Bin Of Cullen

For years, I looked at this hill with a sense of interest. It stood out, mainly because of its bald top but I never knew what it was called. The Bin of Cullen rises between Buckie and Cullen and it can be seen from miles around.

There are a few angles from which you can start this route. No matter where you start the path, the route is made of wide but can be slightly muddy paths, that zig-zags up the hill. All the routes are easy to follow and the routes aren't strenuous to walk. The hill is surrounded by a forest, again with many paths to follow, and is a useful source if you don't fancy walking up the Bin. When you reach the summit and with good visibility you can see for miles in every direction, including other hills and towns/villages along the coast. If you go straight up the Bin, the path is do-able in about 30-45mins and is about 3 miles long. However you have many options and can make it as long as you like depending on what paths you choose to follow.

I have walked up the Bin many times as well as the paths through the forest. The first time I done this route, after climbing the Bin I continued thought the forest and walked to Cullen, another time I walked from Findochty, up the Bin and then onto Buckie, other times I have simply walked around the Bin, as part of other routes or as a simple walk thought the forest. I have also walked this route when it was covered in snow, which made it harder to walk but still, it wasn't too bad.

One thing that I would point out is that when you reach the summit, the wind is very strong. I haven't been at the summit when it hasn't been windy, even if the weather is completely calm the minute you turn the corner to reach the summit the wind just appears from nowhere. Believe me, this wind makes map reading VERY difficult. I have spoken to a few people that use the Bin of Cullen and they all say the same thing, its always windy.

I enjoy walking in this area as it has various types of paths which suits me.This route would be good for a walk on a Sunday Afternoon or  I would recommend going to the summit if you wish to see a chunk of the Moray Coast, as on a good day, the view is amazing. I would say one thing, be aware of the wind at the top, I've had a few incidents caused by the wind but now I know what to expect!!

 

 



 

 

Image (1) Buckie from the summit, (2) Bin of Cullen, (3) View from the summit, (4) Knock Hill

 



All Comments Welcome!!!!

Findlater Castle

Route: Findochty to Findlater Castle

 

 

Mileage: About 14 miles (circular)

Timing: About 3hrs 40mins

 

Most of this route is flat and unchallenging, with the exception off after you pass Cullen. After you pass the Pet Cemetery, you start to walk along the bottom of the cliff. The path is narrow and some parts are very rocky and in other parts the path has slipped/crumbled away but with care is easily passable. There are a few steep parts but again they are simple to pass with care.An interesting bit of the route takes you down a flight of steps that where build by one man, single-handed, which I find quite amazing.  After completing the shore path you climb up onto the headland, and a short walk over the grass and you reach Findlater Castle. You can come back the same way that you come or you can go back about a quarter of the way and walk up a hill onto the headland. This will lead you along the bottom of a field, then to a farm lane and back into Cullen.

 

 

I have attempted this route three times but only completed it twice. The first time I was walking on this path, I left Findochty too late (1pm, I think), this would be OK to do today but I done this in January and it was dark at 3pm. This made it very dangerous and I ended up having to turn back about 2 miles from the castle and I only just made it back to Cullen before it got too dark to see. Luckily just as I got back to Cullen a bus arrived and I was able to get back to Findochty safely. Something to point out about my first attempt was I was walking on a frozen and snowy path.

The next two times I walked on this route I was successful and completed the route without any issues. I made sure that I started the route in good time so not to have light issues. Funnily the weather conditions was the same as my first attempt.

 

 

I enjoyed this route as it offered some variation in terms of the tracks and I would recommend this route if you want something that is a little more challenging than a flat path. One thing I would point out is that you need to concentrate on the rocky parts as it is easy to miss place your footing causing you to lose your balance.

Tess

18/03/13,  I lost my best friend.  Yes she was a dog but she meant more to me than anything else in the world. 
I loved her to pieces. :'-(

She had 13 years in this world and I like to think that she was happy. 

I could write a book full of stories about her but I'm only going to share a few.

