The Coast of Moray

With its 50 miles of marvellous landscapes from rugged cliffs,

caves and sheltered coves to fishertown harbours and

sweeping stretches of sand, Moray has a coastline alive with wildlife

that would be the envy of many other regions in Britain.

Many visitors are drawn by the resident bottlenose dolphin population

or to watch birds by the sea. Other recreational activities on the Moray

Coast include yachting, cycling, windsurfing or just visiting the beach.

From Forres to Findhorn

The Local Nature Reserve of Findhorn Bay is a bottle shaped estuary, 1,000 footballpitches in size and a sheltered tidal haven for people and wildlife. The Bay teems

with food for a vast array of wildfowl and waders that over-winter, breed or pauseduring migration in this international mecca for birds.

From Forres railway station, turn left into the minor road to Waterford, Netherton andKinloss between the banks of the River Findhorn and salt marsh on one side, andreclaimed productive farmland on the other. Do not stray onto the salt marsh. It maylook firm but the rank grasses conceal deep creeks and pans. Otters are a commonsite at dusk and dawn in the Bay. Look out for them in the Mosset Burn where it runsalongside the road before passing beneath it en route to the Reserve.

Admire views over the Reserve and at Kinloss turn left on the Findhorn road pass theFindhorn Foundation community using the roadside cycleway path, and follow thepavement to the village and the bayside.

Guide Lines and Ground Rules

(1) Be aware of the tides. Rising tides can move very quickly. Check with localnewspapers for tide times or collect annual tide tables from the Harbour Master inBuckie, Lossiemouth or Burghead.

(2) Never venture out alone on to tidal flats or estuarine sand bars. Unstable sandscan make this treacherous.

(3) Please avoid causing fire to break out in the coastal heath, duneland grasses orthe whin alongside footpaths from a discarded cigarette end, glass, and neverdeliberately light a campfire in such areas. Fires spread quickly out of control inthese area destroying the homes of animals and birds, and threatening those ofpeople living nearby.

(4) Leave no litter on footpaths or by the shore. Bottles, cans – and the plastic ringsthey come in – can be lethal to wildlife and family pets. Please take your litter home.

(5) Dogs are welcome, but keep them under close control, particularly close to roadsor grazing livestock and where wildfowl can be easily disturbed. Dog muck onpaths can be a nuisance, in the sand of the beach it can ruin a family’s day out –and it spreads disease too.

(6) Take care on the cliffs. Do not attempt to descend on steep rocky slopes. It may bedifficult to climb up again.

(7) Let someone know or leave a message if you intend taking a seriously long walkon the coast. Make sure you are properly equipped.

(8) Follow waymarked paths wherever these are present. Look for the coastal trail logo.

(9) If you bring a mountain bike on the path, be aware of other path users.(10) Motorbikes, 4 wheel drive vehicles and quad bikes are an antisocial use of coastal

paths and tracks, and they cannot be driven on land without the owner’s expresspermission.

(11) Please do not pick or dig up wild flowers growing by the path. It is a crime.

(12) When walking the coastal path follow the Scottish Outdoor Access Code.

The Moray Coast Ranger ServiceAdvice of the path network is a function of the Moray Coast Ranger Service. Forinformation call the Ranger on 01343 557048 (Mobile 07967 748937).For Forestry Commission Forests call 01343 820223

Further informationFor more local information visit www.aberdeen-grampian.com

Enjoy the Walk!

Distance, duration & terrain: 6 Miles, 3 Hours (allowing for time in the village), EasyPath surface: Tarmac road, cycle path and beach sand.Transport: Buses & trains to Forres.Car parks: In Forres, at bird hide south of village and on the backshore.Food & shops: Cafes in village, good food in the village pubs.

Shop in Foundation sells books, clothes, jewellery, food and herbal remedies.

Toilets: Public toilets in Railway Station and on the west dunes road and dunes car park.

The Coastal TrailThe coastline and settlements of Moray are linked by a waymarked

coastal trail from Forres to Findhorn, Cullen and all the places between.

Use the Guide to plan your route and on the way look for the coastal

trail sign on waymarking posts and information boards. The Trail Guide

is small enough to be carried in a pocket, but can also be used at home

to plan routes before you set out. Always dress for the weather as the

coast is exposed in many places. Bring waterproofs, a warm fleece or

sweater, sturdy boots and a sense of adventure.

Although the coastline has a great wilderness quality it is never far from

roads, car parks, coastal settlements and bus routes. Check with Elgin

Bus Station for bus services and times.

