To get there take the A198 which runs between the A1 and North Berwick. If you are coming along the A1 from the West, it is worth taking the A199 then the B1407 to pass through East Linton and the model estate village of Tyninghame. The village, now deservedly a conservation area, was moved wholesale from a location closer to Tyninghame House so that the Earl of Haddington could look out on formal gardens rather than the homes of his tenants. At least they were decently provided for!
Turn down the arrow-straight Lime Tree Walk and park at N 56.01.199 W 002.35.960. The marked parking spaces are often more than filled and parking spreads down the verge on the south side of the road. Follow the path through Links Wood and exit onto the shore at N 56 01.375 W 002.35.409, where there is an information board about the local geology - and, inevitably, with some of the stories about St Baldred. The cache, and the eponymous Saint’s cradle, is south of here. If the day is half-way decent, you will by now likely also be thinking of strolling back north up the beach after you have done the cache.
Given that the walk starts through Links Wood, this cache could claim to be part of the “East Lothian Woodland Walks” series. But there are other caches in the Tyninghame Woods. This one is for St Baldred, "the patron saint of East Lothian"
The woodland in this area was part of the planting undertaken by Thomas Hamilton the 6th Earl of Haddington early in the 18th century. Apparently when he came into his inheritance at Tyninghame he was displeased that the land was much depleted of tree cover; but he was preoccupied with hunting and other pleasures and it was his wife who actually set to to do something about it. Her success got Thomas interested in tree planting in earnest. The area round the links was considered unlikely ground for growing trees but in fact they thrived and the Earl was much impressed by the prospects for arboriculture on such marginal land.
When you emerge from the trees there are fine views up the coast and out to the Bass Rock. As you head towards the cache, the views open up over the John Muir Country Park, the Tyne estuary and Dunbar to the south and towards North Berwick and the Law to the North and West. There are days when places like this convince you that God made East Lothian for himself! Just look in the gallery at Firth of Forth's pictures from our recce visit.
Who was the original St Baldred? Some stories assert that he was a missionary from the west, probably from the community in Iona, sent to rescue the area from paganism. Other sources have Baldred as the successor to St Kentigern (Mungo) as Bishop of Strathclyde and the Christian leader of Scotland in his time. The stories are not necessarily incompatible, of course. The Catholic Encyclopaedia says that Baldred was:
a Celtic Bishop of Strathclyde, b. about 643; d. at Aldhame, Haddingtonshire, about 607. He is said to have been the immediate successor of the great St. Kentigern, or Mungo, the founder of the See of Glasgow, Scotland. Like St. Kentigern, he was of Irish ancestry, but is reckoned as a British saint, inasmuch as Strathclyde was part of Britain. The chronology of the period when he flourished is somewhat obscure, but the best authorities on Scottish history agree that St. Baldred was born towards the middle of the sixth century. Previous to his consecration, St. Baldred had laboured for many years in Strathclyde, and had founded numerous houses for monks as also for holy virgins in addition to the churches of Aldhame, Tyinguham [sic] and Preston Kirk. Owing to the disturbed state of the kingdom, he was forced after a short rule to retire from the spiritual government of the Strathclyde Britons as also happened to his predecessor. His feast is observed on 6 March.
Obscure chronology indeed; since it looks as if Baldred died before he was born! Presumably the "643" should read "543"!
Legend says that Baldred retired to become a hermit on the Bass Rock. A rollicking 19th century travel guide to Scotland records the legend of
St Baldred of the Bass. In the eighth century he flourished—one might irreverently say vegetated—on the Bass, where he stuck close as limpet to rock—was hermit there, in fact, for ever so long. Finally he died in the odour of sanctity, whereupon the three parishes we have just traversed - Prestonkirk, Tyninghame and Whitekirk—contended for his remains. Things looked serious, for relics were then held valuable assets, but the spiritual guides urging their flock to take rather to their devotions than their fists, surprising results ensued. Three St Baldreds were found next morning instead of one, so like that there was literally not a hair to choose between them. The parishes had one a-piece
Baldred is now celebrated in a variety of ways. The local geology gives us “Baldred’s Boat” – a rocky promontory close to Tantallon Castle and thrusting out towards the Bass Rock. And the small village of Preston near East Linton is close to a little spring on the banks of the River Tyne known as St Baldred's Well. The spring lies close to Preston Kirk, which was one of those founded by the saint. The well supplied the Red Friars who had a monastery close by in the 13th century and remained a source of water for the residents of Preston into the 20th century. There are also many St Baldred's Chapels: there is one in picturesque ruins in the grounds of Tyninghame House and another (also a ruin) on the Bass Rock.
You are headed for “Baldred’s Cradle” an upthrust fin of rock, whose bedding planes lie exposed to erosion that is creating a large oval bowl or cradle while the sea carves its way around the outcrop which will soon be isolated. If you feel brave you can scramble into the cradle. If you are more cautious, you can see it very well, without risking a bath, from a platform erected on the nearby rocks.
The cache is secreted close to the Cradle and just a little way from the main path along the coast. This is deservedly a popular area, so be prepared to use guile and discretion when retrieving and rehiding the cache!