Portsoy Sail Loft

The Moray Firth cuts a large wedge into northeast Scotland. It's southern flank is a coastline we haven't explored to any great extent and it was time to venture up for a few days. Some months ago, I had been searching online for accommodation around Inverness and Dingwall. The Sail Loft in Portsoy appeared among the results and, while the bunkhouse was in the wrong location (too far east) for that particular trip, I was struck by the welcoming appearance of the recently renovated premises. This time around, Portsoy was an ideal base for a three-day stay and we booked one of the dozen or so twin rooms.

We drove up the east coast on the A92 and stopped at Montrose Basin - a large tidal inlet that contains a nature reserve run by the Scottish Wildlife Trust. Our membership cards granted free access to the elevated visitors centre, which has several viewing positions equipped with binoculars and powerful scopes. There is also an exhibition and gift shop. Toilet facilities and basic refreshments are provided. We had been to the Basin several times before. Friendly and knowledgeable staff are on hand to answer queries and it is always worth pulling in for a look. I had hoped to spot a greenshank and a small group were wading by the water's edge. They feed on worms, snails and small fish, the exposed tidal mud flats providing rich pickings for their long pointed bills. A few terns occupied a man-made wooden island and we just caught sight of a chick's head poking up. There were also swallows flying around and several eider ducks bobbing on the gentle waves. I photographed two collared doves sitting together on a telephone wire. It was a nice little nature pause on a long journey. After picking up supplies in Montrose town, we followed the A92 northwards to the meeting point with the A90 at Stonehaven. The latter highway is the trunk route from Edinburgh to Dundee and Aberdeen. The Granite City was finally bypassed in 2018, meaning traffic bound for the Aberdeenshire towns further north has a far smoother passage. The journey proceeded without interruption and we branched inland on the A947, a road that leads to Banff on the Moray Firth. It was single carriageway all the way and a handful of towns and villages came and went. Eventually we reached the former fishing town of Portsoy and brown signs directed us down to the Sail Loft at the edge of the bay. It was a glorious afternoon and we were welcomed at the accommodation by the warden, who gave us a guided tour. All bedrooms were in the attic space of the building, with the shared facilities being located below. Our room had two skylights on the sloping ceiling and peering through the open gap revealed a view of the sea. There was plenty of headroom for me and the place was nicely furnished. Some hostels, while providing perfectly adequate accommodation, have a tired feel about them but the exact opposite was the case here. The paint seemed fresh and it was no surprise to learn the building had been completely restored within the last few years. The layout meant a night-time toilet visit would entail heading downstairs, an inevitability for those with ageing bladders. But that was a minor quibble.

The walls of the communal spaces were adorned with local artwork and information panels in the lounge outlined the Sail Loft's history. Dating from the 1700s, the complex at one time comprised a sail making workshop, a Georgian house and two cottages. The adjacent ropeworks was lost over the years. After industrial activities ceased, the cottages continued to be occupied, while a dairy operated in other parts of the buildings. The site was derelict by the 1970s and the North East Scotland Preservation Trust acquired the property in 2006. The project was part-financed by the Heritage Lottery Fund and the bunkhouse opened for business in 2016 under the auspices of Portsoy Community Enterprise, who also oversee the annual boat festival, the Salmon Bothy facility, the boatshed by the harbour and the caravan park on the shore. A series of photographs on the kitchen wall illustrated the various stages of the restoration procedure. The Sail Loft now brings tourists into the town and this is infinitely preferable to the building crumbling away and succumbing to the elements. We had a walk on the small pebbled beach and headed up to the High Street to sample the wares at the Portsoy Ice Cream café. Back at the bunkhouse, we cooked dinner in the well-appointed kitchen before settling in for the night. The next day just happened to be our 15th wedding anniversary and we booked a table for a late lunch at the Rockpool Café in Cullen, a few miles along the coast in the westerly direction. Beforehand, we nipped along to the Spey estuary to have a look at the Scottish Dolphin Centre. The Moray Firth is home to a population of around 200 bottlenose dolphins - the largest of their kind in the world. Run by WDC, the leading charity dedicated to the protection of whales, dolphins and porpoises, the visitors centre hosts an exhibition, café and shop. Spey Bay supports the largest vegetated coastal shingle habitat in the country and the beach consists of rounded pebbles shaped and deposited by the sea over millennia. Further inland is an example of wet alder woodland on a natural floodplain. The reserve hosts an assortment of gulls, ducks, geese and wading birds all year round. In summer, common and arctic terns nest on the shingle while ospreys hunt fish. The clean water of the Spey sustains a population of Atlantic salmon and the endangered freshwater pearl mussel and European eel also flourish here. The woodland provides a home for deer, badgers and pine marten, while a rich variety of butterflies are present.

