Log No 33. Thu 2nd May 2013 - Collieston to Peterhead, 21 miles (550 miles walked)

After a peaceful night in the tent I made a leisurely start and left at 8.20 under grey skies. The wind must have changed directions as it now seems to be from the south, it has still not warmed up any.

There was a good path to follow and there have been recent repairs made to gates and footbridges.

It was a rocky coastline and the cliff top path followed the tops of the slopes and was quite undulating.

It took me 1 1/2 hrs to get to Whinnyfold and after rounding the headland I dropped down onto the beach to walk across the sand into Cruden Bay for 10.45.

I got back onto the coast path at Stains Castle and had a break here.

The cliffs were full of interesting features and one location had a gravestone for two climbers who had died on them back in 1967.

All the cliffs and particularly the rocky islands were full of nesting birds.

The good path continued on to Boddam and I got here at 13.40. This was the first place today that had operational toilets and I took a much needed break.

It had started to rain now but it was too light to need waterproofs on.

I went by the Power Stn and across Sandford Bay to get onto the road. Unfortunately this only led into the port and access was restricted. Luckily I didn't need to retrace my steps, I climbed the side of the hill onto a building site, found a place where the security fence had fallen down and walked along the bounday fence of the prison to get back onto the road.

Once I got into Peterhead town centre I found a pub and had an extended break, taking my time to enjoy a meal and get a lot of the log written as it would be another wild camp tonight.

I left the pub at 17.30 and strolled along the waterfront, there was no hurry as I didn't think it would be easy finding somewhere to camp tonight. The way ahead was all sand and dunes, not ideal for pitching a tent on.

I crossed over the River Ugie at the footbridge to the golf course and took the path along the top of the dunes.

The map showed a wooded area at the end of the golf course and I thought this would be my best chance for a campsite.

It turned out this was ideal, a sheltered site with level ground and short grass. The tent was up by 18.45.

The weather had not improved but it had not spoiled the 21 miles I had done today, the cliffs, rocks and birds were well worth looking at.