Facts of the Day:
Date: 11/August/2002
From: Macduff
Via: Fraserburgh
To: Cullen
Miles: 82
Midges: none (too wet)
Weather: Rain mostly
Mood: mixed

The rain that didn't come the previous day came this day, it rained for most of the day. After a late start I made my way to Fraserburgh to visit the Lighthouse Museum. May be it was the weather, but if it hadn't been for the museum I probably would have driven straight through Fraserburgh, I must agree with the Rough Guide Scotland that it is a "fairly severe-looking town". But the museum made up for it: It consists of two parts: First an exhibition about the history of lighthouses in Scotland and their technology. Second, and in my eyes by far the best part, a guided tour around Kinneard Head lighthouse. My guide (Lawrence if I remember correctly) was great, one of the best guides I ever had. He explained the concept of the lighthouse and its history extremely well while giving a human touch to it. You can't see it from the outside, but the lighthouse was built inside of the old Kinneard Castle, as it's roof wouldn't hold the tower. When you go inside you can see the walls of the tower inside the square building of the old castle. The mechanism rotating the lenses, prisms and shades is still fully functional and demonstrated during the tour. And finally we got a rather wet view of the museum and the coastline from the top of the tower.

I've never seen it, but film buffs might recognise this place: Bill Forsyth's "Local Hero" was filmed in and around the village of Pennan in 1983. Pennan only has one road and one row of houses, there is simply not more space between the cliffs and the water. I had a quick stroll around the village before continuing on the coastal trail. I decided to drive to Cullen and look for a place to sleep there. I found Stroma B&B run by Hazel Taylor in one of the side roads. As a starter for my dinner I had the local speciality, Cullen Skink. It is a soup made from cream, potato and smoked haddock. Very nice.

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