Summer sojourn on the Moray Firth - Sandend to Whitehills

Our camp site for the night had been the very pleasant Sandend Caravan Park (which also has tent pitches).  Wild camping isn't so easy to find on this part of the coast, so this was a perfect base - especially as we were able to carry our boats straight onto the glorious Sandend beach to launch.

It was going to be another cracking day, hot sunshine, light winds and low swell, ideal conditions for sea kayaking on this predominantly rocky coast.

The fun starts almost straight away with a series of narrow channels piercing the West Head.  Confusingly, this to the east of Sandend....it's actually the West Head in relation to the bigger harbour and town of Portsoy.

Often the swell at this exposed spot is too high to get safely through thes chanels, but no such problem today - it really couldn't have been better.  Allan, Lorna and I have paddled this coast many times and it never pales - but this was Raymond's first visit and it was great to share it with him.

We passed through the third channel at Redhythe Point and paddled slowly on along sheer cliffs.  Raymond asked if this was the end of the rock architecture so early in the day......

...erm, Nope! A fine double arch is the next delight, almost invisible unless you happen across it or know exactly where to look as it's hidden behind a buttressed cliff. A pool at the back can be entered at most states of the tide so that you can paddle it in either direction - or both directions as we did.

A short distance further to the east is the lovely harbour of Portsoy.  Actually two harbours, the older one dating from 1692 is unusual in being constructed of large stones set vertically.  A white sand beach at the back makes for a pleasant stop.  The red boat in this image is a very solidly constructed clinker built traditional fishing boat made in Denmark nearly a hundred years ago and still very much seaworthy and serviceable - she featured alongside Portsoy harbour in the 2016 remake of the film "Whisky Galore"

It's easy to see why you'd choose this harbour as a film location, it has great charm and is very well kept.  Each June Portsoy hosts the Scottish Traditional Boat Festival....when it's a lot busier than this!  Some of the warehouses around the harbour were used to store and trade Portsoy Marble, a red and green serpentine much in demand at one time.  Although the trade is long diminished, you can still buy items made from this unusual stone locally.

A modern addition to the harbour is this very evocative life-sized sculpture of one of the Moray Firth's Bottlenose Dolphins created by the artist Carn Standing in 2016.  It's a striking, graceful piece and adds to the public sculpture which Scotland is becoming so good at hosting and producing.

After a break for coffee at Portsoy we continued east with a warm afternoon sun on our backs, passing a couple of lovely small beaches which are the favoured haul-outs of Grey Seals before landing at a third one.  Difficult of acces from landward, these beaches are almost always deserted and simply lovely places to spend some time.  We almost dozed off in the warm sunshine, with a gentle hiss of rhythmic waves and glorious summer colours to add to the relaxing effect.

The last leg took us along a stretch of lower lying coast with jagged reefs running out to sea - it's a place to be wary in a sea kayak or any other craft.  We continued past the main harbour at Whitehills, once a busy whitefish port but now developed to become the largest leisure boat marina on the Moray Firth.  Our landing point was a tiny harbour to the east, once home to an 18th century brickworks which produced clay pipes as well as bricks.  It was demolished in 1978 and a caravan park now stands on the site.  The tiny harbour gives a good landing spot and there are still lots of brick fragments lying among the pebbles in the harbour.

Our first two days of paddling had taken us from Findochty to Whitehills amongst some of the best sea kayaking anywhere - rock arches, caves, cliffs, channels, friendly harbours, caves, a castle and several stunning beaches - this area really has so much to offer (but we would say that as it's our local patch!).  We still had another day of good weather before strong winds nd rain would arrive...and we had the pleasant dilemma of where to paddle the following day.  We headed back to our camp at Sandend to discuss the options.....

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!

Creag Dhubh - a little cracker

The route from home which I use most to access the sea kayaking and hillwalking on Scotland's west coast goes up towards the source of the River Don, crosses the shoulder of the Cairngorm massif to the broad valley of the Spey at Grantown, then runs south to Newtonmore before cutting through to Spean Bridge on the A86 road. This route gives fantastic and varied scenery - the great mountains of the Cairngorms, Creag Meagaidh, the Grey Corries and Ben Nevis, two of Scotland's finest rivers, long fresh water lochs and finally to the sea lochs of the west coast. Amongst all the grandeur of the big mountains, there's one small but very distinctive hill above the A86 which has long been on my list to climb.

