Coastal Walk: Buckie to Spey Bay (and back)
Date: Friday 15th June 2012
Company: Myself and Beinn
Distance: 19.2km

Following a visit to Cummingston on Wednesday evening, I realised that I had not as yet undertaken a coastal walk in 2012.

I’ve been slowly working my way along the Moray Coast, having previously walked from Macduff to Buckie.
Previous walks: Macduff to Whitehills, Whitehills to Portsoy, Portsoy to Sandend, Sandend to Cullen, Cullen Coast, Cullen to Buckie.

My next stretch of unwalked coast was from Buckie to Spey Bay, which I walked today.
I parked in Buckie, where I had finished my previous walk, and then set off along East Church Street.

East Church Street, Buckie:


I then made my way down to the coast following the way-marked trail for both the Moray Coastal Trail (from Cullen to Forres) and the Speyside Way (from Buckie to Aviemore).

Buckie Information Sign:


The first village I come to was Buckpool, formerly known as Nether Buckie. It is now effectively just part of the town of Buckie.

Approaching Buckpool Harbour:


Buckpool:


From Buckpool, we continued to follow the coast towards Portgordon.

Looking towards Portgordon:


On approaching Portgordon, I spotted a couple of seals and some Eider in the water.

Seal:


Seal:


Eider:


A short distance further on, at the outskirts of Portgordon, I saw at least twenty more seals.

Seals of Portgordon Sign:


Seals:


Seal:


Approaching Portgordon:


Portgordon Harbour:


High Street, Portgordon:


Beyond Portgordon, we started to walk along the pebble beach.

Beinn on the beach, just beyond Portgordon:


After several hundred metres of walking along the pebbles, I was glad to head up onto the track running alongside the pebble beach.

Long pebble beach leading to Spey Bay:


Track alongside Spey Bay Golf course:


While walking alongside the Golf course, I saw numerous Yellowhammer flying in and out of the gorse.

Back on the beach:


Circa 1km from Spey Bay, the track improved considerably.

Track leading to Spey Bay:


On reaching the Golf Club, I continued on through Spey Bay to just beyond the Dolphin Centre.

Spey Bay Golf Club:


Scottish Dolphin Centre, Spey Bay:


No real dolphins today, just some wooden ones.

Wooden Dolphins:


Sculpture at the Dolphin Centre:


Looking across the Spey to Kingston on Spey:


Spey Bay:


River Spey sign:


From Spey Bay, we returned back to Buckie via the same route.

Heading back to Buckie (Bin of Cullen in distance):


Approaching Portgordon:


Beinn:


On our way back, the tide had started to go out, so we had a bit more beach to walk along. There were even more seals lying basking at the outskirts of Portgordon.

More seals:


More seals:


Looking back towards a now distant Spey Bay:


Back to Buckie:


An enjoyable easy walk. I'll definitely be going back to spend more time watching the seals at Portgordon - definitely the highlight of the walk.