Unfortunately we didn't spot a dolphin in the firth but stay tuned on that front! Marine life did put in an appearance when a seal stuck its head above the water. We wandered towards the visitors centre, noting Scotland's largest surviving icehouse, built in 1830. It was used to keep fish fresh before onward transportation to major population centres. I stopped to examine the sculpture of an osprey with a fish in its talons. The bronze artwork was designed by Fifer David Annand (from Kilmany) and is mounted on a stone plinth. The mosaic panels surrounding the base were designed by second-year pupils at the nearby Milne's High School. In the distance, I spotted the old railway bridge spanning the Spey. The bowstring steel viaduct has a central section of 120 yards and the structure carried trains between 1886 and 1968. More about local railway history later. The viaduct now functions as a public crossing of the river and is well used by walkers and cyclists. The Speyside Way is one of Scotland's four designated long-distance trails. It runs from Aviemore to Buckie and the total distance is 65 miles. One for future consideration. We entered the visitors centre and perused the exhibition. I learned that dolphins swallow their food whole and that only half of their brain sleeps at any one time. There was a display on the perennial problem of plastic in the oceans and I absorbed the rest of the material. On the way back to Cullen, we pulled into the beach car-park and had a brief walk on the sand, pausing to marvel at the rock formations close to the shoreline. The area we were exploring belongs to the historic county of Banffshire but the traditional territory has been split between the Council Areas of Aberdeenshire and Moray for local authority business. We parked in the centre of Cullen and strolled into the Rockpool Café. Obviously we were eager to try the Cullen skink - a thick fish soup known the length and breadth of the land. The main ingredients are haddock, potatoes and onions. Milk is usually added. The waitress informed us there was only one portion left and we decided to share it as a starter. Served with a chunk of bread, Cullen skink is almost a meal in itself. This was followed by the house burger, topped with bacon, cheese and salad. It was juicy and delicious, everything a gourmet burger should be. I rounded things off with a slice of tiffin and we ordered coffees. A lovely anniversary meal in a cosy place.

Leaving the café and sending off a few postcards, my next mission was a railway walk along the coast to the village of Portknockie - a two mile trek that would take me across the spectacular Cullen Burn Viaduct. Nicole opted to sit this one out and drive ahead, meeting me at the iconic Bow Fiddle Rock on the Portknockie shoreline. Cullen actually has three stone viaducts, the easternmost of which features pedestrian portals and crosses the main road near the old station site. This one is blocked off to walkers. The middle structure sports four arches (one now infilled) but the jewel in the crown is the eight-span Cullen Burn Viaduct, now Category-B listed. The tracked runs high above sea level and a flight of steps leads to an arched stone bridge that sits between the two accessible viaducts. The views across the beach and harbour are breathtaking. Cullen Station has been obliterated but the substantial remaining bridge infrastructure is a must-see for all those with an interest in abandoned railways. The line opened in 1886 and was single track with passing loops. Operated by the Great North of Scotland Railway empire, whose tracks spread out across Aberdeenshire, Banffshire and Morayshire, the new coastal corridor ran from Portsoy to Buckie, then on to Elgin, merging with the Highland Railway territory. It's worth remembering the coalescence of the national network involved protracted wrangling between the various private companies involved. Fierce negotiations took place to thrash out the running rights over tracks belonging to other operators. Portsoy had been connected to Banff in 1859 and now trains could run along a fair stretch of the Moray Firth. This arrangement lasted until 1968 when Lord Beeching put the boot in during the rationalisation process. Many lines across the northeast were lost during the post-war period and today a single trunk route cuts inland at Aberdeen, emerges at Elgin and proceeds towards Inverness. Fortunately parts of the coastal trackbed survived to form modern walking and cycle paths.

