Drum Castle

April 2018

... offer enough walks in town and country to keep your interest for many months. Deeside is particularly recommended, with natural beauty and its royal connections, but this time we were based in Aberdeen itself and so stayed close to the city.

We followed Walking World id=1256 where a bus ride took us to Peterculter and the walk followed the old Deeside Railway (1853-1956 - see the old sleepers used as fencing, below) and on to Drum Castle (above) and its lovely gardens. It has remarkable and substantial tower and well proportioned rooms, with a history going back to Robert THe Bruce. Pleasant walking, quite a lot of it on tarmac roads.

Next we took Walking World id=750 (in preference to id=4331 which seemed rather dull) and found great variety. The Esplanade (or the beach if you prefer) takes up the northward half of the walk, with the fascinating village of Footdee in the south, elbowed in by oil pipeline industry and gas stores. Then in the north you follow the River Don through Sefton Park before heading south through the old town, university and "cathedral". Make sure you take the High Street and Spital rather than the new road.

Flotsam on the beach in Aberdeen Bay.

Old Cottages in Footdee where sheds have been made into an art form ....