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After walking from Nairn East beach through part of Culbin forest I fancied exploring the other side of the forest - Findhorn Bay. I'd been to Findhorn in the past but for some reason I can't fathom had only walked around the Findhorn eco-village and had never been to the original fishing village, which I now realise meant missing the best part.
We parked at the West Dunes car park, as per WH instructions, and walked back passing between the Heritage Centre on the left and the ice house on the right. The ice house has underground chambers built over 150 years ago to store ice for packing the salmon en route to London. Aspects of the local salmon fishing industry are displayed in these chambers but it's not open to visitors in the winter.
Ice house
After a closer look at the ice house we took the path towards the water where we turned right beside a yard for storing sailing boats. This gave us our first sighting of the dark line of Culbin pines at the other side of the bay and the sandspit known as the Ee which gives Findhorn its sheltered haven for birds and boats.
From this angle the mouth of the bay between the Ee and Culbin forest is barely visible
One of several cafes to choose from
A blooming gorse bush - it must be spring!
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My dog Jack (companion on many a Munro and Corbett) is now 13 and a half and along with most old labradors has arthritic joints, so can't walk the long distances he once did. He still enjoys his walks but usually after an hour he's flagging. Knowing this was a coastal walk of just 5km I decided to risk bringing him. He loves beaches. Or to be exact he loves scavanging beaches for bones or anything remotely edible - which for a lab is almost anything. Even in old age his passion for this is undiminished so I have to keep a close eye on what he's up to if I don't want him being sick later. The other problem is that he's stone deaf and can no longer hear voice or whistle so unless he can see me there's no means of recalling him. Thirdly I didn't want him to exhaust himself (you know the way dogs cover about double the distance we do on the same walk). So with all this in mind and much to his undoubted disappointment I kept him on the lead at this point when in the past I'd have let him off. (I did relent a bit later and to be fair he did behave himself.)
Me with old boy (Moira's photo)
Me telling him to pace himself as we still had a long way to go (M's photo)
Looking back to village over the natural harbour of Findhorn Bay
Back in the seventeenth century Findhorn was the principal seaport of Moray and vessels regularly sailed to and from all parts of the North Sea and from as far as the Baltics, until the narrowness and shallowness of the entrance became an obstacle for the increased size of trading vessels and the volume of trade to the village declined.
Findhorn Bay witnessed a brief episode in the 1745 Jacobite rising. In March 1746 the French brigantine Le Bien Trouvé entered the tidal waters with dispatches for Charles Edward Stuart, but her departure, with the Prince's aide-de-camp on board, was delayed by the arrival of two British men-o'-war. Unable to enter the shallow bay, the two warships lay in wait in the Moray Firth but under the cover of darkness Le Bien Trouvé managed to slip out and away to safety.
Walkhighlands says to take care at the water's edge because of strong currents and we could see them swirling about like a mini Corryvreckan.
Strong currents in channel
Rounding the stony western end of the spit we could see the wideness of the Moray Firth and the distant hills of Sutherland.
Western end of the Ee
Seals are often seen basking here but we didn't see any - only a hooded crow perched on old tree trunk sticking out of the water.
Eastern end of Culbin forest and the hills of Easter Ross
Zoomed to Ben Wyvis and oil rigs in the Cromarty Firth (M's photo)
Looking across the Ee to village
Finding a nice bleached-in-the-sun tree trunk we sat down for a cup of coffee with a nut and banana muffin (for us) and a carrot (for Jack). This was partly in obedience to my other half who had instructed me to give Jack a rest half way round. He was concerned the old boy's hips wouldn't make it and we'd end up carrying him back to the car. So we duly obliged and it was a lovely spot to sit for a while looking out to sea. It was a bit mean giving a dog a carrot to eat on sand as dogs can't eat a raw carrot without dropping bits and said bits got coated in sand. But being a true lab he didn't allow that detail to stop him scoffing the lot before looking hopefully at us for a piece of muffin.
As we continued along the stony beach we could see Burghead Bay stretching out ahead of us.
Beach huts - more commonly seen on the Norfolk coast than the Moray Firth
As instructed we took the 6th set of wooden steps up over the dunes and continued walking in the direction of the East Dunes car park. We passed a circular stone windshelter from which there were views along the coast in both directions.
West to Easter Ross
East to Burghead
Wildlife that can be seen along this stretch
Having seen the film "Darkest Hour" a couple of days before it felt apt to come across remnants of anti-tank defences built when invasion from Hitler's forces seemed imminent. These concrete blocks were built to withstand tanks and they've proved their worth by withstanding 80 years of wind and weather and still as solid as ever.
WW2 anti-tank fortifications
From the dunes we followed the road inland from the car park to the main road where we turned right.
There are two old piers that give good views of the houses along the shoreline
On the pier
A handy place to attach the lead - taking no chances with the old boy
Well if I'm going to have to stand here I might as well lie down!
A well deserved rest (M's photo)
The old dog had done well, only slowing down in the last 10 minutes as we approached the car. He has an uncanny sense of when a walk's coming to its end and at that point loses all motivation for going any further! It was an interesting circuit with varied scenery around a delightful village and if you're looking for a walk of this length we can thoroughly recommend it.
The icing on the cake was stopping at Brodie for lunch on the way home. One of the advantages of stopping at Brodie is getting the car into the shade in the woodland parking - essential for the dog if there's any sun. Brodie was heaving with folk, it being a Saturday lunchtime, but they had plenty of space and the soup was good.
