Farr, just South of Inverness, was our holiday retreat basecamp for this walk. We had been looking forward to it because we're both geographists, and the rock formations were a "must-see". We were not disappointed.
Parked near the Golf Club and railway viaduct instead of the centre of Cullen; there was a nice vintage caravan parked there selling hot drinks and bites to eat, although we had our picnic with us.
Once again (See our Craigower Walk report), the golf course fascinated us, with its rocky hazards and close proximity to the beach. Soon we were having to dodge the incoming tide, and some of the river channels were quite deep. Jenny's Well was a bit overgrown. As we started the ascent, with the anticipation of seeing the Whale's Mouth, a walker coming the other way announced that there had been a dolphin/seal sighting, so we speeded up in the hope of seeing it. No such luck!
The rock formations were as the walk promised, and we settled for our picnic on a well-sited bench at the top. Here we made friends will several local dog-walkers, and a particularly gorgeous Highland Terrier lassie (labelled East Highland by her owner), helped us eat our sandwiches. Then came the deluge which we sat through, soggy sarnies and all. Didn't want to leave the rocky photo opportunities, but knew that there was more of a walk to come.
Portknockie was beautiful. A sleepy town when we visited, but the architecture is wonderfully symmetric, and the town is steeped in history as the signs described.
The walk back to Cullen along the disused railway, is a bit boring because you are in an embankment, but you can imagine the trains that used to use it, and lament their loss. Once it opens out at the top of the golf course, it was great to look down on the golfers and try to work out where the holes were. We didn't succeed. The views of the Bay from the top of the viaduct are lovely. We cut short this walk, in order to get back to the car, but we drove through Cullen so that we didn't miss any part of the "walk" at that point.
This is a great walk for the less-fit of us who live in Flatlands, and don't have access to mountains regularly. It wasn't particularly a tourist magnet either, so we felt very privileged to enjoy the sights without it being crowded.