A short way  south west of Newtonmore there is a small parking area opposite the picturesque Lochain Uvie, which is the only parking opportunity for quite a long stretch of road.  There's a gate into the wood at the parking area itself used by climbers accessing the crags above - a better point to start out for the summit can be found by walking 400m south west along the road to a gate opposite the gatehouse for Creagdhubh Lodge.

A green track curves up through a lovely stretch of natural birch wood to emerge onto a heathery shoulder west of the crags.  On the day I did this walk a pair of Peregrine Falcons were shrieking their displeasure at a group of climbers who were inspecting the crags for possible routes.  In the end there was too much water seeping down for them to climb - probably just as well given the Peregrines clearly had young in the nest somewhere above.  There's actually a full-blown waterfall on this crag which is in freefall for much of its height; in a drier winter it might give good winter climbing.

From this shoulder the summit of Creag Dhubh (Black Crag) can just be made out as the highest step of a rugged ridge.  There are a couple of options to gain the ridge - either cut directly across above the wood to skirt the end of the crag or take a wider sweep on an old track to gain the ridge above a grassy (and quite wet) hollow.  The direct route went through chest-high bracken and looked likely to be really hard work so I elected for the more circuitous route on the track.

As soon as the ridge proper is reached a tiny scratch of a path can be found right on the crest and its best to stick to the path for both the views and to work through some steep ground ahead.  For a comparatively small hill Creag Dhubh offers superlative views, it has a central position and is reasonably well isolated from surrounding high ground giving a sense of space and long horizons.  To the south and west the eye is drawn along he upper reaches of the Spey valley to the hills of the central highlands.

Looking further again the hills of the Ben Alder, Rannoch and Mamore ranges can all be made out - a view all the way to Scotland's western ramparts.

Nearer at hand the ridge continues up a steep and loose section where a little care is needed, then drops slightly before the final summit cone.  One of the reasons this hill is so distinctive is that it's a rocky, rugged and craggy individual amongst more rounded and grassy domes.

The summit views are really fine.  North and east the Spey is joined by the waters of the Truim and the River Calder as it gains power to push through to the Moray Firth.  The town of Newtonmore is laid out below and the horizon is dominated by the distant Cairngorm giants.

To the north west there's a great view over Glen Banchor to the Monadhliath, a huge expanse of remote plateau.  Glen Banchor's hills and glens are an area I've not explored - I intend to rectify that!

A substantial built cairn marks the summit of Creag Dhubh.  At 756m/2480ft this is not a high hill, indeed it is 6 metres or 20 feet shy of reaching Corbett status.  Like most "Grahams" though, it is a very fine hill and a real miniature mountain.  The distinctive nature of the hill gives it unique character, which possibly explains the origin of the battle cry of Clan Macpherson who have their roots in this area of Badenoch - "Creag Dhubh!"  One chief of this clan went on the run after the shambles of the 1745 rebellion and hid from government forces for nine years.  There are several legends about his hiding place - or places - including one cave on the face of Creag Dhubh known as "Cluny's Cave".  Macpherson eventually slipped the net and made his way to France to join the exiled Charles Edward Stuart.  He never returned to Badenoch or Scotland and died in 1764 in France.

For the descent route one can continue north east to Biallaid on the outskirts of Newtonmore but this would require either two cars or a 5 kilometre walk along the fast and twisting A86 road. I chose to return via my outward route, but took the more direct line skirting the edge of the crags to the road at the parking area.  This route is steep and rough and would take a bit of determination if used for the ascent!  The view from the ridge down to Lochain Uvie is impressive; so steep is this ground that it seems right below one's feet.

