Scuba stands for Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus.

St Abbs stands for Scuba Toting Adventurers Bring Business to St Abbs, which, as you now know, stands for Scuba Toting Adventurers Bring Business to St Abbs, which stands for Scuba Toting... Oh no! Escape! CTRL+C! It's stuck in an infinite loop! CTRL+X?

Not that there's an infinite amount of time today despite the free parking behind Briery Law. Nor are flippers being flopped around in, neither, the real reason is to eye up some birds but before that there's a calming harbour and some chilling, local history.

There's a decent view down to where you can also park but the small fishing fleet looks to be unloading and a stand-off with a van full of haddock would rather be avoided.

It's not too much of a drop to the traditional harbour where the wall awaits and welcomes you to walk along it.

Not so much a hotbed, more of a cold seabed for diving, of course, and despite this being the North Sea, conditions down there are often crystal clear.

Sub-Aqua types say it's one of the best locations around the UK, some say the world, although it's hard to imagine an encounter with a six-foot sunfish being trumped by a grumpy-looking cod.

They do all the diving just out of shot of the harbour wall where there's some rocky old nonsense underwater to keep things interesting, apparently.

A six-foot sunfish? Oooh, get you! Look who's been to a Sea Life™ Centre.

Back up from the harbour, a reminder of a spell of bad weather along the coast in 1881 when 189 fishermen drowned. Yes, 189!

The event is commemorated in bronze by Scottish artist Jill Watson, the wives and the children of those lost to the sea. 189? That's almost impossible to imagine and just looking at that gives you a chill.

Most of the victims were from nearby Eyemouth but Coldingham Shore didn't escape. Coldingham Shore is what's now St Abbs, you see, and no, not because of all that scuba nonsense.

Some old saint or other, actually, and you can find out more in the free but seasonal visitor centre in the old village hall right next to you.

To the north is St Abb's Head National Nature Reserve and HQ is less than half a mile west. It's National Trust™-run but this one's Scottish and free so the wrath that's normally reserved for Dunwich Heath has been reeled in.

We're warned that there's not a lot nesting, yet, that won't happen for another couple of weeks, but there are a few of Bob's favourite, the guillemot, if you look closely, the friendly staff say.

Penguin-like yet elegant with a matt-black back, it's preferred over the puffin because, well, everybody's favourite seabird is the puffin even though you'll never ever see one in the feather, so to speak.

If you've a couple of hours to spare, there's an anti-clockwise loop to be done and it's dramatic stuff on the way up as the sea slinks away below.

Things are soon back on the level and it's here or hereabouts where the monastery once sat. That's quite a feat considering that was in the 600s and we're halfway that up, in feet that is.

Don't think you can use a drone to pinpoint the site, though, because this is a drone-free zone to keep the fulmars from getting into a right flap.

St Abb's Head and the lighthouse loom although this one isn't particularly lofty since it sits in a dip that you're not allowed down.

The old keepers' cottages, however, will be requiring double-thick curtains because these are now holiday lets and that thing is still doing some blinding work.

You can get closer to the offshore stacks where many of the birds will be but only if the wobblies aren't a problem and yes, that'll be the old vertigo.

Or you could just take the road straight back down to arrive at Mire Loch where there's plenty of whistling and warbling wildlife in the woodland.

There's also the chance to catch sight of the odd dolphin, they say, but that's back up on the clifftop path. It's not thought there are that many of them living in the loch and, while we're here, the track back to the center goes on a little bit longer than you might like.

Now, here's a confession. SlyBob have been to the village before but lied about the nature of the reserve and had to borrow someone else's photographs. That made for a previous case of St Abbs standing for Someone's Telling A Bogus Blog Story.

Not so no more, St Abb's Head has now been conquered even if it was a little early in the season and St Abbs now stands for Spring To August Brings Birds, Supposedly.