Aberdour Beach to Pennan Coastal Walking Trail
The walk begins at Aberdour beach car park which is approximately 7.5 miles from Gardenstown. The walk treks up the old right of way inland and climbing to 150 metres before descending to the outstanding conservation village of Pennan. The walk is strenuous along mainly an unsurfaced track with no access points other than at Aberdour and Pennan .
The starting point at Aberdour beach boasts a beautiful singing shingle beach surrounded by cliffs and sandy beaches and also has a number of sandstone sea caves where the Jacobite Lord Pitsligo hid after the defeat of Bonnie Prince Charlie at the battle of Culloden. Aberdour was also the home of a local heroine Jane Whyte who helped to rescue the crew of a ship, which was wrecked in the bay.
Visit the ruined St Drostan's Church and view a fine collection of 17th Century Tombstones. St Drostan is said to have landed here in 580 AD with his uncle St Columba and is said to have founded the first church here, one of the earliest in Scotland. St Drostan's well at the beach was once popular with people taking the waters but is now considered unfit for human consumption so don't try it.
The old right of way climbs up the hillside from Aberdour and offers fine views to the west before descending to Pennan.
A conservation village, Pennan nestles between a cliff and the sea on a narrow strip of land overlooking the northern coast of Aberdeenshire. Its spectacular setting has led to its becoming the best known of the string of wee villages that straddle this coastline. In the 1980's, Pennan rose from obscurity when it appeared in the film Local Hero. Starring Burt Lancaster, both the film and its dramatic location touched people's hearts. In the film, Pennan plays the part of a typical Scottish village called Ferness which is eagerly sought after by an American oil company who seek to build an oil refinery here. Pennan is the main setting for most of the action which centres around key places for the community such as the Pennan Inn, Pennan Harbour and of course Pennan's red telephone box. Unfortunately for the movie's fans, the phone box which featured in the film was a prop. However, popular demand soon led to the placement of a similar phonebox in Pennan which now stands on almost the same spot in which it appeared in the film.
Path Condition
N.B. Currently there is no waymarked path linking Pennan to Gardenstown. This is one of the most spectacular sections of the North Aberdeen coastline and contains Troup Head with its 100 metre cliffs. The RSPB has acquired a two-kilometre stretch of the coastline, the only mainland gannet colony on the UK mainland, as a Nature Reserve. The RSPB propose a coastal path as part of the reserve works and this will link with other planned paths in this area eventually securing a continuous path linking Aberdour to Gardenstown.