Creag Dhubh is a cracking little hill and one I'd definitely recommend.  I had originally thought of climbing it as a "leg-stretcher" on the way to or from somewhere else, but deserves much more respect than that and I'm glad I made it the objective of the day.  My images don't actually show how rugged the hill is, but the image below by "Gaffr" and posted here with his kind permission, captures the atmosphere and nature of the hill really well

Image by Gaffr

Low down in the wood I met with this group of goats - smelt before seen!  They seemed unperturbed by my wandering towards them and merely moved aside before going back to their browsing.  I've seen the occasional one on the A86 hereabouts too, something to bear in mind when speeding along!

Top to top to Tap

I'm lucky to have Bennachie as a neighbour. One of the most prominent hills in the north east of Scotland, a glimpse of the distinctive outline of the Mither Tap (Mother Top) means "home" to generations of Aberdeenshire folk.  Bennachie inspires a real fondness in people and there's even a dedicated band of volunteers known as the Bailies of Bennachie who look after the hill and its environs.  I climb it regularly by a variety of routes, but there was one which I hadn't done.

Lorna, Allan and I met up on a bright late summer day to do one of the longest routes on Bennachie, a traverse from one end to the other of what's essentially a long ridge with a number of "tops".  They live closer to the hill than me and have a clear view of it from their house - a very desirable feature in any property I feel!

We pre-positioned a car at the end of our intended walk and drove back west to the top of a feature known as the "Lord's Throat", a wooded valley carrying a minor road.  A rough track leads to a sand quarry and after a bit of scratching about we climbed above the quarry and onto the open hill above.  a view opens up straight away to the furthest tops of Bennachie above the valley of the River Don.

The heathers were all in full bloom, the colours stunning.  This is the larger flowered Bell Heather (Erica cinerea).....

...and this is the more ubiquitous Ling heather (Calluna vulgaris).  As we walked our boots raised clouds of honey-scented pollen and one of the dominant sounds was that of the bees collecting pollen - we saw several species on this part of the hill.

This is a corner of the hill I hadn't previously walked and I was intrigued by a line of very old and long-disused shooting butts arranged in a line upslope.  Drystone built, the may have been turfed on top when in use and each had an offset entrance for the "gun".  Interestingly, almost every one harboured a Rowan tree.  Rowan (Sorbus aucuparia) seeds germinate in an interesting way; if you plant them they just won't grow.  The seeds are contained in a bright red berry which are irresistible to many species of birds.  the berry and seed must first pass through the gut of a bird in order to germinate; and of course will benefit from having a blob of guano fertiliser to boost its chances.  The berries are irresistible to some humans too - they make a superb jelly to accompany meats and cheeses!

Rowans are one of the most common trees in Scotland, and are the tree which reaches higher altitudes than any other species here - up to 870m/2850ft in a few places.  There's a rich folklore surrounding the tree; it's associated with protection and was commonly planted at the gable end of a house to afford protection from witchcraft in particular.  Rowans rarely live longer than 150 years so it's possible to guess the dates of some ruins by the Rowans near to them.  Here, in a lovely piece of symmetry, the works of man provide protection for the Rowan - the seeds dropped by a bird have fallen into the grouse butts and the seedlings have grown within the circular embrace of the wall, protected from weather and from browsing animals until well established.

From near the summit of the first "top", Black Hill, there's a wide view over the Aberdeenshire countryside.  Due to its relative isolation from surrounding high ground such good views are a feature of the whole of Bennachie.

From Black Hill the ridge proper swings into an east-west orientation and as we continued west the views just kept coming.  We took a slight detour to the "top" of Hermit Seat (who was the hermit I wonder and what was his story?) and past Hummel Craig.  A Hummel is a stag with no antlers and Craig is a derivation of Crag.   From the next "top" of Watch Craig we looked over the valley of the River Don to Pitfichie Hill and Cairn William.  Allan and Lorna were just able to see their house from this point!

Once up on the higher ground the paths on Bennachie are really good going and distance just reels away.  In quicker time than we'd anticipated we found ourselves on the rocky tor of Oxen Craig. At a modest 528m/1736ft this is the highest point of Bennachie but probably visited by only a small percentage of the folk who climb "Bennachie".  Behind us rain showers were strafing the land further west...it seemed we'd probably get wet before the day was done.

