Murrays on Tour - Nairn to Whiteness Head

Saturday 16^th June

A bit of an explanation needed here, I think. Nairn holds a lot of nostalgic memories for us; some of my greatest childhood memories of family holidays are of the caravan site on the beach here; Mo and I honeymooned here in the days before Majorca and Tenerife were invented; and for sixteen years and two sons we lived in Inverness and I worked at the oil rig fabrication yard that was McDermott Scotland, until Mrs T decided that if we were going to demand a living wage then we wouldn’t be able to compete with the Spanish or the Italians or the Koreans and so what if it was the North Sea, market forces was the God to be worshipped so it was time “to get on your bike” and move on, chasing the work.  Hate is a very emotive word, but sometimes it gets close to how I feel about her when I wander round the streets and parks of Nairn feeling a little bit homesick, and I wonder what it would have been like never to have up sticks and followed the work. But enough of this stuff, before long I’ll be telling you my age and boasting about still having my own teeth!

The main thing that would bring us from the metropolis that is Inverness to Nairn with the kids and picnic in tow would be the beach. With its world famous white, “singing” sands, it’s temperate dry climate, (due to the influence of the Gulf Stream, apparently), and known in Victoria’s time as the Brighton of the North when it was a favourite haunt of the rich and powerful. This led to big houses and even bigger hotels, but it wasn’t always so. It started, as many of these small hamlets did, as a fishing village built around the mouth of a navigable river with herring, of course, being the cash crop. It was Thomas Telford, (the man gets everywhere), who built the first permanent harbour in 1821 and as the Victorian tourist trade increased so the town expanded to cope. So it was on the river we started our walk and looking down from the footbridge it took a bit of imagination to see the fishing fleet beached on the muddy banks of the river, fortunately there are helpful information boards dotted along the way.

Looking down river towards the sea

Nairn harbour - leisure only these days

From a tidal point of view we had timed this badly. The idea had been to walk along the beach but with the tide in we were struggling to see the beach never mind walk on it. We compromised by walking along the path by the links, passing a commemorative plaque to Third British Infantry Division who had used the beach for training prior to the Normandy invasion, and Nairn baths with an information sign telling us “the first Nairn swimming bath was carved out of solid rock of an old stone quarry filled with salt water pumped fresh from the sea.” Now that was proper bathing!

Leaving the town we made our way along the edge of the golf course, (surely one of the best in the country, it had hosted the Curtis Cup just the weekend before), until we reached the old ice house just by the ninth green / tenth tee.

The Nairn Golf Club

The Old Ice House, now a feature of the golf course

By the time we reached the course boundary the tide was beginning to ebb and walking along the soft pebbled beach was uncomfortable but just about doable. It was about this point that we were faced with a dilemma. An old wire fence ran down from the salt flats inland and finished about ten yards down onto the beach. Tied to this fence by its neck was a soft toy that we later decided was a rabbit. It was hard to tell because he was missing an ear and although he still had two eyes his nose was in a sorry state. So the dilemma was, should we rescue him, or is he set there for a reason? If he was a memorial of some sort then we should leave him, but if he was set there by some beachcomber with a warped imagination, should we rescue him?

What to do?

Eventually we left the beach and its pebbles and cut up onto the salt flats where we were able to pick up a land-rover track that ran along their edge through gorse bushes covered in glorious yellow flowers, and hidden in the middle of them we stumbled across a trig point. I think I must be turning into some sad geek because I was strangely pleased to come across it!

Glorious yellow

Maybe I should start ticking them off - then again maybe not!

The track eventually led to the old salmon fishing bothy about half a mile or so from the point of Whiteness Head. The bothy itself has had some refurbishment done to it, mainly in the form of an upper story. It still however looks a bit run down!

Old salmon fishing bothy

Not much left to see of a once busy fabrication yard - and sixteen years of my life!

