Moray Coast: Part I

Sincere thanks go to Janet Bulloch for organising a most interesting and worthwhile CPD weekend to northwest Aberdeenshire and Moray.

36 intrepid Blue Badge Guides made the trip to Aberdeen and onwards to Elgin. Our first visit was to Duff House in Banff, an outpost of the National Galleries of Scotland, a beautifully restored William Adam House – well worth the visit. A trip to the Salmon Bothy in Portsoy was equally worthwhile ’though the architecture was very different. The coastline around Cullen, Portnockie, Findochty, Buckie, Portgordon and finally Spey Bay were all studied.

Thanks must go to our intrepid coach driver Andrew Smith, of Robert E Stables of Keith, for his ability to take the coach into even the smallest of the coastal settlements. Our hotel in Elgin, the Eight Acres proved to be very comfortable for 2 nights although not many were awake enough to enjoy the “Take This Tribute Night”.

Saturday was a very different series of visits. Alison Reid ably and professionally explained to us all the intricacies and meaning of both the Sueno Stone in Forres and the Pictish Fort site at Burghead. Fascinating, but as always it seems with Archaelogy, that it is open to interpretation. The Findhorn Foundation proved a most interesting experience; attracting lots of discussion. For anyone who had not been before it appears somewhat an anomaly sighted on the edge of a RAF runway.

Continue to Part II »