Roseisle Forest and Burghead Bay

The path runs through dunes, heath and pine woods from Findhorn’s backshore tothe ancient pictish capital of Burghead, following the 5-mile stretch of Burghead

Bay. The dunes form part of the largest dune system in Britain. During wartime thecoastal defences of tank traps and pillboxes following the beach were used to practicefor the Normandy landings.

Distance, duration & terrain: 5 1/2 Miles, 2 1/2 Hours at moderate pace, Sandy paths and tracks, Easy.

Path surface: Sand, firm forest tracks and shoreline shingle.Transport: Bus services run from Findhorn to Forres and Burghead

to Elgin.Car parks: Findhorn backshore, Roseisle Forest car park, Playground

and BBQ Site (which carries a small entry charge) and Burghead Esplanade.

Food & shops: A beach café in Burghead overlooks the Bay and shop in Grant Street.

Toilets: Roseisle Forest car park and by Harbour Office in Burghead.Things to do: Best quality water in Moray and a safe beach. Great paths

and tracks to explore. BBQ’s and kiddies play equipment in the Forest car park. Take time to explore the local path network created by the Burghead Footpath Group.Visit Roseisle Forest.

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The Moray Coastal Trail: The Routes

Lossiemouth,an Island in a forgotten sea loch

Follow the sandy beach towards the cliffs and the Covesea lighthouse. Look for analternative waymarked route through the dunes and marram grass during extremely

high tides. The lighthouse is now automatic but remains as an evocative landmark.Erosion of the dunes nearby has exposed wartime tank traps. See seals clambering onthe offshore skerries at low tide.

Although Lossiemouth has a long history and was the home of St Gerardine, a hermitwho’s lantern warned seafarers of the rocks around the headland, Lossiemouth’sfortunes changed with the arrival of the fishing fleets. The Harbour, once busy withzulus and drifters (craft of the herring fishing industry) is now a marina with cafes,shops and public houses. In the 19th Century, Lossiemouth became a fashionableresort. Promise of a further upturn in Lossiemouth’s fortunes came with the discoveryand mining of lead and silver on the headland but this was unprofitable and came tonothing.

Lossiemouth has many attractive town houses and the view from Prospect Terrace ofthe sands, dunes and estuary of the East Beach and landscape beyond is amazing.The Lossie is narrow and intimate and a great way of seeing widgeon, herons andother wildfowl – and ospreys in summer – at close quarters. Cross the river on thefootbridge by Seatown with its terraced fishertown cottages built gable end facing thesea to combat the ravages of winter gales.

Distance, duration & terrain: 3 Miles, 1 1/2 Hours along beach and through the coastal town, Easy.

Path surface: Sand and Tarmac.Transport: Buses to Elgin.Car parks: West Beach car park off Stotfield Road. East Beach car

park to caravan complex at end of Church Street.Food & shops: Cafes, restaurants, takeaways and supermarket in

Coulardbank.Toilets: In Station Park by Lossiemouth Harbour.Things to do: Two businesses in the Harbour offer sailing trips. Try bird

watching by the estuary.

Pines, pillboxes and shipyards, by anancient sea of stones

From Lossiemouth the fine yellow sand of the east beach gives way to shingle andthe dunes to the dense pinewood of Lossie Forest managed for the public by

Forestry Commission-Scotland. Tank traps by the path and huge gun emplacementsoverlook the sea. Following the path inland, pass manmade pools full of freshwaterlife and nesting ducks. Binn Hill has on its seaward side a high fossil sea cliff nowcovered in trees. Waves of shingle in the forest mark the site of storm ridges, now highand dry. Passing the sea of stones as the ridges are known, enter the Lein, celebratedfor its vast reservoir of alpine plants and into Kingston. In Kingston follow the pathfrom Beach road to a farmyard and School Brae past an old 18th Century water tower.Once Kingston was an important shipbuilding port. Nothing now remains of the reachwhere boats were built. From Garmouth cross the viaduct over the Spey and carry onnorthwards to Spey Bay.

Distance, duration & terrain: 8 Miles, 3 1/2 Hours, Easy – Moderate if you climb the Binn Hill.

Path surface: Sandy beach, shingle path, forest tracks and tarmac.Transport: Buses run from Lossiemouth to Elgin and Garmouth

to Fochabers.Car parks: Park in Lossiemouth by the Lein in Kingston or at the end

of the viaduct cycle track. Ample car parking in Spey Bay by the Tugnet Ice House.

Food & shops: Shop and bar food in Garmouth. Spey Bay Wildlife Centre has a good café and gift shop.

