Slow Waves: A 42km hike celebrating the surfing community of south-east Scotland

David Lyons heading south towards Eyemouth on his Slow Waves hike | Mike Guest

The Slow Ways project is a wonderful thing: an example of what can be achieved when a large number of people decide to work together towards a common goal for no other reason than because they all agree said goal is inherently awesome. Created during lockdown with the simple aim of making it easier for people to travel on foot around England, Scotland and Wales, it has led to the creation of a remarkable network of walking routes: some 8,000 of them, stretching for over 120,000km and linking countless cities, villages and towns. Coordinated by Slow Ways founder Dan Raven-Ellison and a small team, some 70 volunteers helped test the concept in February 2020, 700 helped plot a draft of the network during the first Covid lockdown, and by the end of 2020 some 80,000 people had registered to walk and review routes.

David Lyons, heading south | Mike Guest

Creating the network was one thing, however; encouraging people to use it was a different challenge entirely. Fortunately, as Slow Ways grew and became a Community Interest Company it attracted funding from a variety of backers. This in turn allowed it to offer small bursaries to those willing to “Tell the story of a trail”; and it’s hard to imagine a trail tale presented more effectively than in Slow Waves, a beautiful zine by writer David Lyons and photographer Mike Guest, detailing a walk they took along the Slow Ways route called “Duneye”, which runs for 42km between Dunbar and Eyemouth.

Pease Bay | Mike Guest

As suggested by the title of their publication, the route Lyons and Guest walked doesn't just connect settlements – it also connects some of the best surfing beaches in south-east Scotland, notably Belhaven Bay, Pease Bay and Coldingham. As Lyons explains in his introduction, though, Slow Waves isn’t really about surfing. “This is not a spot guide,” he writes, “and you won’t find any stories of gnarly waves and epic sessions... It’s a collection of stories celebrating the ways the surfing community along this coast is making a positive impact far beyond the confines of the sport itself.”

That said, Slow Waves isn’t simply a series of interviews either – there are various passages in which Lyons describes the changing landscape they encounter on the Duneye route, from the “industrial vibes” of the section south of Dunbar, dominated by Torness Nuclear Power Station, to the “huge, vertigo-inducing sea cliffs” around St Abbs Head. But this journey is as much about people as it is about places, and Lyons offers a series of thoughtfully-written pen portraits, each one supported by sensitive photography from Guest.

Sam Christopherson of Coast to Coast Surf School | Mike Guest

The first person they meet on the trail is Sam Christopherson, founder of Coast to Coast surf school in Dunbar. In two decades of teaching people to surf at Belhaven Bay, Christopherson says he has always tried to promote “smiles in the water” and, as Lyons writes, “it’s clear he’s conscious of his role as a custodian of surfing culture.” To this end, Christopherson has played a pivotal role in the development of the community surf centre at Belhaven, which is now home to surf charity the Wave Project, Dunbar Lifesaving Club, Belhaven Surf Club and Wilder Outdoor Education. “With all these things happening from the one space, they cross-fertilise ideas,” says Christopherson, “so in the future we’ll have lots of local kids that grew up to have good knowledge of the sea and are looking after their environment.”

Alison Young of Wave Project Scotland | Mike Guest

Also at Belhaven, Lyons and Guest meet Alison Young, head of Wave Project Scotland who is responsible for supporting 100 young people through surf therapy every year. Young admits she’s “not a big surfer” herself, but then, at its core, the Wave Project isn’t really about surfing. As she puts it: “Surfing is the vehicle we choose to help the kids overcome challenges and improve their mental health.” One of the Wave Project volunteers Lyons and Guest meet, Robyn Steady, is herself a graduate of the programme and a talented photographer to boot – some of her images are featured in Slow Waves.

At Pease Bay, Lyons and Guest meet another surf instructor, Martin McQueenie, who leads water safety sessions in schools; Elspeth Harris, who volunteers for the environmental charity Surfers Against Sewage; and Sally Harris who runs Groundswell Scotland, a charity providing surf therapy for women and non-binary people recovering from trauma.

Steve Powner outside the St Vedas Surf Shop, Coldingham | Mike Guest

Finally, arriving at Coldingham, they meet Steve Powner, owner of the St Vedas Hotel. He added a surf shop in 2002, then began offering surf lessons and more recently started repairing and shaping surfboards. He’s seen things change a lot: “When we started, there was really just a small group of hardcore surfers,” he says, “[but] all those hardcore surfers have now got kids, and mum, dad and children are all out surfing.”

At the end of Slow Waves, Lyons wonders how the advent of the new Lost Shore surf resort at Ratho, and the inevitable spike in Scotland’s surfing population, will affect the surf community along this stretch of coast.

“Change can always bring turmoil,” he writes, “but guided by those we’ve interviewed there’s every chance it will maintain a healthy and welcoming culture.”

To order a copy of Slow Waves, visit www.slowpress.co.uk

For more information on Slow Ways, visit www.beta.slowways.org

READ MORE: Lost Shore: Edinburgh’s £55 million surf resort prepares for launch