Findlater Castle

We had another slow start to the day, the benefit of being on holiday. It was a lovely day, though still with a cold wind. We drove to Kingston upon Spey, where we parked up and set out on one of our favourite walks, to Spey Bay. It’s one of our favourite walks, and easy which is good for us both still getting over the lurgy. It was a lovely walk, with lots to see-birds, trees turning green, and wild flowers in bloom, including my first clump of bluebells, as well as the Garmouth viaduct (extra 1).

We had a lovely soup and sandwich lunch at the cafe, before we retraced our steps. We remembered that we could only do part of this walk last year as Kingston was flooded.

Our next stop was Findlater Castle. We followed the signs, parked up and continued to follow the signs. We first came to the Findlater doocot, then hanging on to the edge of the cliff, we found the castle ruins. TT went out to the ruins. I did not, as it was more than my vertigo could have coped with! What a dramatic location-very impressive.

We continued on our way, passing through the very picturesque Sandend. Once at MacDuff we went in search of the Tarlair Pools. Another stunning find. The Art Deco pavilion (extra 2) has been renovated and is now operating as a cafe. The pools and the rest of the buildings have not been renovated yet. The sun was shining and the pavilion was looking amazing.

We then headed home, where I cooked up a prawn and pea pasta dish, before a quick walk to check out the sunset (extra 3).The end of a busy day!

The castle ruins are to the left of the cliff. Can you spot TT?