Summer sojourn on the Moray Firth - Findochty to Sandend

In the last week of August a spell of warm and potentially settled weather was forecast. High pressure dominated the weather across the British Isles but there was some doubt as to where the centre would be - and that could mean windy conditions would encroach from the west. Allan, Lorna and I were keen for a multi-day sea kayak trip somewhere and discussed several different locations. In the end we decided that hte best chance of good weather over a period of three or four days was actually quite close to home on the Moray Firth. Wild camping is possible on this coast but it would mean a long linear trip; we opted to use a fixed base at a camp site in a central position.

Our friend Douglas was due to join us but couldn't make it due to an unavoidable engagement but we were delighted that Raymond could join us for two of the three days paddling.

We met up in Findochty on a very warm morning, there was almost no wind and not a cloud in the sky.  Even though the Moray Firth coast gets some of the best weather in Scotland, you never take days like these as a given!  We ran a shuttle ahead to Sandend where we would camp so that we'd just have day kit in the boats and were soon ready to set out.

We left the harbour and turned east.  The coast immediately becomes engaging, the rock architecture dramatic.  The seabirds which nest in their multitudes all along this stretch had mostly completed their breeding cycles, just a few pairs had well-grown chicks still in the nest.....the evidence of their summer occupation was plain to see on the guano-stained rock though.

Looking back to Findochty the most prominent building is the Church of Scotland church, a white painted building on an elevated site overlooking the harbour.  Completed in 1863, it served Findochty when the town was a thriving and busy fishing port.  Until a bell was installed in 1877 worshippers were called to kirk by a foghorn! 

The church would have been a landmark for the fishing fleet, at that time mostly rowed vessels and a magnet for fishermen on Sundays when all the boats would be in port.  We were approaching one of our favourite places - a landmark in its own right and a magnet for any sea kayaker or photographer visiting this area...

The graceful arch of the Bow Fiddle is a highlight of any trip here, and we always paddle it if conditions allow.  As for many folk, Raymond's reaction on turning a corner to look straight through was one of amazement.  As he'd not paddled it previously we hung back to allow him to experience passing under the graceful blade of rock above a smooth slab - it's a fantastic place to be in a kayak!

We all followed Raymond in "stringing the bow" out into open water.  The Bow Fiddle is so named due to its resemblance to the tip of the bow used to play a fiddle.  Nearby is another special place with an evocative name - the "Whale's Mou" (mouth), a huge sea cave with a natural window in one side and a narrow exit at the landward side.  Naturally, we explored that too!

We continued across Cullen Bay in conditions which had now gone from warm to hot, landed for a leg-stretch east of Cullen and then continued around to the Logie Head, a fissured prow of pale grey rock popular with climbers.  The Logie Head marks a change in rock type from the reddish Cullen Quartzite (which is metamorphised sandstone) to Greywacke.  Nearby is another change, the boundary between Morayshire to the west and Aberdeenshire to the east.

East again we landed for a coffee at the beautiful Sunnyside Beach.  Today it was very benign but landing here can be surprisingly difficult.  t higher states of tide the sandy curve of the beach looks very inviting but there are sharp reefs to negotiate, like the one in the foreground in this image, and the surf picks up alarmingly close to the shore.  No such problems today, we landed easily and joined other beach-goers on what was one of the best afternoons of the whole summer.

One of the great features of this part of the Aberdeenshire coast is Findlater Castle which today was lit superbly by the high afternoon sun.  You have to admire the vision of the person who said "I kow, we'll build it right there"!

Just beyond Findlater we met a group of paddle-boarders on a trip out from Sandend.  A cave-arch here is a hidden feature with superb lighting in sunny conditions, the water crystal clear and lit turquoise.







We were now on the last section of our day's paddle.  We think that the section of coast from Findochty to Sandend is the equal of anything in Scotland for variety and features (but we're a bit biased as it's pretty local for us!).  There were still some highlights left to enjoy though....starting with a turn in to a narrow geo.  There are several similar entrances, but once you know the correct way in......

....you enter a series of narrow channels behind masses of rock.  This is paddling right amongst and behind cliffs; one channel is barely shoulder width and is pasable only in perfct conditions.  Most of the others like this one will "go" in most conditions.  It's a great finale to a great stretch of coast for sea kayaking.

All too soon we landed in the tiny harbour at Sandend.  The camp site we'd be using is actually right behind to bech here, but first we drove back to Findochty to recover two cars left there.  The temperature at 5pm was 28 degrees Celsius, one of the warmest days of the year.  Summer sea kayaking doesn't get much better!