We had a good turnout of 29 walkers for this walk including a few late bookings, in spite of the wet weather when we left Aberdeen. We eventually set out from the fishing village of Hopeman at about 11.45am. One of our walkers decided to stay on the bus and do their own shorter walk from Findhorn. Unfortunately the weather still hadn’t improved when we started out, and it continued to drizzle for some time along the route. After a few miles along the walk, following the route of a disused railway line we arrived at Burghead, famous for its ‘burning of the clavie’ ceremony held every 11th January. This was the date of the old New Year celebrations before the Gregorian calendar was introduced. Most of us were brave enough to venture up to the old coastguard lookout despite the blustery weather to enjoy the views over the Moray Firth. The lookout is on the site of an old Pictish fort dating back to pre-Roman times and was still inhabited into the late Dark Ages. After descending into the village we walked by the harbour but the weather still hadn’t improved for us to stop for our lunch. We continued to the forest between Burghead and Findhorn where the shelter from the trees enabled us to stop for a well-earned break. The rain began to ease off at the same time. Normally walkers would have a choice to stick to the forest path or to walk along the beach, but the high spring tide and the shelter of the forest made that decision for us. We eventually reached the perimeter of the old RAF Kinlosss, now an army barracks, which indicated that we were near our destination. We reached Findhorn where the bus was parked at the car park near the entrance to the bay, and the Crown and Anchor pub where we had a well-earned refreshment for our labours before going home. Needless to say it had stopped raining by the time we ended our walk but there were no complaints. We arrived back in Aberdeen at about 7pm. Alastair
