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How to get there:
Take the A98 Fraserburgh to Fochabers road and you will pass through the centre of Cullen. The car park lies under the arches (right beside the golf course) and it's free to park.
The Walk:
This walk offered some stunning views but was quite a bit harder than I expected. People have mentioned it to me in the past and said it’s a reasonably easy jaunt along the beach and I’ve fancied it for some time so on Saturday I took my family, including my grandchildren, over to Cullen with the promise of dark castles, dungeons and possibly dragons gold.
As is the way with grandchildren in tow, we arrived late and parked in the car park by the golf club at around 1pm. By the time we’d had our picnic another hour had gone by, but as the tide was going out I felt happy in the knowledge that we’d have more room on the beach to wander so was in no hurry.
The first part of the walk is very easy; a stroll along part of the beach, then up on to the harbour approach road and past the harbour to join the track which is signposted to the pet cemetery. From the cemetery, the track along the bottom of the cliffs is easy to spot and the going, although bumpy due to the stones poking out of the ground, is fairly easy. However after about a mile the path begins to rise quite steeply and it is quite narrow in places which caused me some concern for my youngest grandson who hasn’t yet acquired a fear of heights, or rather long drops, and hand holding on a path which is only wide enough for a single person is more difficult than it looks.
Upon reaching the top of the rise we were greeted with the sight of the downhill into a gully and the corresponding rise on the other side, which was even greater than that which we had just navigated.
Ploughing onwards we descended into the gully and up the steps on the other side which are well made and solid enough to give confidence. The view from the top was well worth the climb and the steps continue down the other side making the descent much easier than it could have been. One word of warning, watch out for the wobbly step about half way down, it’s a bit of a shock when you aren’t expecting it.
There is a cairn at the bottom of the steps which has been erected as a monument to Tony Hetherington, the man who single handedly built the steps in 1987. And I thought it was hard work climbing them.
From here on the going is much easier and a grassy path leads across the cove and up over the headland to reveal a first glimpse of the castle nestled into the cliffs. Still some distance to go but at least I gained a measure of extra energy from the fact that our destination was now in sight.
However, once we got close to the castle, the way along the beach looked quite difficult with no discernible path so we decided, for the sake of my grandchildren of course, to head up onto the top of the cliffs and approach the castle from above. The path up to the top was reasonably easy if a little narrow at times and once on top of the cliff the views are amazing. A short walk leads to a viewpoint where you can look down onto the castle and there is a grassy path leading inland which we discovered leads to a small car park. We were all quite tired by this point and the weather looked to be about to change for the worse, with large black clouds moving in from the west, so I decided that to attempt the same route back would be foolish. The climbs we had made on the way out had been ok in the dry, but I could imagine they would be treacherous in a downpour.
Leaving my wife in charge of the children, and my son in charge of the camera, my daughter and I determined to walk back to Cullen along the road, clearly visible from the car park, and to return with the cars.
After about two miles the clouds had moved overhead and large spots of rain began to fall. I haven’t hitched a lift for over 30 years but remembered which way the thumb pointed after only a few attempts. Then a silver car pulled alongside us with the offer of a lift. I have never been so pleased to see the back seat of a car. I didn’t get the names of the good Samaritans who picked us up, but if you are reading this, please accept my eternal gratitude. Your act of kindness in returning our dampened spirits all the way back to our cars enabled us to get back and pick up our family before they drowned in the extreme downpour that ensued.
So all in all a very enjoyable walk, with great views and the bonus that my son had gone down into the castle and taken some photos for me while I was retrieving the car.
Disappointingly we found no dragons gold, although we did find a patch of Orchids. I would however recommend most strongly that you check the weather on the front page of this website before setting out.
Richard
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