When she first came to live with us she was so tiny, so tiny compared to our other dog, a West Highland Terrier looked like a giant compared to her, you wouldn't think that a Labrador would be so small. I remember once someone split something in the sitting room. The guilty party said the dog had done her "business" on the carpet.  My mum shouted at her and she ran and hid under the sofa. Poor old Tess! The guilty party did finally admit It wasn't the dog but it took ages to get her out from under the sofa. She seemed to love me and brothers, when we were younger and had "paint time" she would sit on the chair next to mine and watch us paint. I did once paint her nose red because I wanted her to be Rudolph.  I also used to draw "make up" her face using chalk, she looked ridiculous!! She was happy to go along with anything that we would do to her. When I played dolls, she would let me put her in a bib and feed her water from a baby bottle. When she was quite young she mastered climbing the slide, which I was very proud of her for. She used to hear the school bus coming down the road and she would always see us off on it and met us coming back.

At the same time she was also an idiot. She was meant to be a gun dog but she was terrified of loud noises. Anything that made a loud nose resulted in her becoming a shivering mess and running to her bed, where she would stay for the whole day not moving and you couldn't talk her out of it. Tess though that the point of fetch was to catch the ball and not give it back. She had a run in with an electric fence, she some how managed to catch her bottom on it. She was running that fast that her back legs were in front of her front legs. Both Mum and Dad were wetting themselves at the site of her. She didn't stop until she reached her bed where she wouldn't leave. This resulted in her being scared of the fields as well. Poor dog.

I called her Spud, I've got no idea why or how that came about but it stuck. I think its lucky she didn't understand English as I used to moan to her about everything. She just sat there and "listened". She would look at me with this look that let me know that things would be OK.

Even when she started to turn grey she was still the most beautiful dog in my eyes. Anyone that met her knew she was special and made a lasting impression.

Love You Always Spud  xxx

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!!!

La Fhéile Pádraig Shona Duit!

Dia dhuit, Cad é mar atá tú?

Hello, How are you? - (My limited Irish language skills)

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!!


How do you spend your St. Patrick's Day?

Do you watch the parades, listen traditional music in the pubs while having a few pints of Guinness, go to a Ceili, indulge in some Irish food, dress in green and wear shamrocks, go to mass?

Everyone has different 'traditions' but no matter where you come from, everyone becomes Irish for the day :-)



My St. Patrick's Day traditions were going to mass in the morning, then spending most of the day in Omagh at a Street Festival (I recommend this, if you like traditional music and dance (and live in Ireland)), then spend the evening/night Ceili dancing. Off course I dressed in the traditional green although I must admit I didn't eat Irish food unless you count spuds.

 I can safely say that I will not be doing this, this year; one reason is that I don't live in Ireland so I can't go to the Street Festival and unless I dance around the kitchen table I won't be dancing either. I don't know what I will be doing this year, but I do know that I will be wearing green :-)

However you celebrate today, have fun and stay safe or as we say in Ireland - God Bless

Slán
Sabrina

 All Comments Are Welcome!!!

We all celebrate St. Patrick but who is he?
St. Patrick was born in Scotland in 385AD to Roman parents. When he was in his early teenage years her was captured during a raid and taken to Ireland to be a slave to tend and herd sheep. During this time he turned to God in prayer.
 

        "The love of God and his fear grew in me more and more, as did the faith, and my soul was rosed, so that, in a single day, I have said as many as a hundred prayers and in the night, nearly the same." "I prayed in the woods and on the mountain, even before dawn. I felt no hurt from the snow or ice or rain."

 

St. Patrick's captivity lasted until he was twenty, when he escaped after having a dream from God in which he was told to leave Ireland by going to the coast. There he found some sailors who took him back to Britain, where he reunited with his family.

After his return to Britain he had another dream in which the people of Ireland were calling out to him "We beg you, holy youth, to come and walk among us once more."

After having this dream he began his studies to become a Priest. St. Patrick was soon ordained a bishop and was sent to take the Gospel to Ireland. 

 

St. Patrick began preaching the Gospel throughout Ireland, converting many. St. Patrick preached and converted all of Ireland for 40 years. He worked many miracles and wrote of his love for God in Confessions.

During his time preaching, St. Patrick was thought to have banished all the snakes into the sea.
However this may or may not be correct, it is thought that Ireland may not have ever had snakes, another thought is that "snake" is term used to describe pagans.

 After years of living in poverty, travelling and enduring much suffering he died March 17, 461. He died at Saul, near Downpatrick, Ireland,  where he had built the first church.

