A Journal for the Thrifty Gowfer
While They Golf · Moray
Cullen is the small Moray-coast town the soup is named after. The 12-cottage harbour at the foot of the cliff, the railway viaduct that crosses the bay, the long sand beach east toward Sandend — and a 4,610-yard 18-hole links that climbs the cliffs above the village and plays across the rooftops on the back nine. For the non-golfing companion, the village is the day. Three pubs serve Cullen Skink to a standard the village will defend forever; the coastline north and east is among the prettiest in Moray.
Practical note
Cullen is on the A98 east of Buckie. No train station — bus services from Aberdeen and Inverness. The Moray Coast Trail walking path runs through the village.
The Picks
5 min walk · soup the village is named after
Smoked Finnan haddock, potato, onion and milk. The Three Kings makes the locals' favourite version; the Royal Oak does the rivalrous version; the Seafield Arms does the more refined hotel-restaurant version. Try at least one — preferably with a pint of local ale.
On the doorstep · long beach + Victorian rail viaduct
The bay east of the village with the four-arch railway viaduct (built 1886, closed 1968) running across it. Walk along the beach toward Sandend; the viaduct's arches are the photograph.
5 min west · two more Moray-coast cliff villages
The pair of villages just west of Cullen — Findochty (rebuilt after the herring boom) and Portknockie (with the Bow Fiddle Rock sea stack offshore). Walk the Moray Coast Trail between them; allow 2 hours.
5 min west · sea stack shaped like the tip of a fiddle bow
The natural-arch sea stack a five-minute walk from Portknockie's harbour. Waves break under the arch on a high tide; cormorants nest on the top in summer.
35 min south · pre-book · the world's most-visited distillery
30 min south · the working cooperage that supplies Speyside
Speyside Cooperage is the only working cooperage in the UK that opens to visitors. Watch coopers building and rebuilding bourbon and sherry casks for the Speyside distilleries; the smell of charred oak alone is the visit.
20 min west · Tugnet ice house + Moray Firth dolphin spotting
10 min east · long sand beach, surf school in season
For the golfer
Other towns