DAY 32
FRIDAY 11 SEPTEMBER, 2009
CROMARTY TO ROCKFIELD – 15 MILES, 7 HOURS
MORRIS, IAN, ALEX, BILLY, COLIN AND BILL
TOTAL DISTANCE WALKED SO FAR 506 MILES
For the next three days of the walk Bill and I had the company of four members of my fitness club and the use of a minibus which allowed us to base ourselves for two nights in Portmahomack. We had an early 0600 start for the drive north arriving at 1030 in Cromarty where we crossed on the two car ferry to Nigg. The weather was excellent with warm sunshine which made the 15 minute crossing on the ferry even more enjoyable. From the ferry we walked along the beach and onto the road for a short distance up a steep hill then joined the signposted Castlecraig circular path which we followed across fields and round the point of North Sutor to near Castlecraig. We walked past some very interesting and well preserved world war two coastal defence gun emplacements as we made our way keeping close to the coast. We encountered one or two gullies which we were able to cross but a large gully which runs inland from near King’s cave pushed us inland on a farm track for over half a mile before we were able to make our way back towards the sea and continue along passed Port An Righ. After a brief lunch stop we walked on, at one point wading through head high bracken across another gully before crossing some freshly harvested fields for an easy walk into the pretty village of Balintore via the sands of Shandwick bay. We walked out of Balintore passed the beach statue of the Mermaid of the North and through the adjoining village of Hilton. From here we joined a well defined path below the cliffs, close to the sea, but not affected by tides, which we were able to follow all the way to our day’s destination at Rockfield. We travelled by minibus to our accommodation at the Castle hotel, Portmahomack and a very welcome beer.
Summary; The first ferry crossing on the walk so far was a great start to our days walk . The first half of our route had some testing moments crossing gullies. The walk from Balintore to Rockfield was flat on an excellent path. All in all a very good days walking.
Highs; The ferry crossing, great scenery and the first WW2 big gun emplacements we have seen so far
Lows; The impassable gully near King’s cave.
CLICK ON IMAGE TO ENLARGE
-
- Looking north across to Nigg from the ferry pier at Cromarty
-
- The old Cromarty ferry which has since been replaced
-
- Morris, Alex, Bill, Billy, Colin and Ian enjoying the crossing on the ferry
-
- Looking along the beach towards North Sutor and our route ahead
-
- Signpost for the Castlecraig circular path which we followed part of the way
-
- Alex on the path round North Sutor with Cromarty across the water in the background
-
- Colin viewing the old WW2 gun emplacements near Castlecraig
-
- On the path after encountering the first gully near Castlecraig
-
- Making our way back to the coast after the detour round the gully near Kings Cave. Bayfield Loch in the background
-
- Making our way towards Balintore near Port an Righ
-
- Balintore from the hillside above
-
- The ‘Mermaid o the North’ on the beach at Balintore
-
- Looking back south towards Hilton and Balintore
-
- The good path that runs beneath the cliffs from Hilton to Rockfield
-
- Ian, Morris, and Alex at Rockfield
-
- Enjoying an end of walk pint back at our hotel at Portmahomack
ROUTE MAP – CLICK TO ENLARGE
DAY 32 ROUTE MAP