A view indicator plaque identifies some of the hills and key features to be seen from Oxen Craig, including some at considerable distance.  The view ranges from the city of Aberdeen in the east, round to the hills of Angus in the south, to the Cairngorm giants almost 70 kilometres away and round north to Peterhead and the Buchan coast - an enormous sweep of the northeast of Scotland.

We sat out a shower below Oxen Craig and once it had passed headed slightly off the main line of the ridge to another "top", Craig Shannoch.

From Craig Shannoch there's a good view across to the main attraction of any walk on Bennachie - the Mither Tap.  In fact the Mither Tap is Bennachie for most folk; the name of the whole hill is a derivation of Beinn a' Chioch (hill of the breast) and it's the Mither tap which is the most visible, most prominent feature.  Across a huge swathe of Aberdeenshire you can look for it - the eye instinctively drawn to a familiar outline.  Bennachie, always Bennachie - it's what inspires such affection for the hill.  The Tap is a granite plug from the heart of a long ago eroded volcano and has considerable steep drops on three sides.  I'd guess that only about one in a hundred people who climb the Mither tap go on to walk to the "real" summit of Oxen Craig - such is the draw of the Tap.

We climbed to the summit, almost able to lean on a tearing westerly wind.  We'd traversed top to top to reach the Tap, a fitting end to the high ground of Bennachie.

This place has a long history of use.  Being so prominent prompted the building a hillfort here.  Constructed during the Iron age and possibly occupied as early as 1000BC, it seems to have been developed for a long period and may have been the site of the battle of Mons Graupius (which gave its name to the Grampian region and mountain range) where the Picts were heavily defeated by a Roman army.  The aerial pictures on the Canmore site show the extent of the ruins.

The curving entrance to the upper fort is particularly well preserved - here you can really walk through ancient history.

The descent from the Mither Tap to the Bennachie Centre is knee-jarring, steep and in places rough.  Although the shortest route in terms of time and distance I've always thought this the least attractive way to climb the Mither tap.  There are a number of ways to reach the Tap, as shown on this downloadable map, or you could always do our longer route of around 10kms!  We'd enjoyed a superb day doing this route; it's one all three of us will repeat.

Late Summer in a jar

Over the weekend we noticed that the Blackbirds and Starlings were starting to work over the Rowan (Sorbus aucuparia) trees in the garden.  As the clusters of red berries ripen it becomes a bit of a race for us to gather a basket before they all get eaten!  The berries seem irresistable to all kinds of birds and the Rowan has an interesting adaptation in that the berries need to pass through the gut of a bird before the seeds they contain will germinate.

We cooked the berries with an equal weight of cooking apples until the mixture became a thin orange porridge, then strained the lot through a cloth overnight to extract a couple of litres of rose-pink fluid.  This liquid is then boiled up in a 60:40 proportion with sugar until setting point is reached. The whole process is shown here, and the result looks like late summer in a jar!

Rowan and Apple jelly goes superbly well with meats and cheeses and is the secret ingredient in our venison casseroles.  It needs to mature for a few weeks and will keep for a year, slowly darkening in colour.

It had been a bit of a surprise to see the birds begin eating the berries in the first couple of days of September - we felt it was earlier than usual.  We still had a jar of jelly left from 2018's crop which was dated 15 September, and looking further back over the blog to 2016 and 2012's entries it certainly seems that the "normal" date we've made this preserve has been in the second half of September.

Tarp test - Alpkit Rig 7

This is a catch-up post from early summer, testing out a tarp on the hills above the house on an overnight trip.  These quick trips have become known as "microadventures" - but they're still overnight trips!

Allan and I set out from Terpersie on a lovely evening of bright sunshine. Whilst not particularly warm, the weather was fairly settled with the forecast of a cool and clear night to come.  At just two kilometres from home, there wasn't far to travel!  We set a leisurely pace and climbed the ridge known as the Fouchie Shank on a grassy track.

It didn't take us long to reach a spot I'd noted several times as offering a nice camp or bivvy spot.  At the edge of a wood which covers part of the upper ridge there are a number of decent pitches - in fact the difficulty was choosing the best of them rather than finding anywhere to pitch.  Allan had brought a tent and chose a spot under a large pine tree just outside the wood where there was good flat ground.

