Frosty morning walk

Another clear frosty morning so Rufus and Grey Granite decided to take advantage of the weather by combining two of  our favourite walks: through Philorth Woods to Invernorth and Muiries Hill, down to the Water of Philorth then returning along the top of the Bents.

'Earth lay as hard as iron,water like a stone' and a thick rime covered the grass and fallen leaves in the wood.

There is a light, airy feel about the trees mainly, Scots pines, larch,sycamore and beech near the track leaving the wood by Kempen Hillock



The floods between Mains of Philorth are gradually receding, this morning the water was frozen over and a large flock of geese was waiting for the ice to thaw. As we passed a flight of ducks left the frozen water and a huge flock of lapwings tumbled in the sky overhead, the low sunlight catching the white undersides of their wings.



Grey Granite particularly likes this panoramic view from Muiries Hillock over Rathen to Mormond Hill

Rejoining the Fraserburgh -Inverallochy road, we crossed over the Water of Philorth close to the old railway bridge. There is currently local controversy, fuelled by rival Councillors, about the location for  a possible new footbridge over the burn either here or closer to the sea. Grey Granite considers this to be unnecessary, there is a foot path along the road bridge at this point and further down the burn is tidal and regularly changes course, there would be an adverse environmental impact at any point.

The edge of RAF Fraserburgh, a satellite station of RAF Peterhead during WW2. The airfield extended from Inverallochy to the Water of Philorth. During the war it was temporary home to several  RAF units, many flying missions to the Norwegian coast. In the Summer of 1943 the airfield took part in Operation Tindall, a plot to convince the Germans that an invasion of Norway was imminent. Decoy aircraft constructed of timber and canvass, tents and imitation gun emplacements were positioned round the airfield.  Air Sea Rescue planes which carried lifeboats slung beneath them flew from here in support of crew who may have been forced to ditch. The lifeboats had parachutes to enable them to drop slowly to the sea, lifelines to enable crew to climb aboard and were equipped with food and an engine.

The tide being high, we returned to Fraserburgh along the top of the Bents. This was a perfect walk, along a varied  route, the weather was as we expected and we met nobody. Grey Granite reflected that now that he is a year old Rufus has largely settled into an excellent walking companion and has increased both Grey Granite's knowledge of the area and her level of fitness.