St. Patrick and the Shamrock
St. Patrick was teaching some of his followers about the Holy Trinity. His followers were finding it difficult to understand so St. Patrick, picked up a shamrock and used it to show an example of  the "Three-in-one", Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The shamrock has become a symbol of Ireland.

Irish Dancing

As its coming up to St. Patrick's Day, I thought that I would share with you something that is close to my heart - Irish Dancing.

 

I've been dancing since I was 6 or 7 years old. It all started when a few of my primary school classmates started to go to classes, after hearing them talking about it; I decided that I wanted to go to and after asking my parents, I began classes. Every week, I would put on my pumps (Irish Dancing Soft Shoes), go to class and learn steps and routines, this was hard work both physically and mentally, due to having to remember all the steps and technical information. After learning the beginners dances it was time to start going to Fèis (dancing competitions). This means having to get a dancing costume. After some searching and shopping, I had my first dancing costume, It was emerald green with a Celtic pattern. I remember the first time that I put it on... It was REALLY heavy. I honestly didn't know and still don't know how dancers could walk in these costumes, let alone dance in it. However there was no options in this, I had to wear it. Now a days the costumes have completely changed, they are now shorter, have more sparkle and less of the traditional patterns and they are made of lighter materials (luck girls!).

Irish Dancers have to have there hair curled, I honestly don't know why this was but it was somewhere in the rule book. Today, Irish Dancers simply put on a heavy curled wig but when I was dancing, wigs weren't really used, so I had to go the old fashioned way. Competitions where held on Sundays so on a Saturday evening I would have rollers, (yes rollers) put into my hair, this was VERY painful process. These rollers had to stay in my hair until I was at the Fèis, what fun as if I went out I had to have a full head of rollers in. Plus they were not the most comfortable things to sleep in. On the day of the Fèis, the dress and shoes would go on and the rollers came out (just as painful as putting them in) and then the competition began. Over the few years that I competed I was fairly successful, I won or was placed in quite a few of the competitions. I also have pasted some dancing exams up to a Level 4.

For as long as I live I will always know one dance, it is implanted in my brain. The Fairy Reel, it is actually a Ceili dance. My dance teacher made use dance it over and over and over again for weeks and weeks so that we could perform it at a Fèis, we came 3rd. However, this now is my favourite dance.

After performing competitively for a few years, I decided to leave Solo Dancing. Irish Solo Dancing became VERY competitive and I wanted to have fun and not spend all my time training. After leaving, it left me at a loose end, I didn't know what to do with my newly acquired spare time.

After a few months it was suggested that I try Ceili Dancing, after some thought I joined a local Ceili Dancing Class. From my time Irish Dancing, I had knew the basics, e.g. the steps, music timing and technical terms. This form of dancing is group dancing. Every week we would learn and practise different dances. This was a lot more fun as there was no competitions so there was no pressure. Every weekend different towns would hold a Ceili. At a Ceili, people from allover Ireland would meet in one hall and dance and listen to the live music together, laughing, making friends and more importantly having fun. Funnily this actually took up more of my time than solo dancing, as I would have a class on a Tuesday and would then go to a Ceili on a Saturday night, every week.

After moving to Scotland, it became impossible to carry on dancing so I found myself at another loose end. I tried to take up swimming but that lead no-where so I went back to the drawing board. After a lot of thought I decided to take up walking and after a few weeks I knew that this is what I wanted to do and I now have found something else that I love.........

Years of Irish dancing has left me with a few lasting injuries, namely my painful knees and ankles but I wouldn't change my dancing past.

When I am rarely in Ireland, I still go to Ceili's, I enjoy the craic (fun), music and off-course the dancing!!

I have lots and lots of stories in relation to this but its impractical to blog them all so I have written an over view. Hopefully it isn't too boring :-)

Winding Walks / Deer Park

The woods between Fochabers and Tynet are a useful source for walks. These woods give you many options. You can choose short walks or long walks with various paths and the possibility of seeing some of the "attractions" that are present within the forests.

I think that I have walked maybe 95% of the paths within both Winding Walks and Deer Park. Personally these woods have been very useful as I have learnt some important skills within them.

 

 

The "Winding" walk is made from a maze of tracks through a deep but amazing gully within the forest. I found this quite a fun path to follow.

