Aberdeen – Coastal Road Trip

Day 28 – Aberdeen to Glenrothes

Wow, another beautiful day in Scotland. We will spend the morning in Aberdeen, before following the coastline down to Dundee, then across to St Andrews, before cutting slightly inland for the evening at Glenrothes.

Photo of the day

Coastal Road Trip, Montrose, Scurdie Ness, South Esk, Lighthouse — Scurdie Ness Lighthouse.

Aberdeen

Coastal Road Trip, Aberdeen, The Listener, Sculpture, Trumpet, History, Urban Myth — Exploring some street sculptures in Aberdeen centre, here the trumpet like ‘The Listener’.

Coastal Road Trip, Aberdeen, William Wallace, Statue, Aberdeen St. Mark's Church of Scotland — The Scottish knight Sir William Wallace, with the dome of St. Mark’s Church in the background.

Coastal Road Trip, Aberdeen, St. Mary's Cathedral — St. Mary’s Cathedral, a service was in progress, so we didn’t go in.

Coastal Road Trip, Aberdeen, River Dee, City Scape, Torry Point Battery, Jarno — Jarno viewing his empire. OK, just checking out the view over Aberdeen and the River Dee from Torry Point Battery.

Coastal Road Trip, Aberdeen, River Dee, Torry Point Battery, South Breakwater, Ship — A ship leaving the bustling Aberdeen Harbour past the South Breakwater.

Coastal Road Trip, Coast Road, Doonies Farm, Cove, Road, Train Track, Path, Bridge — And the same ship in the distance as we drove south along the coast road out towards Cove. A road, railway line and footpath all following the same coastal route out of Aberdeen.

Dunnottar Castle

Coastal Road Trip, Dunnottar Castle, Stonehaven — The remains of the medieval Dunnottar Castle perched on near vertical cliffs over the North Sea. It was super busy this Saturday lunchtime. As we had a long way to travel still, we didn’t stay long, continuing on towards Stonehaven.

Catterline Bay

Coastal Road Trip, Catterline Bay, Todd Head Lighthouse — The almost perfect arc of Catterline Bay, with Todd Head Lighthouse peeking over the headland in the far distance.

Scurdie Ness

Coastal Road Trip, Montrose, Scurdie Ness, South Esk, The Beacons — Just past Montrose we parked up at Ferryden, then walked along the South Esk River to the old nautical navigation beacons.

Coastal Road Trip, Montrose, Scurdie Ness, South Esk, Lighthouse — Then around the corner we arrived at Scurdie Ness Lighthouse.

Coastal Road Trip, Montrose, Scurdie Ness, South Esk, Dolphins — As we walked along we were followed by a pod of dolphins playing in the South Esk.

Coastal Road Trip, Montrose, Scurdie Ness, South Esk, Dolphins — They seemed to be having great fun.

Arbroath

Coastal Road Trip, Arbroath Abbey, Julian, Jarno — Checking out the remains of Arbroath Abbey. We’ve really had our fair share of castle, cathedral and abbey remains along this trip 😉

Coastal Road Trip, Arbroath Signal Tower Museum — Arbroath Signal Tower Museum on the sea front.

Dundee

Coastal Road Trip, Dundee, The McManus Dundee's Art Gallery & Museum — The McManus, Dundee’s Art Gallery & Museum.

Coastal Road Trip, Dundee, Desperate Dan Statue, Jarno — A cartoonish character in a funny hat, and Desperate Dan.

St Andrews

Coastal Road Trip, St Andrews, Castle — The evening light on St Andrews’ Castle (yes, another ruin).

Coastal Road Trip, St Andrews, Castle, Entrance, Bridge — As it was late in the day, the castle was now closed, so we wandered around the outside of the castle and the charming St Andrew’s lanes.

Coastal Road Trip, St Andrews, Cobbled Street — All was quiet, now that most of the tourists had left for the day.

Coastal Road Trip, St Andrews, Cobbled Street, Cottage — A typical stone cottage on the way back to our car. Next stop Glenrothes for the night.

Daily video

Day 27 – Elgin to Aberdeen

The weather was superb for day twenty-seven of our trip, what a difference a bit of blue sky and sunshine makes (especially for the pictures). We made full use of our Historic Scotland membership today too, saving quite some cash on the three of their properties we visited.

Photo of the day

Coastal Road Trip, Silverford, Fields, Corn fields, Golden, Sea — Rolling fields of golden wheat in the late afternoon Scottish sunlight.

Elgin Cathedral

Coastal Road Trip, Elgin Cathedral, Historic Scotland — Our first Historic Scotland visit of the day at the 12th century Elgin Cathedral. Some great exhibitions in the towers, quite a labyrinth of passageways up steep stone stairs.

