Saturday 17th June 2023
Having got the ferry across from Nigg yesterday, today we are starting from Cromarty. Originally I had planned longer distances for the first four days of this session but that meant we would have finished yesterday’s walk a few miles beyond Cromarty wasting a lot of time on a very long drive round to leave a car at the end of the walk. I therefore kept the distances closer to 15 miles and, given the heat, I think we were quite happy to finish each day when we did.
It was another warm start though the forecast suggested that it might be a degree or two cooler than yesterday later on.
There is an excellent path from Cromarty along the north shore to South Sutor. It winds up through pleasant shady woodland to emerge at the viewpoint.
From here there is a grassy farm track which roughly follows the cliffs. It eventually crosses a stile into a field of barley that was growing well but the path itself followed the field margin where the bracken had reached six feet high and so the walking was not very pleasant.
Fortunately there had been no dew and so the vegetation was all dry. Near the Marquis’s Cave, the path turns inland and, once we had clambered over several fallen trees, was easier walking as it went up between two lines of trees then followed the field margin to Cromarty Mains Farm.
Once we reached Cromarty Mains Farm, we turned left on to a track running south west toward Navity Farm. It was a very straight, dull and dusty track. After half a mile we joined the road to Eathie.
My original plan had been to take the track down to the old salmon fishing station at Eathie and then walk the shore path to Rosemarkie. It is a rocky shoreline path, with ammonite fossils to be found in the rocks near the start, then around a rocky outcrop and lots of sea stacks before threading its way on the sand between sea stacks and the cliffs at Scart Craig, to eventually reach the beach at Rosemarkie. I had been planning each day’s walk weeks and weeks ago so we could work out where best to stay and the lengths of the walks. What I had failed to do was to check at what time we would likely arrive at Eathie and the state of the tide. The shore path is tidal but I couldn’t find any information as to how long the window is between tides when it is possible to walk the route. Several accounts confirm that it would definitely be impassable at high tide. I anticipated we would be arriving at Eathie Salmon Bothy at around 11.30 and high tide would be at 12.39. It would not be fast walking along the rocky shore so it was likely we would reach the narrowest section below Learnie Hill at high tide and might not be able to retrace our steps to the bothy. As predicted, we arrived at the track to the Salmon Bothy at little before 11.30. There was no notice giving a clue as to the walkable window, just a sign warning that it was tidal. We sat in the shade under the trees to have coffee and shortbread but knew we were going to have to miss this interesting section of shoreline and commit to the road. The road was not all bad.
There was very little traffic and what there was did not come too fast. For some of the road walk we were shaded by trees though when we emerged from the trees, the heat was quite intense. The minor road we were following joins the A382 after about 4 miles but almost opposite there is a delightful path through the Fairy Glen where a burn tumbles over waterfalls. There was not a lot of water in the burn but it was still very enjoyable. This brought us right into Rosemarkie.
We found a bench on the front and ate our sandwiches looking out to the Moray Firth. The tide was well in at 13.30 and so we were glad we had not decided to walk the shore path because we might have had a long wait to get through. There was a good sandy beach at the north end where families were enjoying the warm weather and the sea.
After lunch we walked along the narrow band of exposed sand that runs up to Chanonry point, though we did have to resort to the path above the beach where the waves were still reaching the sea defences. Chanonry Point has a very short lighthouse but is perhaps better known for the dolphins which reside in the Moray Firth and regularly display just off Chanonry point. The south side of Chanonry Point had no exposed sand and so we walked on the footpath where we had to cooperate with golfers. In England golfers should give way to walkers; it is the reverse in Scotland.
In Fortrose we stopped at the IV10 cafe. It was not a great success. Having been welcomed in, a girl went to great lengths to check the reservations book even though the place was almost empty. Having got a table we waited for our order to be taken, we even had time to go and inspect the available cakes and desserts and still no one came for our order. There seemed to be a tractor rally going through the town and when Jill went to see if she could get some service she found the staff all watching the tractors and disinclined to bother about the clientele and so we left.
From Fortrose the most coastal route is the A382 but it is narrow and there is no pavement and has a rock face on the inland side and a concrete crash barrier guarding the seaward side. Fortunately there is an old railway track the runs parallel very close to the road but elevated by perhaps a hundred feet. This made the two mile walk into Avoch very painless.
Back at the car we drove through Avoch (pronounced “och”) and found that “No 19”, a cafe in the main street was open until 5pm and so we hurriedly went in and had some very welcome tea and cake. It more than made up for our disappointment in Fortrose.
Just Coasting 