Friday 26 June 2015
Peterhead to Fraserburgh
17.5 miles
Coral Haven Guest House
Another grey day. Will they ever end? It took me the best part of an hour to get to the centre of Peterhead so I stopped for a proper breakfast: a huge pancake with maple syrup and a coffee. It seems that bed and breakfasts in Scotland rarely provide a proper breakfast, at least the ones I stay at all seem to offer self-service cereals, and they’re not even cheap!
I had to jump down a sand dune to access the beach and then it was a 3 hour walk, mostly along the beach, to St Combs. There wasn’t much to see today, only a few birds and no people. I took a detour into the dunes at Scotston to find a path that would lead me to a bridge across a burn just before a huge gas terminal. Annoyingly, the path over the bridge and beyond was overgrown so I was treated to another soaking for my feet and legs and several nettle stings. Another jump down a sand dune cliff was required to access the beach again. Amazingly, as I approached Rattray Head the sun came out for an hour and I got a nice view of The Ron lighthouse just off shore.
St Combs and Inverallochy were both grey towns with nothing going on. They were linked by a golf course that had some huge, grey and soulless-looking houses by the side of it. At Inverallochy I decided to get the bus the last 4 miles to Fraserburgh as my feet were getting sore from 2 days of walking with wet socks and boots. Standing at the bus stop it started raining; decision vindicated.
Oh no, I’m getting rather worried about you as you get further into the wilderness at the top of Scotland! Take care, and get your boots dry – stuff them with newspaper overnight.
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Thanks for that advice. Unfortunately, even stuffed with newspaper they don’t dry out fully. Shouldn’t walk Aberdeenshire in the summer!
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Good idea to stuff them with newspaper – Lucy listen to your sister!
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Its not all about Food you know ms Lucy! He he!
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Oh but it is!!!
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Juice…a pancake and syrup does not warrant the proper breakfast either……you need bacon, eggs and toast…….carb overload is the answer every time. Check your boots too for tears and rubs believe it or nor Gortex looses it qualities very quickly……more expense sorry.
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The last couple of days you haven’t sounded too happy, but you seem to be getting lots of good
advice re boots and breakfasts. I’ve got no idea how wild and difficult Scotland can be but I can
imagine, so keep going we are all rooting for you. Val x
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It’s not that wild yet, just a bit bleak in bad weather. Thanks for the thoughts though as there are definitely times when I want to go home
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