Toilets: None on route.Things to do: Explore Binn Hill with its magnificent views. Try dolphin

watching at Spey Bay – with help from the Moray Firth Wildlife Centre.

Spey Bay to Buckie – Dolphins, Ospreysand tales about Spies

The mouth of the Spey at Tugnet is a great spectacle and is constantly beingreshaped – particularly during northerly gales and when there are heavy rains

upstream. The shingle comes originally from glacial meltwater streams. The Tugnet isa historically interesting Ice House, still used for events and exhibitions. Next door theMoray Firth Wildlife Centre is a great source of information. Follow the Speyside Way(also now the Coastal Trail) to Portgordon and onto a cycle path. The track at themouth of the Gollachy Burn is an area rich with wild flowers and legend concerningGerman spies who landed there were arrested in Portgordon. Passing throughBuckpool discover the Yardies conservation area, the perfect example of a seatownsettlement. Buckie Harbour is alive with working fishing boats, shipbuilding,engineering and lifeboat station.

Distance, duration & terrain: 7 Miles, 3 Hours, Easy.Path surface: Forest path, railway ballast, tarmac and cycleway.Transport: Bus Services from Spey Bay, Buckie to Elgin.Car parks: Good parking at the Tugnet. Harbour parking in

Portgordon and Buckpool Harbour. Ample parking by Buckie Harbour and the Buckie Drifter Museum.

Food & shops: Spey Bay Wildlife Centre, Portgordon newsagent. Cafes and supermarkets in Buckie town centre.

Toilets: Spey Bay Wildlife Centre and Buckie Harbour by wall of Fishmarket.

Things to do: Visit the Wildlife Centre. In reaching Buckie, visit the Fishing Heritage Museum and the Buckie Drifter.

Hard Rock Highway – Strathlene toPortknockie

From Buckie Harbour follow the coast road through Portessie to a shoreline car parkat Strathlene. This is where the hard rocks of the Grampian Mountains hit the sea;

the roots of a massive mountain range which extended from Norway to modern dayMexico. Follow the shoreline before ascending the cliff to the Strathlene Golf Courseand down again to Findochty, a classic fishertown harbour, now used by yachts andleisure crafts. Beyond the town, the east beach has waders, gulls, razorbills and theperegrines that prey on them. Here the Moray coastal trail joins the coastal cycle wayto Portknockie. Portknockie has a fisher town harbour, but also a pictish fort – theGreen Castle – and a long abandoned boat building industry in the rocky bay belowthe town. Sea bird life is outstanding and much of it is concentrated on and aroundthe Bowfiddle Rock, a huge and much photographed rock arch. The clifftop plateauhas fine coastal heath and views as far as Troop Head near Fraserburgh.

Distance, duration & terrain: 5 Miles, 2 Hours, Moderate to strenuous with rockysurfaces, steep climbs and steps.

Path surface: Grass, shingle, steps, tarmac and gravel tracks.Transport: Bus Service to Elgin from Portknockie and Findochty.Car parks: Strathlene, below Golf Course Clubhouse and

Findochty Harbour.Food & shops: Inns, bar food, chip shop and stores available in both

Findochty and Portknockie.Toilets: Near ‘Mannie’ Statue in Findochty harbour.

Portknockie has toilets at the harbour.Things to do: Walk the route and enjoy the views.

Cullen Bay

Down the long flight of steps from Portknockie to Cullen Beach, the path leads to alovely shoreline grassland. A low rock arch, the Whale’s Mou allows water to gush

beneath a section of rock headland. Bird life here includes stonechats, wheatears andvarious seabirds. A spring called Jenny’s Well is home to wayside traditional herbssuch as sweet cicely, meadowsweet and comfrey. Follow the beach path to the Baypast the preacher’s cave. In Cullen Bay, enjoy the sandy beach and look for the ‘ThreeKings’, jagged stacks of gleaming white quartzite marching in line out of the sea.Cullen’s seatown next to the harbour is a beautiful terraced fishertown of lowcottages. The graceful and spectacular railway viaduct that dominates Cullen’s skyline,now a cycleway was built according to historians to divert the railway from anyproximity to the Laird’s house. The Coastal Trail runs up Main Street beneath theviaduct to the Square where it finishes. An alternative route follows a coastal path tothe Moray Boundary near Bykie’s Goat overlooking an old salmon fisher’s bothy andreturns via the Caravan Park and Cemetery to the Square.

