Moray Coast Trail

Saturday 25th May 2019

In the middle of my holiday in Scotland, while taking a break from mountains, I thought I would do part of a coastal trail so I caught a train to the lovely little town of Elgin where I got onto a bus to the coast at Lossiemouth. From there I set off past the beautiful beach and marina along the Moray Coast Trail, however the weather was rather poor with rain falling briefly even before I left Lossiemouth and it didn’t improve much after that. Leaving the town I passed the west beach and couldn’t resist the temptation to walk along the sands, and despite being only just a short distance away from R.A.F. Lossiemouth I had a relaxing walk with the sound of waves washing onto the beach, so it was a pity the sky was dull and grey. At the far end of the beach is a lighthouse positioned on a rock promontory with an old Second World War lookout bunker at the end, and below that are some caves, though I didn’t stop to explore them as that was already being done by some children. After the lighthouse I came off the beach and back onto the coastal trail to take a meandering course through the dunes, but I felt that so far the trail had not really justified the hype, though that would soon change.

Eventually the sandy terrain was replaced by more dramatic rock scenery as I climbed off the beach past a delightful display of sea pinks (also known as sea thrift) and up above the cliffs. Now, I thought, the proper coastal walking was beginning with echoes of the Pembrokeshire coast as I passed banks of gorse growing above the stony coastline on a good, clear footpath with many wild flowers decorating the scenery. The dramatic landscape continued past a stunning coastline until all too soon I reached the village of Hopeman where it started raining again while the coastal trail joins the route of an old railway, which provided me with easy, though tarmacked, walking as far as Burghead. The dramatic coastline continued as I passed by natural arches and rocky coves while the rain continued to fall. Rather than going all the way to the tip of Burgh Head, the Moray Coast Trail cuts through the town and so did I, to turn south and leaving the town entered the conifer woodland of Roseisle.

I was walking along a wide track that meandered through the plantation while rain continued to fall even when the sun came out and it wasn’t until the sun went back in that the rain stopped. I followed the signs for the coastal trail through the wood wondering if I would ever find my way out until eventually the path turned sharply right and I came out of the wood with a view round the broad sweep of Burghead Bay. Concrete blocks line the shore at this point that are the remains of coastal defences built during the Second World War, though many have now moved with the sands so that many are sitting in the sea or are on their side sticking out of the sand. I followed a course between the boundary fence of the old Kinloss Airfield and the beach until at the far end I took a route through Findhorn Dunes. This sandy, stony terrain has slowly been reclaimed by vegetation with many small trees and shrubs making for interesting scenery to take me into the village of Findhorn.

At this point I saw a signpost that said the town of Forres at the end of the Moray Coast Trail, and the railway station, was six miles away while I knew that the next train was in one and a half hours. Theoretically I could have walked that far and still caught the train, especially as it was on quiet roads, but I would have had to push myself and I don’t like doing that. I prefer to relax and enjoy my walks so I decided to take it easy and walk slowly to Forres and catch the train that is an hour later. After my experience on the Pembrokeshire Coast Path in 2015 I was expecting something similar with the Moray Coast Trail and although a section of it is good with some dramatic scenery and lovely wild flowers, the rest was nothing special. The weather did not help with rain on many occasions including as I walked all the way into Forres so that by the time I reached the station I was not in a particularly good mood, which was not helped when I saw that my train had been cancelled. This was just one of those days and in better conditions I may have been able to appreciate the many delights of the Moray Coast Trail.