Day 101 Portsoy to Findhorn

 

 Date: Friday 1^st June 2012   Distance: 51.22 Miles

 

Breakfast at 8 was good with a very nice black pudding. French and Scottish workers ate with us and the seasoned Scotsman asked for smoked salmon and scrambled eggs – not on the menu but he got it, singing their praises.

 

By 9 we were on the cycleway and on the way to Sandend whose short streets run at right angles to the sea. We had just passed a mill ruin and a distillery, working again but looking purely functional. Sandend has a lovely beach and we could see smoke emitting from a ramshackle lean- to attached to a place selling fish, wholesale. It smelt like kippers but was probably smoked haddock.

 

Cullen Skink, smoked haddock and potato soup was devised in Seaton, the lower village of Cullen. It was too early for a break but we didn’t see anywhere here to stop anyway. If we had gone to the upper village we would have seen an ornate market cross (17th century) We could see where the cycle way went on a disused railway line over the viaduct though and we took it, with its extensive sea views, steep drops and, for the first time, seats for a traveller to sit on and admire the view.

 

Because Portknockie sits high on a cliff above the harbour we bypassed it. At Findochty we found nothing, not even a toilet, despite signs for it, and as we climbed yet another hill with the sun brightly on us an old chap called us “nutty”. It was back to the cycleway to Gordanburgh and then Buckie where they still make fishing boats. We couldn’t find anywhere for a tea or coffee but the fish-market had a loo. The catch here used to be herring but now is mainly shellfish for foreign markets as well as UK.

 

The late 18th century village of Portgordan looked desolate and devoid of places for food or drink but one closed door on the street had a picture of a teapot and a sign saying welcome. I tried the handle and was welcomed in by a group of elderly ladies. They said they were a craft group and although they were about to finish for the morning they made us drinks and I had a piece of cake. They were interesting ladies- one cycled and could strip her bike down for servicing and another told us her true ghost stories. We put some money in the kitty, bought a dishcloth and travelled on to Lossiemouth.

 

From past experience we stopped at the first pub we came across, at almost 2pm. Further down into the town we could have had pubs with sea views but we weren’t to know and there were bakers, greengrocers and a few other shops. Obviously the RAF presence here makes for a better economy. The food was fine and it was a good job we had had plenty of carbs as our journey totalled more than 50 miles in the end. Lossiemouth beach looked lovely especially in the sun with a wooden bridge at the edge of the dunes over water that could have been the River Lossie though it looked more like a stream.

 

We rode on to Burghead,via more disused railway line with embankments of gorse that smelt like coconut to me. Built on a promontory jutting into the Moray Firth, Burghead has a visitor centre, today, disappointingly closed for maintenance. Pict Fort is tiny and we think unmanned. The views from the cliff were gorgeous except for the side with un-pretty Maltings though.

It was last orders at the one cafe at 4pm and we arrived at 4.15. That was bad luck and we had to cross our legs before we noticed a building that was changing rooms for the local football field. They kindly let us use their loos.

 

All along the route now we saw huge pine trees. Roseisle Forest borders the 5 mile sandy beach north- west of the town and then Culbin Forest of Scots and Corsican Pines planted on sands, extend along 9 miles of coastline. Ospreys, wildcats and capercaillies are said to live here but we would have been happy to see a red squirrel as the barmaid in Lossiemouth had said they are here.

 

We passed another Maltings of modern design and then it was B road for the next 9 miles to Findhorn. We passed the Findhorn Foundation an eco village and spiritual community that started in a caravan park here in the early 1970s. It now has connections with the UN and is also an international centre for holistic education. I have romantic memories of it from the late 1970s but what I saw as we passed was unrecognisable. I would have liked to have seen the eco houses but we saw plenty of caravans.

 

Our B and B, the Crown and Anchor pub is very busy. We have a small window view of the bay and the bike is in the smoker’s hut. Bob says the Timothy Taylor beer is very nice and meals are doing a good trade. We enjoyed ours and then we walked to the dunes and the Moray Firth seashore scanning for dolphins again. We had sun for most of this day.