Log No 37. Mon 6th May 2013 - Findochty to Lossiemouth, 19 miles (633 miles walked)

Although it was cloudy it felt warm and I set off at 8.45 in t-shirt & shorts.

As I was going round the golf course I stopped to speak to a chap, he said the temperature today would reach 16° and he donated all the coins he had in his pocket.

Once round the golf course I walked along the road through Buckie, it may well have been a main road but I never saw one shop and the whole place felt deserted. Only when I got to Portgordon did I find a shop and was able to get some supplies.

Instead of walking along the pebble shore from Portgordon I went on the Speyside Way for a bit of variety, it made a change to walk through a wood.

Coming into Spey Bay there were a queue of cars waiting to get into the car park, the Marine Conservation Group were holding an event 'The Really Wild Festival' and the place seemed mobbed.

It had been 3 hours since I left Findochty so I found an empty picnic bench and had my lunch here. The sun had never come out and it felt nowhere near the 16°.

There was a slight detour to get over the River Spey using an old railway bridge then through the villages of Garmouth and Kingston to get back to the coast.

This next section started off okay with a track just inland but then I had to use the path on the dunes & shingle which was quite hard going, especially when it was either all sand or all shingle.

It was a bit boring too, the shingle being washed into a high strip I couldn't see over.

After a couple of hours of this the shingle gave way to sand and gratefully got onto the hard sand at the waters edge.

Having seen nobody on the shingle section it was a surprise to see so many people on the beach.

I met a group of ladies from the Forres Health Walk Group out on one of their outings.

It was a short day for me today, after crossing the footbridge over the River Lossie I was in Lossiemouth at 15.30, my destination.

Only 19 miles walked today which, for the most, were easy going.