I was trying out my new tarp for the first time and chose a spot at the very edge of the wood.  Having tarped a long time ago, for some reason (midges mostly!) I'd switched to tents and not used a tarp for many a year.  My interest had been rekindled not by weight considerations - the combined weight of tarp, groundsheet and rigging isn't that much different to really light tents these days - but by the experience of sleeping in the open again.

Looking at various designs and configurations I'd decided on an Alpkit Rig 7 as seeming the best combination for what I envisaged.  Regular readers of this blog will know that I'm a bit of a fan of Alpkit products anyway, but what interested me about the Rig 7 was the lift points along the face of the tarp and the 16 eyes around the edge which are all reinforced with "hypalon" - which seems to be a very tough and strong relative of neoprene, with enough stretch to allow walking poles etc to be used with no risk of ripping the hypalon or the tarp fabric.  The fabric itself is 30 denier PU coated cordura with a ripstop weave, and comes in two colours; "kelp" as pictured here or a "chilli" red shade.  Dimensions of the Rig 7 are 2.4m x 2.8m and the pitching options are limited only by your imagination!  Guy lines and pegs aren't included, but Alpkit do a bundle which includes these items.  I used mainly 3mm guy lines which worked well and carried a long length of 4mm line which could have been used as a continuous ridgeline for rigging between trees.  the Rig 7 is one of a family of tarps with similar characteristics but differing sizes; from small solo tarps to group shelters.

My groundsheet was an "Oooktub" from Oookworks in a 220cm x 90cm configuration which has an ingenious design to form the tub shape when pegged out.  It's made of tough PU coated nylon and looks to be able to really keep the wet stuff at bay. My sleeping mat was an Exped Downmat 7 UL, one of the best pieces of outdoor kit I've ownd.

All up, my rig for this trial run was 1100g for the tarp, rigging, pegs and groundsheet.  As mentioned, this isn't much different from a lightweight tent; though it is noticeably lighter than my usual tent of choice, the full spec Terra Nova Voyager at 2100g.

As the night was forecast dry I chose to rig the tarp with an open frontage to maximise the experience of sleeping in the open.  there are so many ways in which the Rig 7 can be pitched that there should be an option for just about any weather - there are some tips on the Alpkit website for some simple rigs.....there's even a name for the art of pitching - "tarpology"!  I was glad I'd tried out a number of pitching arrangements at home; this gave me a start in deciding where and how to pitch for the trial run.

By coincidence, Allan was also using an Alpkit product; the Tetri; a two person tent with a tried and tested design.  Weight here is 3kg, so quite a difference.  That said, had the evening been very wet or midgy a tent would have been the preferred option!

After a bit of supper I settled down for the night, the sun not quite set on an early June evening.  The feeling of being out in the open is a real contrast to sleeping in a tent; even though I habitually leave the door open on fine nights.  Here, I was immersed in the wood and was able to see and hear the place settling for the night as part of it rather than being sealed away and slightly separated.

I slept pretty well too!  Deer moving past woke me briefly and a cuckoo called intermittently right through the night, but then in June the "night" here in Aberdeenshire is just a couple of hours of dusk rather than darkness.  For the first time, we heard the sub-song of the cuckoo, a chuckling low laugh between the familiar two-note call....probably it was amused by waking us?!

First thing on waking was the realisation that I was still "outside", immersed in the wood with early morning sunshine dappling through the trees.  I had been warm inside a down bag despite the night being quite cool and the tarp had kept any dew off me. There was little or no condensation on the sleeping bag; on colder nights I'd probably add a lightweight bivvy bag to the kit list.  Second thing was one undoubted advantage a tarp has over a tent - the ability to roll over and put on a brew without leaving the sleeping bag!  In fact two cups of tea were enjoyed from the comfort of my bed before getting up.

It was all in all a very successful test of the tarp and groundsheet and a very pleasant "microadventure".  I'll be using this set-up more often once the midges have disappeared and will write a more informed review once I've tarped in less favourable conditions.  For now, it's enough to say that it was a very enjoyable experience.