Today was going to be more of the same as yesterday, with one big difference – no rain forecast. I set off very early from Aberdeen to drive to Balmedie, about 9 miles up the coast. Here I parked in a free car park and walked back to the main road to catch the 07:02 #61 bus to Cruden Bay. I was getting a bit worried when the bus was 10 minutes late, fortunately it arrived soon after.
I got off in Cruden Bay and walked to a small footbridge over a burn bordering the golf course. From the opposite bank it was a short walk around the dunes and onto the beach at Bay of Cruden. The morning weather was gorgeous sunshine, with little or no clouds in the sky. I had the beach mostly to myself and with the tide out I was able to make quick progress across the firm sand. At the far end of the beach I had to transfer from beach up the cliffs to a cliff-top path. This was in fact the Aberdeenshire Coastal Path (ACP), which is one of the coastal trails that make up the North Sea Trail. Unfortunately the ACP is rather ‘sketchy’ in many places and although it is well marked in and around the Aberdeen area, the actual start and finish of the path is unclear. The path here was quite overgrown, especially after 3 months of lockdown. This meant the going was slow, due to the tall wet vegetation and the path following the outside fence between the cliff-top and fields. I passed through the small village of Whinnyfold and continued for another 3 miles hugging the cliff-top path in and out of the many sea incursions. By the time I reached Mains of Slains I was quite fatigued, it had been quite tough ploughing through the undergrowth with the many ups and downs. At Mains of Slains I could see the small ruined keep of the old Slains Castle. The castle was destroyed in the late 16th century by James VI and during the 1950’s had a private dwelling erected within its ruined walls.
After Slains Castle I started to meet a lot more people, walking out from the village of Collieston where I was next headed. The state of the path also improved significantly, being flat, wider and devoid of high vegetation. I took a rest chatting to an elderly couple I met on this section of the path. When I arrived at Collieston I could see that the beaches where quite busy with families enjoying the hot summer weather. Collieston is made up of Kirkton of Slains, Low Town and Collieston itself, although it is still quite a small village. Soon after leaving Collieston I passed into the extremely large Forvie Nature Reserve, a huge expanse of heathland, dunes and cliffs. The footpaths here were very good on wide springy turf. I arrived above Hackley Bay, which contained another charming beach, which had a few people on it. At Rockend I could have continued down the coast to Newburgh Bar, however, I had planned to divert inland along a good path in search of the remains of Forvie Church. The church took a bit of finding, set in amongst the dunes. The church dates to the 13th century or before, and was dedicated to St Adamnan. It is not known when the church or settlement was abandoned, but the church itself was dug out by a local doctor at the end of the 19th Century. I headed inland to cross over the rather Welsh-sounding name of River Ythan, in fact the name may have derived from a Brittonic source.
I crossed over the River Ythan and walked into Newburgh. I popped into a shop to stock up on more drinks as it was getting very warm. I headed across the golf course and emerged back onto the beach. It was very crowded and to make matters worse the tide was well in, which meant there was not much beach to walk on. Once onto the main beach I could look down the coast and see the tower blocks of Aberdeen in the far distance. The beach was dead straight and I would be on it for almost 5 miles. Unfortunately, the sand was not good for walking on in many places, so progress was slow and tiring.
I left the ‘crowds’ behind and soon had the beach to myself. With the high dune system on my right it was difficult to actually know where you were in respect of when to leave the beach. After picking up more beach-goers 4 miles down the coast I knew they must have come from the car parks at Balmedie Country Park. I left the beach and found the car park with my car in it. It had taken 8 hours to do this section and I was very fatigued.
NB: I also publish all my Scottish Blog entries on the excellent Scottish Hills website, I use the same narrative, but larger photos and a few extra ones. They can be found here:
http://www.scottishhills.com/html/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=25061
Distance today = 20 miles
Total distance = 5,983 miles
Walking the Coast of Great Britain 