Spynie Palace

Coastal Road Trip, Spynie Palace, Historic Scotland — Looking down on part of the remains from the lookout at the top of Spynie Palace.

Lossiemouth

Coastal Road Trip, Lossiemouth, Covesea Skerries Lighthouse — Yay, more lighthouses today, starting at Covesea Skerries Lighthouse, just west of Lossiemouth.

Fochabers

Coastal Road Trip, Fochabers, Baxters, Soup, Factory — Good timing, we were just getting hungry when we spotted Baxters visitors centre on the map!

Coastal Road Trip, Fochabers, Baxters, Shop, Julian — Playing shopkeeper.

Coastal Road Trip, Fochabers, Baxters, Soup, Sandwich, Lunch — A mug of Baxters soup for lunch, despite it being a lovely day (not really soup weather really), we had to try the local delicacy.

Findochty

Coastal Road Trip, Findochty, Harbour, Statue, Correna Cowie, The Mannie, These see the works of the lord and his wonders in the deep, psalm 107 — The Mannie statue of a fisherman by Correna Cowie….

Coastal Road Trip, Findochty, Harbour, Statue, Correna Cowie, The Mannie, Sunstar, These see the works of the lord and his wonders in the deep, psalm 107 — … keeping careful watch over Findochty Harbour.

Portknockie

Coastal Road Trip Portknockie, West view — Views west over the rugged coastline from Portknockie.

Coastal Road Trip Portknockie, Bow Fiddle Rock, Canoe — Canoeists dwarfed by Bow Fiddle Rock, which looked more like an elephants head if you ask us.

Cullen

Coastal Road Trip, Cullen, Bay, Beach, Seagulls — Hundreds of seagulls picking between the pebbles on Cullen Beach.

Portsoy

Coastal Road Trip, Portsoy, Harbour, Lifesaver — The quiet harbour at Portsoy, apparently often used for filming and commercials.

Coastal Road Trip, Portsoy, Harbour, Jumping Dolphin, Statue, Sculpture, Carn Standing — A jumping dolphin sculpture by the artist Carn Standing in the harbour.

Duff House

Coastal Road Trip, Banff, Duff House, Historic Scotland, Julian, Jarno — The impressive Duff House at Banff. Again we seemed to pick a good time to visit. We were the only visitors this afternoon, so we had the helpful Historic Scotland guides all to ourselves.

Coastal Road Trip, Banff, Duff House, Historic Scotland, Chandelier — Just a little taste of the restored interiors. Actually there was a fab Picasso on display (Les Soles, 1940), but sadly no pictures allowed (other than personal use), so Google it 😉

Silverford

Coastal Road Trip, Silverford, Fields, Corn fields, Golden, Sea — The views over the golden fields near Silverford (along the B9031), breathtaking in the late afternoon sunlight.

Coastal Road Trip, Silverford, Fields, Corn fields, Golden, Sea — So we ended up taking just a ‘few’ pictures, here are a selection…

Coastal Road Trip, Silverford, Fields, Hey Bales, Golden, Birds — The locales enjoying the fresh hay bales.

Coastal Road Trip, Silverford, Fields, Corn Fields, Golden, Wind Turbine — And a solitary wind turbine, nature and technology in harmony.

Crovie

Coastal Road Trip, Crovie, Viewpoint, Fishing village — The tiny fishing village of Crovie clinging to the waters edge. No space for cars, just a small access path along the front.

Pennan

Coastal Road Trip, Pennan, Fishing village, Panoramic — Then just a little further along at Pennan, we could make it down the tiny coastal lane into the village, just.

Coastal Road Trip, Pennan, Fishing village, Table, Chairs — No back gardens, so everything happens on the seafront….

Coastal Road Trip, Pennan, Washing Line — ..including hanging out the washing.

Coastal Road Trip, Pennan, Red, Phone Box, Local Hero, Ferness, Film, Julian — The phone box made famous by the film ‘Local Hero’ (staring Burt Lancaster), actually we haven’t seen the film.. but will do now.

Mounthooly Doocot

Coastal Road Trip, Mounthooly Doocot — Another dove house, we seem to be making a habit of this.

Fraserburgh

Coastal Road Trip, Fraserburgh, Museum of Scottish Lighthouses, — Two lighthouses at Fraserburgh’s Museum of Scottish Lighthouses, one old and one new.

Coastal Road Trip, Fraserburgh, Museum of Scottish Lighthouses, Buoy Park, Red Buoy — And a collection of disused brightly painted Buoys.

Rattray Head

Coastal Road Trip, Rattray Head, Lighthouse — Our final stop of the day, as we tried to get closer to Rattray Head to view the lighthouse. However, the track became increasingly narrow and bumpy and we weren’t sure if we were now on someone’s private drive. So we took some photos, somehow managed a U turn in the tightest of spaces, then continued our drive down to Aberdeen.

Daily video