We found a sheltered spot down on the beach across the spit from the old sheet pile wall where we ate chocolate and chatted about the old days, speculating about what would / could / should have happened if things, (whatever they are), had been different or if we’d decided not to chase the work or, if, why....and so it goes on.  We never reached any conclusions of course so we packed up and continued our walk beyond the bothy but we were conscious of the fact that we were now in a Site of Special Scientific Interest with an active ternary at the end, so we did the right thing and headed down onto the beach before quite reaching the end and began our journey back towards the town.

Never quite made it to the point - but at least the Terns were happy!

The tide was receding now and we were finally able to walk on the hard sand by the water’s edge. We passed the stubby remnants of the old salmon fishing traps as well as some rather bizarre driftwood and flotsam sculptures. We also found a ball. Oh dear!

Remnants of a lost way of life.

Strange sculptures on the beach

Kicking like a girl!!

It was amazing just what gets washed up onto a beach like this. Everything from shoes to chairs, from fishing floats to balls. It did make us wonder where it all came from and if it was deliberate dumping or if it was simply lost. I guess we’ll never know, but it did get us wondering about the rabbit tied to the fence. Was it another one of the strange sculptures and if so should he be rescued? But maybe that was just a coincidence, and in fact some family visits the spot every year to commemorate an event we know nothing about. Decisions, decisions!  We left the beach again when we reached the golf course to have a look at the Old Ice House, wondering why it was located so far from what would have been the nearest big house, probably what is now The Newton Hotel. But as ever we never came up with any answers.

The Ice House

From here we cut across the golf course and into the town. We had left the hotel around nine thirty and arrived back just before three to a well earned pint followed by probably one of the best Italian meals I’ve had in many a year.

And as for our dilemma I hear you ask?

Freedom!!! - Luggy joins the tour.

J.

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Murrays on Tour - Ben Rinnes

Friday 15th June
We're off on our jolly holidays today, heading for Loch Sunart just south-west of Fort William. Well that's the eventual destination anyway. We're stopping off in Nairn for a couple of nights since the lease on the cottage is Sunday to Sunday and Nairn holds some nice memories of our youth. But enough of that, the run over to Nairn, well by our favoured route, took us past The Buck 'o Cabrach and I was tempted to have a wander up there since Mo had missed out on my original visit and also to find the carved stones, but the walk in is muddy through high heather. The alternative was Ben Rinnes just outside Dufftown which, as far as I could ascertain had a good path all the way to the summit. We decided that this was the best option since the weather was already threatening and the forecast had been for a getting worse kind of day. There's a car park just off the B9009 Dufftown to Glenlivet road which was already full when we arrived, (although it could have held another couple of cars in the twat in the Audi had known how to park it!).

Dodgy parking!

The weather was cool and windy and we didn't hold out much hope of reaching the summit in clear weather and discussed whether we would go all the way up if it closed in. The estate tracks are well maintained so the walking underfoot was easy and with no navigation involved we set off at a brisk pace. The path is uphill straight from the car park before levelling off at 411m when we crested Round Hill and got our first look at Ben Rinnes.

Off at a brisk pace both to keep warm and to try and stay ahead of the weather

Our first look at Ben Rinnes

From Round Hill the path undulates along for a while before climbing up over Roy's Hill at 535m. We dropped down slightly, gaining some relief from the tail wind that was bowling us along quite nicely and took advantage of the lull to get into our waterproofs. It was by now typical Scottish weather where it wasn't actually raining but there was enough moisture in the air to get you wet and the mist was slowly blowing in.

Our last view of Ben Rinnes before the weather closed in.

We past a few walkers who were on their way back down, (probably knew something we didn't), as well as a jogger in tee-shirt, shorts and sandals. We felt a little bit over dressed in full waterproofs! The mist finally caught up with us on the final pull up to the summit, but we reckoned that we were too close to seriously consider turning back, and with the well maintained and obvious path it seemed a responsible enough decision to push on.

