Jean and Michael are presently in Scotland, visiting Maurice and Anne in Aberdeen before exploring Edinburgh. It seemed appropriate to plan a Looper walk for the first Sunday in June (coincidentally: Anne’s birthday!), while the Vancouver Looper contingent was having their Galiano Getaway. The following account comes from Michael, with photos contributed by all 4: Jean, Anne, Maurice, and Michael.

Maurice led the walk, and chose the Forvie National Nature Reserve, about half an hour north of Aberdeen, as our destination. The forecast for the day was promising, with distant clouds in the west, but our later-than-the-usual-10:30 start resulted in some dramatic weather, as the following photos will show.

The Forvie National Nature Reserve is located at the mouth of the River Ythan, and the estuary is a home to a “breeding colony of eiders, four species of breeding terns and a wealth of wildfowl and waders.” There are seals as well. The terrain is mostly dunes and grasses with few trees, and the far end of the northern bank is off limits to walkers, so as not to disturb nesting sites.

As we set out, the dark clouds to our north and west looked very ominous and full of rain, and there was a stiff wind that required the use of the Tilley chinstrap, but we set out anyway, in the hopes and expectation that the clouds would stay well to our north, and slide harmlessly out into the North Sea, where only the wind farms would be affected. We could see a hawk hovering high above a field, riding the wind, before stooping to some sort of prey (probably a rabbit).

We were about 1/4 of the way into our walk when it became clear that we’d not avoid the storm, and we began to see flashes of lightning in the clouds, and hear claps of thunder. We were quite exposed, so Maurice thought it would be wise to seek “shelter” in the roofless ruins of St Adamnan’s Kirk. From the website:

The Kirk was founded in the 7^th C and was dedicated to St Adamnan who later became the 9^thAbbot of Iona. A village built up around the Kirk and the building developed and enlarged. But the Forvie landscape is constantly changing and sand dunes built up on the coast have spread across the ground. By the 1400s they were starting to encroach on the village and the story goes that a 9 day storm that started on August 18^th, 1413 devastated the village with sand covering buildings and farmland. The end of the village was probably not as sudden as lands in the area were continued to be farmed even if no-one lived on the site. But by 1654 the parish records stated the village was overblown and uninhabited.

We huddled into a corner, deploying all available umbrellas against the rain and hail. The wiser amongst us squatted down so as to present a less tempting target for lightning. Others tempted the gods and brandished their umbrella high.

At the height of the storm the lightning and thunder were only two seconds apart, before the storm’s centre passed over us and out to sea. The sun came out and we continued to the beach, a beautiful stretch of compact sand, to which we added our footprints as we walked along. The “off-limits” section of the reserve is marked by a rope and signage, at which point we turned inland to cross the dunes again and reach the north bank of River Ythan. From there the path follows the river inland, back to our starting point. Total distance covered was about 6 km. And a good time was had by all!

Afters was taken in the bar of the Udny Arms Hotel, an upscale establishment in Newburgh. Thanks to Maurice for his leadership, and to Anne for her ability to keep Maurice happy!

PS: During the latter part of the walk we could hear sirens coming from the main road, and as we got closer to the end we saw more emergency vehicles racing along, heading north: fire engines, ambulances, hazardous material vehicles. We could also see that they’d blocked off the road heading north. Apparently a nearby home had been struck by lightning and seriously damaged, proving that the risk to us had been very real.