The Moray Firth Coast

Walked and written by: Gayle

Walking some or all of the Moray Firth Coast between Inverness and Fraserburgh has become more popular with Challengers in recent years. This coast forms the northern boundary of the Challenge area and it gives a completely different experience from most of the Challenge area to the south – aside from the terrain, it’s quite possible that you’ll not meet another Challenger (it’s not that popular!), but there will be plenty of people around, particularly as you walk through the gorgeous little fishing villages along the way.

I’m not going to say anything in this post about the section of coast to the W of Cullen, as from Findhorn to Cullen the Moray Coast Trail is a well-established route and there’s plenty of information online about it.

To head east from Cullen, at a glance at the map, you may think that there’s lots of road walking involved (or perhaps you’re in the camp of ‘well there’s no reason I can’t walk along that bit of pathless coast!’), but things have changed on the ground over the last decade and those changes haven’t made it onto Ordnance Survey maps. So, if you’re thinking about incorporating some or all of that coast into your TGO Challenge, here’s some information that may be of use (all verified on the ground in late October 2024, unless stated otherwise):

Cullen to Portsoy: From Cullen, exactly as shown on the map, a trodden path continues around the coast to Sandend. At Sandend you can walk across the beach (or if the tide’s not amenable, use the obvious trodden line through the dunes) to a sturdy wooden staircase at the other side of the bay. From there a trodden path (and a bit of tarmac) will lead you to Portsoy (where, in Oct 2024, the public toilets were open and immaculately kept, complete with hot water, soap and hand towels).

Portsoy to Whitehills: From Portsoy, the path continues on with some informal signs saying ‘Coastguard Path’. At NJ603668 the path splits with the most obvious one going uphill, signed ‘Coastguard Point’. If you go up there you’ll get to some stakes and ropes marking out where there used to be a coastguard tower, but the path dead-ends. So, unless you’ve got a particular interest in seeing those stakes and rope, keep to the lower, lesser-trodden path. Skirting the next cove, there’s evidence that this was once a maintained path, with little bridges over streams and some stone steps, but it now has an abandoned and seldom-walked feel. It’s also a bit exposed in places, so if you’ve an intense dislike of the land dropping steeply away from you down to the sea, you may not be happy here.

At around NJ607664 you need to head directly up the obvious spur. There are, again, some abandoned rocky steps to be found amongst the rough ground, telling you that this was once the looked-after line of a path. That will take you up to NJ607663, from where it’s easy navigation to pick up the track that runs across Cowhythe Hill and to the B-road.

In case you’re tempted to continue along the coast from Cowhythe Head to Boyne Bay – you’ll find yourself in a working quarry, which is definitely not within the Scottish Outdoor Access Code, so the B-road is the only realistic option here.

Beyond Cowhythe Hill, you don’t need to trog along the B-road for awfully long. About 500m or so beyond the track to Easter Whyntie, there’s a track (not on OS 1:50k map, but evident on 1:25k) that takes you back to the coast. Top tip: when you get to the gate through the final fence before the coast, taking the high path may result in a prickly tussle with gorse; taking the low path gives perfectly good (if decidedly damp, through the marsh) walking. The path shown on the OS map will then lead you to the minor road W of Whitehills.

Macduff to More Head: I’ve not tried this for 10 years, but back then crops were planted right up to the boundaries of the fields, giving no margin to walk on, and gorse grew right up to the cliff-side of the boundaries. The road was the only realistic option.

More Head to Crovie: The path marked on the map from NJ785639 is not only very much in existence, but has recently been ‘upgraded’ to an engineered path (not an unpleasant one, I’m pleased to say). That leads you to St John’s Church, from where the path down the S wall of the churchyard will swing S before turning back N to take you to the beach and on to Gardenstown – a little settlement that is, in my opinion, well worth seeing.

There’s also an engineered coastal path, a concrete walkway, that hugs the bottom of the cliffs, from Gardenstown to the even smaller settlement of Crovie.

Crovie to Hell’s Lum: Beyond Crovie Farm, heading towards Northfield, at NJ816663, there’s a gate leading to an engineered path (complete with occasional benches, and side-trails to gannet viewing points) around the coast of Troup Head. It’s well worth taking, particularly on a fine day; the problem is that it only makes sense to go this way if you then cut across to the Hell’s Lum area.

Why is that a problem? Well, maybe it’s just me, but I’ve twice made my way from Northfield to the car park/road by Hell’s Lum, and I’ve not found an easy way of doing it. There’s a waymark on the gate at NJ826661, and the OS 1:25k map shows the line of a path that goes through it. There’s even now some protection over the next barbed wire fence where that path crosses. However, beyond the fence there’s lots of gorse to contend with (and I’m sure there was a second barbed wire fence too). This time around I avoided the gorse by continuing east from the gateway mentioned above, all the way over to the cliff edge (the mapped fence line in between didn’t exist on the ground, but this field may be cropped in May). The fence was down between field and cliff, so it was just a matter of stepping over it.

After thrashing around all over the place to find a way through to the car park, my successful route was to make my way steeply down to pass S of Hell’s Lum (an interesting natural feature), descending almost to sea-level in the adjacent rift, before climbing up the other side of the rift, being thankful for the trodden line from there to the Cullykhan Bay track.

Pennan to Aberdour Beach: There’s now a signed path from Pennan (from NJ848653) initially going up the N side of the field boundary, to the ruin of Pennan Farm – the rest of the way is obvious on the OS 1:25k map (and on the ground). Bits are overgrown, but it’s easily passable.

Aberdour Beach to Rosehearty: There’s a new section of engineered path between Mill Farm and NJ889646, and it’s possible (but read on!) to continue along the coast from there all the way to Rosehearty. However, due to a couple of landslips, there’s a 500m section, immediately W of Dundarg Castle, that was more exposed than I was comfortable with. I got around the issue by hopping over the barbed wire fence in a couple of places and going through the adjacent field, however, the alternative would be to take the minor road to the access track to Dundarg Castle, and rejoining the coast there (there’s no need to trespass into the grand house’s garden; the path passes in front of their boundary).

From Dundarg Castle to the fenceline at NJ902655 the going is rough but nothing that should faze a Challenger. From Quarryhead E the going is easy – and quite a delight. Every fence I came across had either a gate, a sturdy stile or a gap, so I didn’t have to climb any fences along this section.

Rosehearty to Fraserburgh: Time didn’t allow me to continue E to Fraserburgh on this trip, but as the road clings to the coast, I expect it’s still the only real option. Fortunately, it has a pavement along the entire stretch and it’s only around 6km.