, Eyemouth and St Abbs…from small fishing ports, to the centre of a billion-dollar Hollywood movie franchise, right here on our wee Berwickshire coast…who’d have thought it, eh?