I took a few photos of the panoramic seascape from the vantage points on the viaducts and briefly left the railway path to scale Castle Hill - a former defence post overlooking the town. The 12th-century timber fortress has long since disappeared but recent renovations of the motte summit (undertaken by local volunteer groups via crowdfunding) have cleared away the impenetrable gorse and created new public footpaths. Benches and picnic tables allow visitors to gaze out to sea or across the town and surrounding fields. Cullen Castle was built as a royal residence and Elizabeth De Burgh - second wife and only queen consort of King Robert the Bruce - died here in 1327 following a fall from her horse. She was buried at Dunfermline Abbey and her organs were removed during the embalming process, in preparation for the long journey south. Some say the entrails were transported separately to Fife while other reports suggest the queen's innards were interred locally. Robert the Bruce decreed a payment be made in perpetuity to Cullen Auld Kirk in order to hold remembrance services. To this day, the town church receives the annual sum of £2.10 from the local authority to say a prayer for the queen and to remember local parishioners who have passed away. Back on the trackbed, I began walking towards Portknockie, initially on a high embankment. I skirted a golf course as the line curved inland and then entered a cutting that ran all the way to the edge of Portknockie. The path ended here and new housing occupies the land where the station once stood, on the higher ground above the historic village. I wandered down to the shore and met up with Nicole at the car-park for the Bow Fiddle Rock.

A natural sea arch just off the coast, the rock resembles the tip of a violin bow. The formation reaches a height of 50 feet and was formed over the course of millions of years due to natural erosion. As well as being a tourist attraction, the rock functions as an important nesting site for sea birds. Bottle-nosed dolphins and porpoises feed in the water around the base of the rock, although we didn't see any of them today? Do dolphins actually make an appearance in this blog post? Well, you'll just have to keep reading in order to find that one out. We sat on a bench overlooking the bay and visitors from France and Germany wandered by. Amazing how they find their way to every conceivable nook and cranny of Scotland. On the drive back towards our hostel we paused at the tiny settlement of Sandend. A cluster of fishing cottages are grouped around the small harbour and a caravan site is situated by the expansive beach. This was my first foray on these sands in half a century. Photos exist of me as a toddler playing with my bucket and spade. I sent a few contemporary images of Sandend to my mum before we moved on. Returning to Portsoy, we parked at the harbour and had a look around. A dolphin statue points towards the sea and was erected in 2014 for the annual traditional boat festival. Originally intended to be a temporary display, the artwork was purchased by the local community who raised the asking price of £6000. Also standing guard is a lighthouse sculpture, designed to raise awareness of mental health. The darker, rougher sea mosaics around the base of the structure represent difficult moods but the artwork becomes calmer as you move towards the guiding light. Lots of food for thought! There are actually two harbours, the newer facility dating from 1822. It was built to service the growing herring industry. The boat festival is held every July and has been going since 1993. Originally staged as a one-off event to mark the tercentenary of the historic harbour, it has continued and is now one of the biggest crowd-pullers in the area. The focus falls upon maritime and seafaring heritage but the programme includes a diverse range of activities such as food & drink stalls, children's entertainment, live craft demonstrations, music and dance.

We had narrowly missed the 2023 proceedings, but I perused the online schedule for the two-day festival. Around 15000 people were expected to attend and a flotilla of heritage boats would be dropping anchor at the harbour. The entertainment was spread across two stages and a raft race and fun run were also planned. The event is a vital part of the region's economy and has allowed Portsoy to re-invent itself following the decline of traditional industries. The craft of boatbuilding is maintained by the community-owned Portsoy Boat Shed, where workshops are offered to people of all ages. Another local asset is the Salmon Bothy, which has a museum on the ground floor and a function room upstairs. Opened in 1834, the three-story building serviced the salmon industry and provided an office, accommodation for workers, ice house, fish preparation area, workshop and storage facilities. The trade lasted until 1990, at which point the bothy became disused. It was taken over by Portsoy Community Enterprise in 2006. More than £400,000 was raised for the restoration project and the venue was opened to the public two years later. The actual bothy (sleeping quarters) remains intact, complete with bunk beds. This space is now used as a base for family history research, with computers and a growing bank of books and resources which are available to browse. The upstairs netting loft is used by many clubs and societies on a regular basis and is available to hire at reasonable rates. We visited the Portsoy museum on our second full day as the poor weather dictated an indoor activity. Beforehand, we had driven along to the next traditional fishing village in the eastward direction. The marina at Whitehills is now focussed on leisure sailing and hosts an annual regatta in August. All these little ports have had to find a new purpose as the Scottish fishing industry is now centred on huge harbours such as Fraserburgh and Peterhead. We parked by the memorial, dedicated to all the men who lost their lives working at sea. There was a fish shop in the village centre and I purchased lunch in the form of a Cullen skink pie and a salmon and broccoli bridie. Both rather tasty.

