We are finally getting back to some proper walking! After moving to Arbroath in 2022 we have gradually been exploring the local area and thought it would be a great idea to walk along the coast from one side of Angus to the other to try and improve fitness before we embark on the next leg of our Mull of Galloway to John O'Groats walk: the West Highland Way. We were helped by a book we found by a local writer. You do find a lot of routes still aren't properly linked up for walkers who want to do say a few days or a week of walking so you can't always find a helpful website laying it all out. The only trouble with walking guide books is they can be a bit whimsical on the part of the writer, such as "just a wee scramble up the 45 degree rock face and then merrily skip across the forty foot drop". This would probably not be so much the case if most books weren't written by men, which we discussed to much humour on our walk. Here's a brief summary of what we got up to with a few photos. The walk took us 5 days from the start of the county of Angus at Monifieth to the mouth of the River North Esk just past Montrose. We completed the walk on various weekends from April to June 23. Day 1 Monifieth to Carnoustie via Barry Buddon (6.5 miles) No it's not the surface of the moon, it's the deserted headland at Barry Buddon with a haar coming in. This is a brilliant walk following the beach when the tide is out although you have to look up when it is not operating as a military firing range (which you can do quite easily on the Ministry of Defence website). We start the day by getting the train to Monifieth from Arbroath and then walking back a little bit past the caravan site intending to go to just beyond the little used Balmossie station where the Angus county boundary with Dundee City is (the station only receives 1 train a day and we didn't get up early enough to catch it!). Unfortunately our intention to stand at the exact point of the county boundary is thwarted by the works being done to improve the path around the Dighty Burn. Never mind, I have long since given up my perfectionism and so gradually get over it during the next few weeks ... I'm still not over it. We will return and do the section from Broughty Castle to Balmossie Station which is almost all in the Dundee Council area anyway. Nice to see Dundee Council mending some paths and encouraging walking and cycling! When the firing range is operating you can follow a cycle path to Carnoustie but the headland is far more interesting and of course it takes much longer. The path recommended by the book travels partly along the beach and then across the dunes but due to there being so many different tracks it is quite difficult to follow. We prefer a beach walk anyway and the tide is way out so we test to see if you can go 100% around the headland via the beach. The weather is nice and sunny to start out but as we get to the remoter section of beach an intense sea haar comes in which makes it difficult even to see each other! For a couple of hours we are the only ones here and it is beautiful and peaceful, with only the oystercatchers for company. We need a rest and conveniently find a bench curiously placed all by itself like something out of a Samuel Beckett play. It marks "Workers Memorial Day" in 2006. Adding to the strange atmosphere are a couple of lighthouses which look to be stranded inland. They were built in 1865 and decommissioned in the 1940's. Somewhere between the lighthouses there is a path leading over the MOD land to Carnoustie but we are not interested in that suggestion and keep walking along the beach. And the answer is yes you can get round the headland by just walking along the beach (when the tide is out anyway), except for a bit of a scramble over some large boulders placed as tidal defences as we approach Carnoustie golf course. Okay so Jennie is not too impressed with this part but surviving the scramble we find a decent track around the edge of the dunes. We make it into Carnoustie in good time to get an ice cream and the short train ride back to Arbroath. Our first proper walk in a long time! Day 2 Carnoustie to Arbroath (6 miles)The good weather continues so a few days later we get the train back to Carnoustie to complete Day 2. The route takes us along a quiet public road for a little while and then turns to pass through East Haven, a natural harbour and apparently the oldest recorded fishing community in Scotland dating from 1214. Also a nice spot for sandwiches. It is windy though so best to keep walking! The cycle path we are following continues alongside the main railway line but after a while we find a path which leads us to the beach. Despite some cliff erosion the path is just about good enough to walk along and very enjoyable. Eventually we reach a number of large concrete boulders, anti tank traps from World War 2. We can now see Arbroath in the distance. When you are visiting the main seafront with cinema and amusements it's easy to forget there is an expansive beach leading away from the edge of the town and a brilliant Special Site of Scientific Interest (SSSI) where we regularly see stonechats. All this in the shadow of the giant yellow M above the retail park. I have decided it stands for 'Magic'. This walk along the beach from the Elliot water is now my regular daily stroll to see what seabirds are lurking around the tideline. Sanderlings, dunlin, and ringed plover have been ticked off the list so far as well as the usual suspects such as oystercatchers and herons. Day 3 Arbroath to Lunan Bay (almost!) 12 milesThe coastal walk from Arbroath to Auchmithie has got to be one of the best walks in Scotland. If you have not done it you need to get to it some time soon! We've actually not walked the full 8 miles to Auchmithie before, we've usually just gone as far as Carlingheugh Bay, aka The Flairs at it is known locally, so this was an opportunity to complete the route. It is a sunny day but incredibly windy. We persevere anyway but perhaps not quite as appreciative of the carved sandstone majesty as usual. No diversions to hidden caves for us today - we have quite a long way to go beyond Auchmithie to reach Lunan Bay. Auchmithie is the original home of the famous Smokie but as Arbroath developed a bigger harbour the fishing communities gradually relocated and the great haddock smoking competition began which continues to this very day, although there are many less Smokie-houses than there once was (I've invented the term Smokie-houses because I don't know what the locals call them - will have to find out). We find a sheltered bench nestled between the houses in Auchmithie (not the one that has a sign on it saying 'private bench, do not sit') and thankfully are able to have a sandwich without chasing parts of it along the road. Our book advises us to choose between a shoreline scramble below Auchmithie or to follow the route along the cliff top. I present Jennie the options, she conveys "do I look like I want to scramble" without the need for any words. So we follow the cliff top route. It is just possible to walk along the cliff here although the official coastal path branches inland