The beautiful vista you see before you is Cullen Golf Course, with its wonderful beach to the left, which has attracted so many visitors over the years. Probably the most memorable visitors to Cullen beach were the Vikings who landed there in 961 with a massive invasion force led by Eric of the Bloody Axe, with perhaps another Scandinavian King, Haakon! The Scots army must have been expecting them, but literally bumped into them (allegedly near Woodend Farm, now demolished). Anyway, the Vikings were firmly routed by the Scots, who drove them back to the cliffs (off to the left of this photo) as they tried in vain to reach the beach and their boats. Very few escaped. The victory however was soured, as the Scots King, Indulph, was mortally wounded and died shortly afterwards. The entire area for a few miles West of Cullen is dotted with Cairns. No doubt memorials to fallen Scots warriors. It is doubtful that the fallen Vikings received such venerable treatment.
On this day however, another battle was fought out near Cullen beach, as my son and I went head-to-head on the Golf Course there. I haven't played since before he was born (1994) and he has been playing steady this past year. So, it would be determined erm... if I could avoid being taught a humbling lesson, really!
The course turned out to be a little more demanding than it looked and I took a while to start finding my rythmn. Pleased to say I managed a par on one hole, but unfortunately for me the lack of practice took its toll... and I went down by 4 strokes!
Managed to squeeze in another jaunt up the Bin of Cullen today. Got to make the best of it before I'm back in school. That starts next week, and there won't be much in the way of spare time then! The first photo is the view towards Buckie.
The village of Findochty is hiding in here someplace!
This is the picturesque village of Cullen, with it's magnificent railway viaduct, probably the greatest architectural feat in the area. It's not a big place, but it has history!
No hillwalking today as I'm still feeling fairly ill, although not quite as bad as yesterday. Yesterday I was really down! Anyway, just to get some fresh air, we went for a walk near Cullen, to this little tiny loch called Crannoch Loch. Here it is!
After that we had a wander around in the woods, and saw this weird looking tree. The wife thought it looked like someone hanging upside-down. Not from here, but a little further off. Very odd!
Finally, we found ourselves in an area where clay-pigeon shooting goes on. There were dug-outs and platforms from where they fired the clays out. Fortunately they weren't shooting today, because judging by the propensity of cartridge cases and shattered clays scattered around, when they do shoot, they probably shoot anything that moves!
