Findochty to Portsoy (or reverse)

Date/Time

Date(s) - 05/03/2017
9:00 am - 7:30 pm

Walk Details

Pub Stop?: No
O/S Map Sheet No.: 29
Grid Ref. Start: 463680
Grid Ref. Finish 589663
Walk (Miles): 11
Walk Hours: 5.5
Bus Time to Walk:2.5 hrs
Bus Time from Walk: 2 hrs
Departure time from walk: 5:30 p.m.

Walk Notes

O.S.Map 29 (Banff).

N.B. 9.00am start from Aberdeen.

The walk today sees your Club back on the Moray Firth coast. Your Club last did this walk in February 2009. Today’s walk follows part of the Moray Firth coastline on beaches, cliff paths and rough tracks. This walk is a through-walk, so members who require a different, or shorter walk, please liaise with your Committee member in charge of the bus today.

The walk commences at the harbour in Findochty (NGR 463 680), where we walk E’wards along Duke Street towards a sandy beach and then soon climb to the top of a

cliff path to then follow a path (E’wards) through some gorse and bracken. After about a mile, Tronach Head is rounded and the fishing village of Portnockie comes into view. Here, we follow Patrol Road along the shore side of the village, looking down at the headland of Scar Nose and the Bow Fiddle Rock. The cliffs then turn southwards for a short distance before dropping down to the beach which is followed for about a mile to the Seatown of Cullen. In 961, a party of Norse invaders landed here and headed inland for plunder, but were confronted and defeated about a mile to the west at the Battle of the Bauds. The 3 rocks projecting from the sands below the golf course are known, as a result, as the Three Kings.

The Seatown, or older part of Cullen, is separated from the newer part by the embankment and high arches of the disused railway viaduct, which carried the Moray Coast railway from Elgin to Grange, near Keith. Follow the road from the viaduct to the harbour and then continue (E’wards) along the shore and low cliffs to Logie Head. Rounding this headland on the “Giants Steps” soon drops down to the sands of Sunnyside Bay. From here, we climb out of this bay to arrive at the ruins of Findlater Castle on its quartz headland. The word “findlater” comes from Norse or Scots Gaelic – fyn or fionn meaning white and leitr being cliff. Your path continues eastwards past Crathie Point and Garron Point to eventually swing S’wards to arrive at Sandend Bay. Once past the houses, follow the beach eastwards to where the the Fordyce Burn runs into the sea below Glenlassaugh Distillery and the adjacent ruined windmill. The path then runs through some low, grassy hillocks and then along rising cliffs towards Redhythe Point. A short distance beyond this point, the path cuts inland along a rough track. At the first junction of tracks, turn left and head towards the houses of Portsoy, about a mile away. Once into the town, head for the old harbour which was built in 1692 for the export of the local Serpentine rock, known as Portsoy Marble.

Our bus will be parked near the harbour. (NGR 589 663).

Walking distance approx. 11 miles.

Bus departs at 5.30pm.

In the event of an emergency arising, the person in charge of the outing should be contacted, if possible, before the police are contacted.

Relevant telephone number for Grampian police is 0845 600 5700 or 999.

Committee member in charge today is Graham Sangster

Bookings