around Ethie castle. We decide to trust the guidebook saying you can continue along the cliff side. You can follow the perimeter of the fields and there is a rough path but it is obviously not walked often. It is interesting though, standing in the middle of a field is the gable wall of an old chapel, apparently St Murdoch's. Murdoch knew exactly what was going on, I can imagine this being a perfectly remote and windswept location suitable for prayer. Talking of windswept, we are now getting the wind full in our faces as we skirt above Ethie Haven, another curious 'edge of the world' fishing village. We are getting pretty tired but we do see some interesting Soay sheep which I don't think I have ever seen before. We come down the cliff path, passing the sign telling us the way we should have gone (but we would have missed the sheep, chapel and nearly getting blown out to sea!) We come into the pretty little arrangement of Corbie Knowe where someone has made a garden of alpine plants I stop to admire. We have been here before, walking from the car park at Lunan Bay and we know it is quite pleasant to go along the beach, however we have noticed the tide is very much coming in. We proceed to have a lively discussion about whether to risk it: I think it will be fine but Jennie does not. I swallow my pride (I can do this now, it took me about 15 years to learn how but it's still hard because I am a man and I want to conquer!). We devise a cunning new plan which is to divert to Inverkeilor where the bus stops instead of undertaking said precarious high-tide beach dash to Lunan. We are shattered when we finally reach the bus stop, but we are happy because we have done the most miles we have managed in a day for quite a while. There is hope for us yet. Day 4 Lunan Bay to Montrose (10 miles)A week later we are back on the campaign trail this time getting the bus to a stop on the A92 at the turn off for Lunan and walking down the road to the main car park. It's a stunning setting with the wide sweep of the bay visible, the prominent rail bridge at one end of the bay traversing the cliffs and the imposing ruins of Red Castle at the other end. We should technically have walked past Red Castle to Lunan but we have done it before, therefore it counts as distance covered! The dune path beside Lunan Bay is brilliant for flora and fauna and we trundle along enjoying ourselves until we get to just below the rail bridge. There is a path here to a small waterfall but I don't remember there being a path up from there ... No there definitely isn't, right back we go then as the book says you can definitely get up the cliff here. Oh right yeah there are a few paths going up a grassy but incredibly steep cliff. Jennie gets superhuman strength all of a sudden and bounds up it whereas my calves are burning when I get to the top. I thought we were meant to be easing back into it. Oh well, now we are on the main route along the top of the cliff so should be ok from here. No 40mph winds today so it is much more pleasant and very sunny. We have not walked this whole section before but we have visited Boddin Point in the car which we soon reach. Another beautiful spot, old lime kilns and ruined fisher cottages. Atmospheric empty fishing boats left to the elements. Although there is always a sense of a vanished history and industry around these parts it never feels as total as for example with ex-mining areas, you still have a few boats fishing and that is enough to feel that the link to the past is not entirely gone. Today we have a single fisherman pulling up lobster creels so we watch him through binoculars, you can actually see the lobsters inside of them, and all the seabirds trying to get involved. On we trot after our sandwiches to a brilliantly placed graveyard hanging on the edge of the cliff which features the grave of a man, George Ramsay, who "died before he was born." Due to an error on the inscribing it appears he was born 1859, died 1840. We also pass "elephant rock" which looks a bit like... an elephant. This section of the coastline is really interesting and there is no-one else about as we continue along the cliff to reach Usan or 'Fishtown of Usan', a derelict fishing village and an old ice house. We have to do quite a lot of clambering and sliding over rocks here, all low level but easy to do an injury so we tread carefully and slowly. We then follow a good path all the way to the imposing Scurdie Ness lighthouse. Unlike the lighthouses back at Barry Buddon this one still operates and was automated in 1987. The remainder of the walk into Montrose passes the southern edge of the river South Esk which resembles a giant jaw with Montrose basin as the mouth. The fishing village of Ferryden retains a lot of its sense of history whereas the north side of the river is all modern shipping of which I know very little about other than fairly massive ships are coming in and out and I believe it is all connected with North Sea Oil! As we pass over the roundabout into Montrose we decide to head for some well earned fish and chips. We know where to go, it has the deceptively simple title of Chips 'N' Things, a local institution. Day 5 Montrose to River North Esk and back (8 miles)A short train ride to Montrose for the final challenge of reaching the other coastal boundary of Angus with Aberdeenshire, which lies along the path of the River North Esk. We start by walking from the station to the attractive Trail Pavilion and have a long and straightforward walk down a beautiful stretch of sand until we reach the river mouth. It's about 3 weeks since the last section of the walk. We are now into June and it's somewhat warmer, so we use it as an excuse to start the walk with an ice-cream, yes at the beginning. Just before we start along the beach there's a brilliant opportunity to watch sandmartins making their home in the sand dunes. Montrose: another town like Arbroath with miles of stunning sandy beach beside it. It is almost 4 miles to get to the mouth of the river but when we get there I have a good chance to lie down with a sense of achievement (I tried to write "End of Angus" in the sand). There's an abundance of birdlife around the river mouth and a bird hide over the other side. We notice shellducks, a very underrated duck. On the way back we go via paths through the dunes and woodland plantations which is very pleasant and allows for a lovely circular walk back to the train station, that's after we return to Chips 'N' Things, of course! At the risk of sounding like a trainspotter a final nod to the best view from a train station ever as Montrose station commands a brilliant view over the basin which attracts no end of bird life. I get my binoculars out and check out the curlews tucking in to their estuary dinner. There is an osprey haunting these waters but no sign of them today. Well then, it look like we have finally got our walking mojo back. Wish us luck as our next stop will be walking out of Glasgow and completing the West Highland Way, where I doubt we will be getting this much sunshine! Words Matthew
Images Matthew and Jennie June 2023
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