Balmedie Country Park, Balmedie

1. Follow the road from the A90 through Balmedie, past Balmedie House, to the north car park for Balmedie Country Park. Here there is a visitor centre, children's play area, toilets and a picnic area. There are numerous routes through the dunes to the beach, this walk heads straight to the beach and then south along it for 0.5 km before heading back through the dunes passing some pill boxes and returning along the road from the south car park.

2. Start by walking past the visitor centre and children's play area and turning right when a boardwalk is reached. Soon a surfaced road is reached, turn left and follow this for a short distance past some old buildings and then onto the boardwalk. This leads through the dunes and out onto the beach.

3. A steep descent brings you out on the long expanse of beach. This is part of a dune system stretching 23 km from Aberdeen to the Ythan estuary at Newburgh. Turn right to head south along the beach. Even at high tide there is usually a strip of sand to walk on, but care should be taken in very stormy weather.

4. Follow the beach until the outflow of a river is reached, this is a good spot to watch seabirds. To find the return route double back about 50 metres, just beyond the last anti-tank block and look for a way up into the dunes to the left. At the top there is a boardwalk. Follow this through the dunes.

5. Pass some concrete pill boxes, left from when defences were built to protect against invasion during the second world war. When another boardwalk path comes in from the left keep to the right. Soon this winds past a picnic area, with two more pill boxes visible on the dunes on the right, and the path reaches the south car park where there are toilets. Turn right here and follow the surfaced road back to the information board and path across to the north car park at the start.

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