We wandered from the hostel to the Salmon Bothy via the caravan park. A few tents braced themselves against the breeze. We were accompanied by Julie from Edinburgh, a fellow guest at the Sail Loft. Admission was free and the exhibition was housed over three rooms that formerly contained the ice chambers and packing areas where the fish were stored before onward shipment. The building faces north with the rear dug into an incline. This arrangement protected the produce from direct sunlight. The ice was gathered from Loch Soy during the winter months and brought to the bothy by horse and cart, where it was tipped in through openings in the back wall. Ice delivered in late autumn could still be in effective use by the following spring. Net repairs took place in the workshop on the upper floor. The coming of the railway in 1859 greatly enhanced Portsoy's viability as a trading port and the prosperity of the town grew. The middle gallery examined the boatbuilding trade and also mentioned the Portsoy buoy factory. The latter business was rendered uneconomic in the 1950s by the coming of mass produced plastic alternatives. The town also had a foundry until 1968, the same year the railway was dismantled. The plant served the agricultural and fishing industries and produced a wide range of tools and machine parts. Marble was quarried in Portsoy until late Victorian times. It was a major export in the 18th century, reportedly being used in the Palace of Versailles and other grand stately homes, including Hopetoun House just across the Firth of Forth from us. Today, the mineral is sold from a gift shop in the town. Popular items are jewellery, ornaments and keepsakes. It was fascinating to learn about the varied history of Portsoy and I made a donation and purchased a few postcards. The rain cleared up in the middle of the afternoon and we drove along to Portknockie for another look at Bow Fiddle Rock. Julie came with us and we stopped at a farm shop on the way back. I use the term in the purest sense as the items were on sale in the farmhouse kitchen.

For the journey home, we decided to drive via Aberdeen and stop at Torry Battery atop an elevated piece of land slightly south of the harbour on the Dee estuary. Aberdeen has long been a strategic port and the modern battery was installed around 1860. Heavy guns were mounted and the defence post helped protect the city during both world wars. In June 1941, two vessels approaching Aberdeen harbour were fired upon after failing to identify themselves. They turned out to be friendly. Later in the same year, the battery was employed against enemy aircraft. After a stint as emergency accommodation in the immediate post-war period, the artillery was removed in 1956 and partial demolition of the buildings followed. Various proposals for development came to nothing and today the battery is a scheduled ancient monument. It also happens to overlook Greyhope Bay, a renowned dolphin hotspot. Apparently there is a good chance of seeing the marine mammals at any time of year. We had been meaning to visit this spot for some months, after hearing about the opening of a café and viewing centre on the cliff-top. Siri helped us navigate through the city and we pulled up in the car-park by the remains of the battery. The café has been fashioned from two shipping containers and is entirely off-grid. Green energy, rainwater treatment technology and composting toilets are in operation. A glass wall faces the sea and we ordered lunch to take to the picnic benches outside. We had a commanding view across the water and awaited signs of life.

Not a great deal happened, but at least we'd had a nice meal in attractive surroundings. Nicole suggested we take a walk down to shore level and hopefully get closer to the birds. Before doing so, I ambled around the battery compound and took in the fine views of the city skyline. The harbour handles large vessels and much of the cargo is destined for the oil and gas industries. We made our way downhill and followed an access road along the coast. A typical array of birdlife was out in force, but nothing unusual. Suddenly, Nicole spotted two dolphins leaping in the middle distance. We trained our binoculars and enjoyed several sightings. Finding the exact spot through the camera lens was a difficult task and I simply watched the magnificent creatures at work, or was it play?