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We have already explored the lengths of River Findhorn, but this particular walk was a new experience for us. Kevin works in this area and he noticed a forest car park in the forest past Conicavel. I was happy to discover that a short woodland stroll from this car park actually features on Walkhighlands
Our option is slightly longer but all the way it follows good paths/tracks. Autumn is the best time to visit this corner, as the woods are full of fungi (I posted a separate set of mushroom photies in Wildlife section). The path along the cliffs is a bit wet and may be slippery, but all in all - a great way to spend a couple of spare hours.
From the car park, we took an obvious path east, towards the river. The woods here have many surprises, like this little burn:
A few hundred metres later it's worth taking a short detour to the Dun Earn viewpoint, even though it's a bit overgrown:
The white house in the middle of the woods is Logie House:
We returned to the path and soon we were warned about the dangers of this area!
Well, the path is obvious enough:
Soon we were walking along the steep cliffs with River Findhorn humming down below... At this time of the year it's a bit difficult to see the river through all the trees...
All you can see now...
The path continues in SE direction:
The meandering river and the old forest of Darnaway:
One of many fungi we met that day:
I wanted to have a better look at the river and my wish was granted when we discovered a path down the cliff - marked as Pool Anchor:
The first steps are constructed but further down...
...further down, it's steep so care should be taken... Watch your feet, Kevin!
Pool Anchor must be a good fishing spot and even better viewpoint:
Of course, I wouldn't be myself if I didn't scramble up onto another tumbling-boggy place:
The day was rather quiet and the river offered some lovely reflections:
We climbed up back to the main path and walked along it till we came across a tiny wooden fishing hut:
It might not have been a mountain epic, but we loved this quiet little route...
We investigated the cliffs for more paths down, which resulted in some rock-hopping and mud-scrambling training
but the reward was worth it:
Kevin posing on the rocks:
After more lurking, we found another descent diversion down to the river - this one called the Mill Pool:
The descent to this one is not exactly easy:
View down to the river:
Busy filming:
Some very impressive old trees here:
After another 15 min of walking, we turned around the corner... and there was one more viewpoint:
This one, apart from the usual good panoramas of the river...:
...also provides a chance to have a closer look at Logie House:
We left the river side eventually and followed the signposted route into the forest - this was the wettest part of the stroll:
Instead of returning to the car park as the WH walk description suggests, we prolonged our walk by turning south along forest tracks. Sadly, a large chunk of forest has been cut down very recently...
...but on the other hand, with the trees gone, the views are better:
The track took us all the way back to the tarmac road just south of Dounduff Lodge. The rest of the stroll was along the road, but there is very little traffic here and it goes through lovely woods all the time. A great "quickie in the neighbourhood"!
The only downside of this trip was the number of ticks we brought back home
I guess it's one of the "blessings" of Scottish countryside