Our first "view" of the summit cairn

Final few steps, Ben Rinnes 841m, (Corbett 106 by height)

 The trig point is on top of a fine granite tor although I would argue the highest point is on the next ledge, so we crossed over to it - just in case. Our route guide had promised us some great views from the top but I guess we will need to take their word for it since we were struggling to see the path never mind any further. We stopped in the shelter of the wind for a while and had some coffee and chocolate in the hope that it would clear, but no luck. Eventually we gave up and retraced our steps back down the path. Strangely we never met anybody making their way up, I wonder why?! The mist eventually turned into proper rain and we were pretty wet when we arrived back at an empty car park. We had set off just after twelve o'clock and arrived back by three which was pretty quick for us.

A now empty car park, obviously only fair weather walkers!!

All in all it had been good fun and we'll come back eventually and do it again in better weather so that we can take in those promised views. For now though we're heading west to Nairn and a well earned holiday pint.

J
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The Ley Way at Crathes Castle

Friday 8th June,

Like most of the country this week, the weather has been, at best unpredictable and at worst, downright bad. It looked like we were going to miss yet another week but as things improved marginally into the afternoon we decided that a quick run down to Crathes Castle would give us the option of wandering around one of the waymarked walks in the grounds or, if the weather didn't behave, we could always retire to the cafe and drink coffee and eat stuff!

Crathes Castle

According to the font of all modern knowledge - Wikipedia - the castle was built on grounds gifted to the Burnett of Leys family in 1323, but the castle in its present form wasn't completed until 1596 by Alexander Burnett of Leys. Sounds a bit like me decorating the spare room! The castle was gifted to the National Trust in 1951 by the 13th Baronet of Leys, Sir James Burnett. The name seemed to ring a bell and checking back I found that it was also a Burnett that was commemorated on Scolty Hill, a different one, but a Burnett right enough. They must have owned a fair bit of Aberdeenshire in those days. Still I'm sure the locals were grateful for their patronage.

The Ley Way, (now I know where the name came from), starts in the gardens of the castle and follows what appears to be the perimeter of the grounds. There are exotic trees all over the estate and I very quickly got fed up photographing yet another South American pine or other so this is the only one I'm posting  - and I don't know what it is!

Big tree

After the last couple of weeks this was very easy walking on maintained paths and it turned into a pleasant afternoon stroll. Our first stop was in Caroline's Garden, named after one Caroline Crichton-Stuart for no reason mentioned other than she loved this place. The garden was restored, (mainly by getting rid of the rhododendrons apparently), in 1986 by Youth in Trust.

Steps leading up to Caroline's Garden

I'd tell you what this bush was if I knew

This looked like a location for Lord of the Rings!

From the garden the path headed out into more commercial woodland where a bit of tree felling had been going on and was probably the reason this part of the path was closed the last time we visited the castle. However clearing the trees did have the benefit of opening up some nice views to Banchory and beyond to Scolty.

Banchory with Scolty Hill on the left

The commercial woodland eventually gave way to more natural trees, mainly Birch, Rowan and Beech, at least that's the ones I recognised. Eventually the path turned back towards the castle, passing the car park, before heading south on another wide loop this time with more agricultural land bordering the trees. We passed under the tree top adventure area, (Go Ape), with its high walks and zip lines. I believe the facility is mainly used for management team building, stag parties and the like but is also available for individuals, if you're that way inclined. Mo and I decided that we weren't.

Adventures in the treetops.......

......but not for us!

Beyond the adventure area we picked up what I believe is the Bo Burn, (the O & S map seems a little vague about naming it). The paths and bridges were, as you might expect in a National Trust property, all in good condition complete with a couple of long boardwalks built by B.P of all people in 2000.

B.P. sponsored boardwalk

and Bridge

It was while we were walking along the second boardwalk that I saw a bird I didn't recognise. Now as I'm sure I've said in previous posts, I'm not a bird watcher but I do know when I see a bird I'm unfamiliar with, if that makes any sense. In this case it turned out to be a Jay, which is of course a fairly common member of the crow family. What made it unusual is that they are much less common this far north. Even better though was that he, (or she), stayed around long enough for me to get a photo.

