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Moray Coast Trail

Day One

Findhorn to Hopeman

Laura had a plan. She told me about her plan and invited me to join her.

This morning, I was hoping there was a Plan B, as the rain hammered down from slate grey skies and the wind blew.

But no, there was no Plan B, so we did a bit of a shuffle with the cars to leave one at the end and one at the beginning and set off east into the wet, wet rain.

It wasn’t necessarily heavy rain, but it was persistently wet, all day.

The Moray Coast Trail officially runs between Forres and Cullen, following some stunning coastline. Having a little local knowledge, I suggested we started from Findhorn, to avoid either a dull plod along the cycle path or dicing with death along the back road.

Preparing

There would normally be a lovely view over the Moray Firth from here

We set off a little later than intended after my hair appointment and the shuffling, through the dunes behind the Findhorn Foundation, passed the four turbines and the back of the former air base at Kinloss and into Roseisle Forest. It rained and blew and we chatted and beetled along at a rare pace. We soon found ourselves at the hide before the car park which seemed a jolly suitable stop for lunch, sheltered and less breezy. It turned out to be carpeted and to have plenty of information posters and as we sat steaming gently we successfully steamed up the windows so we couldn’t identify the birds that were visiting the feeding station directly outside the window.

Nice lunch venue

Steaming gently

Lots of information

It turns out that for the first time in a long time, the toilets at Roseisle are shut, so we carried on beetling towards Burghead at a remarkable speed through the trees. Burghead came and followed a direct route to the maltings (more local knowledge) and down the side to pick the Moray Coast Trail back up and continue beetling in a speedy fashion towards Hopeman. Sadly, it wasn’t the sort of day for a coffee or tea stop en route, so we just kept beetling along.

In no time at all, we found ourselves at Hopeman Harbour and back at the van, bundling ourselves inside out of the wet, wet rain. Then, we needed a cup of coffee, so we headed back to Findhorn where the other car was. We did a turn round the village, just in case the Findhorn Bakehouse was open and were delighted to find that it was. We popped inside and found a lovely table for two next to a cosy radiator, ordered our coffees and resisted cake.

Bundling

Picturesque Hopeman harbour

Nice boat

A lovely day out, if a little damp around the edges. There may have been some whinging, but just a little.

Roughly 9.42 miles, 509 ft and an average speed of 3 mph.

Due to the weather forecast, we may not walk this route in order…