MANURE AND ROSE(I)S(LE)

July's walk was cancelled due to horrific weather and the walk would have been a washout, had it taken place. Consequently it was moved to August and the weather could not have been any better. Wall to wall sunshine for the whole of our day out.

We met up on the front at Burghead. Little did we know at the time, but we actually parked on the site of the Morayshire Chemical Manure Works. These works made fertiliser from " phosphate of bones, superphosphate of bones and phosphate of guano". The works were a bit of a going concern from the late 19th to the early 20th Century. They had their own connection to the wider rail network. They, happily, have now been demolished, otherwise the fresh smell of the sea might well have been tainted.

On the plus side, the ladies would not have stood about chatting for about 20 minutes before we finally got walking.

The chatting gave me time to look back along the coast towards Burghead Harbour, which was built by Thomas Telford between 1807-10.

Just as we were about to leave a dredger appeared round the breakwater.

Very early on in the walk, Maureen passed round the sweeties. At that point we were on the beach a few hundred yards from a lithic working site. What is that? I hear you cry. In 1936 and 1940 a flint working site was discovered in the dunes, just inland of where we were standing. In all, 11 flint arrowheads, 54 scrapers and 140 worked and unworked flint flakes were bought from the finder by the National Museum. No traces of the Bronze Age workings remain, but we were walking, or sucking sweeties, in the footsteps of people from 5000 years ago!

 

We passed by one of a number of pill boxes strung along the Moray Coast along with anti tank defences. These were hurriedly built in 1940 to deter German invasion. Rather ironically, the same coastline and the defences were used to train troops in advance of the D-Day landings. The defences were once above the high tide level, but erosion and tidal changes mean that some defences are now beginning to slump and many are submerged at high tide.

The line of defence runs all along the coast. Running from the forest onto the beach through the defences is Millie Burn. There used to be a mill hereabouts, but nothing remains of that.

Just off the beach was a huge gathering of gulls. Why they were there, I cannot tell, but there was a lot of them. A lot of seagulls is usually called a flock, but other collective nouns are a scavenging, a screech, a squabble or a swoop.

The Magnificent Seven striding across the sand.

The Tardy Three tarried astern.

Occasionally, there were big lumps of wood standing up in the sand. There were anti-glider poles along this coast. These were designed to deter gliders from landing on the beaches as part of an invading force during the Second World War. Gliders had been successfully used before and they were very important before D-Day, when British gliders helped capture Pegasus Bridge in Normandy, preventing German troops from reinforcing defences at the landing beaches.

The wood in the photos might well be random bits of wood, but you never know....

By now we were getting close to lunch time and everyone was on the look out for somewhere to sit and eat.

It turns out that anti tank defences make ideal places to sit and have a picnic.

They also make great vantage points for watching the horses go by.

It was time to leave the beach behind us as we headed into the woods.

Jacque took a photo of Liz and Maureen looking longingly at the water.

Here is a photo of Jacque taking the photo of Liz and Maureen.

Here is a photo of Jacque showing the photo she took of Liz and Maureen to Maureen and Liz. 

Here is a photo of the view without any people. It was just like the Caribbean!

Looking away from the Blue Lagoon, our group moved into the woods, where we were in for a big surprise.

It wasn't the ice cream van, although that was a marvel to behold.

Maureen and I liked our Mr Whippy.

We were not alone!

The real big surprise was coming across these two guys among the trees.

Not only that, but there was some kind of celebration going on in the woods. There was music, balloons, gazebos, chairs and even a prosecco table!

It transpired that the big guy in the kilt was about to renew marriage vows with his wife. They had both been ill on the day of their actual wedding, so this was a rerun in the forest. A few minutes later the bride arrived! In a van!

The whole thing was a bit surreal and, to be honest, a bit magical. We've never had a wedding vow renewal on a walk before!

Still, we were here to walk, so walk we did.

We even passed some more cones, but no ice cream.

Soon we were back at the cars and the dredger was now dredging.

Jimmy, the greengrocer, had another wee surprise - garden produce aplenty for everyone to take away home with them.

From giving food away to buying it. We all stopped off at Brodie for tea and cakes.

We really could not have had better weather for a walk on the beach, so perhaps it was serendipitous that the walk had been postponed in July. Thanks are due to Dave and Sandra for choosing the walk and making sure it all worked.