Doing my twitcher bit

The path now made its way around and across a picturesque man-made fishing loch that gave some great reflections, before crossing the driveway and into a more manicured area. We caught a fleeting glimpse of a woodpecker and a red squirrel, (twice in two weeks, I thought they were supposed to be rare). We stopped off at a walled cemetery to read the stones but as ever with these things it's all too sad so we made our way back up to the castle.

Fishing Loch

Castle Cemetary

We considered stopping in for a coffee but time was getting on. We'd set off around one thirty and arrived back at the car at four o'clock although as ever with this type of walk we had taken it very slowly and I'm sure we could have rattled round in half the time. All in all pleasant and not at all demanding, so maybe it was what we needed before we set off on our West Coast holiday next week.

John
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Culardoch & Carn Liath from Invercauld Estate

Saturday 2nd June,

With the family coming over tomorrow to eat my food and drink my beer Mo decided that she would prefer to stay home and get things ready. So, being the good husband I am, I volunteered to go walking for the day so that I wasn't under her feet. I sometimes surprise myself about how considerate I am!

After last weekend's success I again headed down into Deeside to another sporting estate this time on the opposite side of the River Dee called Invercauld. The Estate is owned by the Farquharson family as it has been for centuries, but now, like most estates these days, it's run as a commercial venture with the usual mix of hunting, shooting, fishing, holiday cottages and other leisure activities being used to pay for its upkeep. I parked in the walker's car park at Keiloch a couple of miles east of Braemar and set off along the long beech tree lined drive towards Invercauld House. It was only just after eight o'clock when I started walking but, although it was warm in the sunlight there was still enough of a chill in the wind to remind me that it was still only early summer!

Beech treelined drive to Invercauld House

Invercauld House with The Cairngorms as its backdrop

There's a fair selection of waymarked walks from the car park and I followed one of these for a while as my route turned up away from the house and drive and into a fine standing of old Scots pines. These eventually gave way to a much sparser area of pines and silver birch and the whole area seemed alive with birdsong.

Leaving the Pine Forest

The place was alive with birds - there are even deer in this if you look closely enough!

It was at this point I left the waymarked trail and headed back into a denser area of pine trees for a while as I gradually gained height. It was warm and a bit stuffy in the trees but as I finally cleared the tree line the chill wind made itself felt and I was back to wind-cheater and woolly hat. The estate is littered with landrover tracks and I'm always torn between being glad of the easy walking and being critical of the scars they leave on the hills. I guess you pays your money and takes your chance, as they say. It was just after walking out onto the high moors that I got my first view of rounded summit of Culardroch, (Corbett number 22 by height if you're still counting), which was my first target of the day.

 

Clear of the trees and into the wind

Culardoch, and the route snaking away to the left

It was an easy, undulating walk along the estate track crossing the Allt Cul stream by a stout wooden bridge before the steady uphill pull to the flat shoulder of Culardoch. As I strolled along, steadily gaining height, the views over my right shoulder to Lochnagar and ahead and to the left to Beinn a Bhuird and Ben Avon just kept improving and it seemed a little surreal that these views could be so different from the views Mo and I had of them last week. It was on this flat shoulder of the hill, just before the final pull up to the summit that I came across what looked like something out of Gardeners' World! You come across many strange sights when you're out on the hill; everything from railway carriages to carved stones, but I'd never come across what looked like an allotment!

My camera - which knows more about photography than me - added the colour!

 

It just looked like heather but I have no idea why they would be growing it in boxes!

After a bit of head scratching I left the track and onto the first serious uphill section of the day. Being a Corbett of course there was a fairly well defined path until the final pull to the summit when it petered out amongst the stones and heather. However the trig point is always a welcome sight, if for no other reason than it confirms that you're probably on the right hill!