Distance, duration & terrain: 2 Miles, 3/4 - 1 Hour at leisurely pace, Moderate.Path surface: Stepped path, grass, shingle, rock skerries,gravel track

and tarmac.Transport: Buses from Cullen to Elgin or Aberdeen via Fraserburgh.Car parks: Beach Road car park, Cullen Square and Portsoy road.Food & shops: Hotels and Inns, Café in the Square, Ice Cream Shop.Toilets: Cullen Square and April to October at the beach.Things to do: Play on beach and enjoy an ice cream.

Cliffs, caves and coves of the Hopeman Ridge

Between Hopeman and Covesea, a 70 metre high sandstone ridge has twocontrasting sides. From the Laich and coastal road it is seen as a shallow sloping

hillside comprising farmland and pinewood. This conceals spectacular scenery of cliffson the ridge’s northern edge where the waymarked path runs, matching in grandeurand beauty anything that better known coasts of Britain exhibit. The sandstone of thecliffs formed 250 million years ago under desert conditions. ‘Fossil’ dunes can be seenin the cliffs, and exposed surfaces display the footprints of pre dinosaur reptiles thatgrubbed in the sand with twin tusks. Primroses, campion and violets cover some areasin springtime, and throughout, dense stands of whin (gorse) spread into theheathland. From the coastguard lookout tower scan the sea for signs of the Firth’sresident bottlenose dolphins. Gows’ Castle is the tall stack near North Covesea. Listenfor stonechats, linnets, willow warblers, soaring fulmars, herring gulls, oyster catchersand kittiwakes. Look out for bottlenose dolphins offshore. Continue along the ridgebefore descending down to beach at Covesea. Here the trail now carries you onwardsto the lighthouse.

Distance, duration & terrain: 6 1/2 Miles, 2 1/2 - 3 Hours, Moderate. The path is rough in places.

Path surface: Gravel path and earth track overlooked by whin.Transport: None on route. Buses to Hopeman & Lossiemouth.Car parks: Hopeman East Beach. Small car embayment on Clashach

Quarry track, Coastguard Lookout track entrance and East Covesea Golf Course.

Food & shops: None.Toilets: Hopeman Harbour and Lossiemouth West Beach car park.Things to do: Try rock pooling in Hopeman, Visit Cove Bay and marvel at

the pre dinosaur footprints on the access track.

Look No Trains: the line to Hopeman

The old railway line from Burghead to Hopeman has great views over the cliffs andskerries of the coast. Curlews from fields visit the shoreline and fulmars glide past

the sandstone cliffs. Finches, warblers and other birds are abundant in the whin. Thecliffs are favoured by climbers as well as seabirds, and a deep hollow near the car parkat Cummingston exhibits a deep blowhole now high above the waves.

Distance, duration & terrain: 2 1/2 Miles, 1 Hour stroll, Easy.Path surface: Old railway track.Transport: Bus services on neighbouring coastal road.Car parks: East Beach Car Park in Hopeman and Cummingston Car

Park off Seaview Road.Food & shops: Ice cream and chip shop in Harbour Street, Hopeman.Toilets: By the harbour. Open throughout the year.Things to do: Explore the routes round the East Beach marked out by

the village heritage group. Cummingston has a small children’s playground and interpretation panels overlook the shore.

Caer nam Broch – Burghead of the Picts

Burghead’s narrow sandstone promontory exhibits current bedding on thesandstone cliffs showing that the town and its headland follows the course of an

ancient river bed preserved in stone. Burghead is an ancient settlement with a historygoing back to the Bronze Age. In the dark ages it was the capital of the Northern Pictsand cradle of the Scottish Kings. Tradition has it that MacBeth was a local hero, beingborn close by, and Duncan who was King before him fell at the battle of Burghead. Thefort itself was a massive medallion shaped citadel, which is largely buried beneath theVictorian town. Links with the past include symbol stones of the clan’s emblem – amuscular bull. Two such symbol stones are displayed in the Headland Visitor Centre.On January 11th, a fire festival – the Burning of the Clavie – is still held in Burghead. Atone time Burghead was a great centre for sea trade and was reborn as a fishing port inthe 19th Century. As you stand on the quay, admire the warehouses the design ofwhich is attributed to Thomas Telford.

For further information about the town, visit the coastguard lookout, visitor centre andexhibition on the headland.

Distance, duration & terrain: 1 1/4 Miles, 1 Hour or longer depending on your interest, Easy. Some effort needed to climb the steps.

Path surface: Tarmac, grass and gravel track.Transport: Bus services to Hopeman, Duffus and Elgin.Car parks: On the esplanade and by St Aethan Cemetery at the top of

the town.Food & shops: Shop in Grant Street. The Beach Café has fresh food.Toilets: By the harbour next to the harbourmaster’s office.Things to do: A visit to the Fort is a must.

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