This slightly longer unmarked circuit in Culbin Forest visits several interpretation points and includes a section along the back of the tidal mudflats - a great place for birdwatchers.
Bog Factor
Mostly easy walking on forest tracks. The shoreline section can be boggy, and may have to be omitted if the tide is very high.
Wellhill car park (charge), Culbin Forest.
None.
NH997613
At Wellhill car park (charge for parking) there are toilets, a stone sculpture and an information board. Most of the track junctions in the forest are marked with numbered posts which can help with navigation. Begin the walk from the gate beside the board, almost immediately turning left off the track onto a good path. This first part of the walk reverses the last stage of the Hill 99 Trail and so has black waymarkers. The path winds through the Scots pines; when it forks, go right. Turn left when the path reaches a track.
Culbin Forest was once a vast area of shifting sand dunes, but was purchased by the Forestry Commission in the 1920s. Today the mature plantations of Scots and Corsican pines are dotted with birches and recreation has become as important as timber production. Continue along the track, ignoring a track off to the left but taking the next on the right (at junction 42). When this emerges at a t-junction, turn left again, continuing on a track through the pines. Keep ahead at junction 39 to eventually reach a junction with a wooden signpost.
The route continues straight ahead here - signed 'Hidden History'. The track is joined by a grassy one coming in from the left; continue ahead until just before another signpost at junction 38.
Immediately before this junction on the right - and easily missed - is the old Hidden History scuplture. Here a seat and some interpretative artworks encourage reflection on a different past. Before the coming of the forest, for many centuries people lived amongst the shifting sand dunes of Culbin, farming but living under the threat of the sand. In 1694 a terrible storm forced the last inhabitants to abandon their homes, which are now buried beneath the sand. Back at the junction, turn right - signed for The Gut.
The path is narrower through the gorse. Go straight ahead at crossroads 16 and then 15 to eventually emerge from the forest onto the tidal mudflats beyond. This area is an RSPB reserve and an important habitat for wading birds; the dunes a little further out are above the usual level of high tide. The mudflats themselves can be dangerous and are flooded quickly, so keep close to the forest edge.
Unless the tide is very high, turn right and continue the walk along the wet, grassy ground between the mud flats and the forest. Look out for herons and waders all year round, but in the winter months the area provides a haven for thousands of birds returning from their breeding grounds in the north. The wooden poles were erected to prevent glider landings during World War 2. If the tide means progress here is impossible, return to cross-roads 15 and instead follow the inland route east.
After a kilometre and a half look out for a faint grassy track on the right that leads back into the forest; there is a small sculpted seat on the left after you enter the trres. Keep ahead - ignoring a track off left - and continue through the forest, soon reaching a signed t-junction; turn lefthere , marked for 'Buckie Loch'. Keep on the main track as it curves right at junction 13, and ignore a track coming in from the left at junction 12. A short distance further is junction 9; there is another hidden seating area down off to the left here, this time interpreting the wildlife of the forest.
Continue ahead from junction 9 - signed for Wellhill car park, and straight on at junctions 11 and 10. Eventually junction 2 is reached; again follow the main track, which curves to the right here. After another 400m the track curves right again - leave it and take the clear, broad path ahead through the trees. Go right when this meets another track. This passes through a gate to return to the car park at the start.
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