Day 22 – A tame Rattray Head

• Rosehearty to Peterhead
• 32 kms

I started the day with an excellent Eggs Stornoway (a Benedict with black pudding) at the Davron Hotel and ended it with a tasty Beefsteak pie at the Crudin Bay golf course. Not exactly rough living, and I won’t be losing any weight on this trip.

The weather and tide couldn’t have been any better for taking on Rattray Head. There was a slight offshore southwesterly that had taken all the swell away, and I’d have the southerly flood tide with me to Rattray. If I timed it correctly, this would just be easing to slack water at Rattray Head itself.

After Fraserburgh, I started to notice the effects of the current taking me onwards. At Cairnbulg Point, I was sped by the wreck of the Sovereign almost before I could get my camera out. I was doing 6 kph without paddling. At low water, this would be dry.

Once round Cairnbulg Point and past Inverallochy, I could see the Rattray Lighthouse 10 kms in the distance. I was keeping a kilometre out to sea to be sure I was getting the benefit of the tidal flow, but as I got halfway across the wide sandy bay, I noticed a large rain shower approaching from the east and the wind began to freshen. I headed closer to the shore to reduce my exposure to wind blown chop.

As I moved to the east, I expected my view of the gap between the lighthouse and the headland behind to increase. I was surprised to see it decreasing. Was I still being pushed out to sea, and was I going to be swept around the sea side of the lighthouse? It wasn’t until the headland aligned with the lighthouse that I realised the lighthouse was the further away of the two and that my expected transit was actually working in reverse.

As I approached Peterhead, I made the decision to stop early and set up camp in the dunes a few kilometres north of town, not far from the 10th tee of the Peterhead Golf Course’s furthest hole. Nobody but a few dog walkers walked this far north of town.

Joyce, a long-time friend of my sister and the family, lives near Peterhead. She met me at the bridge over the Ugie and whisked me off to her golf course at Cruden Bay for an excellent dinner.