The other main paths that are marked in the forest take you up and down the hillside woodland, to a pond and also to a monument for the Duchess of Richmond, from this monument you can see over the countryside.

 

The paths within Deer Park lead to Swiss Cottage, a slightly strange red wooden "house" and also to Tynet Chapel. As with Winding Walks there are numerous routes though the forest.

 

I usually follow my own routes thought the forests either preplanned or worked out as I go along using a map and compass.

E.g.      Fochabers - Gorden Estate - thought Deer Park - Tynet - back to Fochabers (Circular about 7.5miles)

 

 

Below are some pictures that I have taken on different walks in the Winding Walks.

 

 

 

All Comments Welcome!!!



Fishwives Path

Looking back at this walk I now feel that this was ambitious, it was only my second walk that I under took when I started out.

The total walk between Newmill and Buckie is about 13 miles, lucky I had to only walk one way. Although I have now walked in in both directions. (not so ambitious the second time)

 The first time I walked this route I went from Newmill to Buckie and other than being quite muddy it was a pleasant walk with fairly good weather. Fishwives Path allows you to walk on a multitude of terrains; tarmac, stoned lanes, forest path & fields. As well as slight inclines. The first part, the tarmac was completed easily and I enjoyed the scenery that was present. After leaving the road, I then met the forest track and again not too difficult to walk. This part of the walk allowed me to see and to be amazed by how close I was able to get to some deer's :-)   The deer's weren't the only wild life that I saw on this route, I saw lots of different animals including pheasants and squirrels. When it came to crossing the fields, I was faced with mud, lots and lots of mud. This was fun, especially when I managed to put my foot into a deep muddy puddle (lovely!!) After crossing the fields, I was back on tarmac again. :-) This part of the walk felt the longest, I walked and walked and thought that I was never see Buckie but after passing thought Drybridge and then getting to the distillery, I was finally on the home straight!!!!















The second time I completed this route, from Buckie to Newmill, the conditions was quite different. There was snow, lots of snow and where the snow had started to melt there was huge ice patches and deep puddles of FREEZING water. I remember walking thought the farm/fields/forest parts and the snow was over my ankles which made it difficult to walk in, I honestly nearly gave up as I was so exhausted from pulling myself thought the snow although as I am as stubborn I continued on. The muddy hole that I mentioned above was now covered in snow and off course I didn't see it and put my foot straight into a icy puddle of water that went half way up my leg. :-(    After passing the snow, I was now faced with miles of ice and water which resulted in me slipping and sliding along, which with my record is not a great idea and I nearly fell on many occasions. Finally I got to the main road and the snow/ice/water had disappeared and the last part of the walk was easy.

I enjoyed both routes, they had nice scenery, lots of wildlife and presented me with some challenges. However I must admit that on reflection, I preferred to walk from Newmill to Buckie. There is a point on this route were you come over a hill and you can see St. Peter's Church Towers, which let you know that Buckie is not too far away.

Hopefully this wasn't too boring and as always comments are welcome!!

Homemade Bread

Bread making seems to be quite popular at the moment. My Dad and a friend or two seem to be baking so I thought "Why not give it a go!?"

          I must confess I did have a go at baking bread a year ago, however that turned into a disaster. The resulting "loaf" didn't rise and was over cooked. It was more of a brick, than a loaf of bread.

          So a few weeks ago, I researched recipes and found one for Irish Soda Bread. Its a simple recipe that only involves mixing a few ingredients into a bowl. None of this kneading work that is involved with conventional bread making. Perfect for me!!! (I thought). After 10 minutes of prep and 30 minutes baking, I had a loaf of Soda Bread. Yum :-)

Last week, I decided to 'bite the bullet' and bake a white loaf. After searching for a recipe and a trip to Sainsburys. I began the measuring and mixing process until a dough was formed. Next came the painful kneading process. I say painful due to the arm ache from the repeating kneading movement, that felt like hours but only turned out to be 10 minutes!! After 2 hours of proving, a further minute of kneading followed by another hour of proving I had what looked like a raw loaf. I then placed my hard work into the oven and 30 minutes later I had a perfectly baked loaf of bread, to my amazement. Even more it tastes good!!!!

 



I am honestly impressed by the successful result :-)

All Comments Welcome !!!