Culardoch (900m)

North East to a distant Morven

North to Loch Bluig and Ben Avon

South to Lochnagar

West to Beinn 'a Bhuird

Culardroch may well be an unassuming little rounded hill, but it gives some fantastic 360deg views from its top. However it's also pretty exposed so, although it had been my intention to stay for a while, I decided to retrace my steps back to the landrover track and the shelter of a shooting butt for a bit of lunch. It was at this point that I met the only other person of the day. A foreign gentleman who seemed in an awful hurry! He told me that "I must get to the top of Culardoch then I need to come down and go up to Carn Liath!!"  He even managed to tell me that he had been to Lochnagar last weekend and got sunburnt - and he managed all of this without actually stopping!! He left me feeling out of breath and I'd never said anything. But here's the rub; I'm one of three brothers therefore being competitive is in my blood and even as he strode off I was already thinking that there's no way he's going to go hurtling up that hill, come back down then pass me on the way up Carn Liath. It ain't going to happen. So that was it; the half eaten sandwich was stuffed back in the rucksack and I was off down the track, head down and legs pumping. The path up Carn Liath is a faint scar in the heather that leads through a boggy section that is quickly left behind as the heather gives way to stones and scree. It also becomes steeper and this of course slowed my mad dash enough for me to realise that I was being a twat. Apart from anything else, even at his pace, he was a good hour behind me and the top of Carn Liath was only forty five minutes for me at my usual pace.

Looking back to Culardoch from the slopes of Carn Liath

From Carn Liath's false summit towards Beinn 'a Bhuird

 I stopped for a while when I reached the false summit and contemplated the fact that even when you know there's one coming you're still disappointed when it turns up! The final push was pleasant enough although picking a path through the loose rock and scree is always a bit more of a challenge when you're on your own. There is some debate apparently as to what particular cairn on the long horseshoe plateau is actually the top, but it seems strange to me that having climbed all the way up here you wouldn't go to all of them as a matter of course.

The second of three summit cairns on Cairn Liath, (862m Corbett number 74 by height), and probably the highest

Lochnagar from Carn Liath

The route I was following suggested that the easiest thing to do now was to retrace my steps back to the landrover track, but that alternatively I could follow the line of an old dry stane dyke south until it gets too steep then cut across the heather to the track. If ever something had been understated it was referring to the engineering marvel that I came across as "an old dry stane dyke"!!Of course I've seen these boundary walls before - haven't we all - and I've always been impressed by their construction, but this was different. Five feet tall, two foot wide it stretched for miles, literally as far as the eye could see and remember I'm at 860m!


If you look carefully you can see this running away into the distance

A remarkable piece of building - and no mortar in sight

I sat with my back to the wall to finish my lunch and contemplated who these people had been and what it must have been like to put something like this together, and why? Did they only work in the summer or am I being a big softy? How long must it have taken and how many people must have been involved, and again why? I'm afraid I have no answers to the questions but my respect for the people involved is immense. So I followed the wall, passing only two or three places where it had fallen or been removed until a faint path took me back to the landrover track where I spotted my adversary hurrying on down the hill, still striding out, no doubt having been up onto Carn Liath and I wondered if he'd even noticed the wall in his rush. I wandered back down through the pines and birch woods to the big house with its beech trees and fishing pond where I had a one sided conversation with a red squirrel as I tried to get it to sit still long enough for me to photograph!

"Look just sit still for a second!"

 I think this might be a different one, they all look the same to me!

The walk back to the car was a little bit busier with one or two families out doing the waymarked walks and the cycle routes, but I'd had a good day. I'd left the car just after eight o'clock and arrived back around three, so as ever I was back earlier than if Mo had been with me. But it's another route that would suit us, so I imagine we'll back at some point. In the meantime it was back home and maybe tomorrow when we're having that family lunch I'll raise a quiet glass to those remarkable, unheralded, builders and their lost skills.

J
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