outside – In A Kingdom By The Sea

(Well some of them!)

Hmm, so I’m not going to lie, I’ve been feeling a bit uninspired the last few months and I was really struggling to think about what I was going to write about for April. (I promised myself that I was going to write a blog a month). Then I remembered just how many parks Aberdeen has and thought I’d give you a whistle stop tour of a few of them until my inspiration comes back.

Johnson Park

Well, let’s start with Johnston Park (Johnston Gardens). I’ve only been to this small park once as it’s a fair walk from where I live, but it’s really pretty. If I lived near here though I’d definitely be popping into this park all the time. It’s packed with greenery layered above a large pond area. It feels quite private, and in some ways a little secret. There’s also a bright blue bridge which is perfect for photography if you’re into that. It’s also a great area for spotting kingfishers! In terms of history, these gardens used to be part of the Johnston House estate, but it was gifted to the city in the mid-30s. I’m certainly glad that we have public access now.

Victoria Park

Victoria park, named after Queen Victoria, is one of my favourite parks to go to. I don’t do it very often, but I love going to grab a coffee (and maybe a cinnamon bun) from Cult of Coffee and then heading to the park to enjoy it. There’s one specific bench that is literally the perfect suntrap, I won’t divulge which one…too many people seem to know about it already! This was Aberdeen’s first public park, and it was created in 1871. I can’t imagine a city without a park, but maybe as Aberdeen was smaller and there was more green space in general it wasn’t quite so necessary until that point. It was however created out of ‘a desire to improve the urban and industrial environment’, so maybe it was more necessary than I’m imagining. There’s a path around the whole park, which seems good for runners, there’s a small rose garden, an area for chess or drafts (I can’t remember) and a few other cute nooks and crannies. The main feature though is a huge granite fountain which is apparently made from 14 different types of granite quarried in Aberdeenshire and donated by granite polishers. That’s a lot of granite!

Westburn Park

Westburn park is literally next door to Victoria park. It’s just a busy road that separates them. For a long time I though that historically it was the same park but it had just been divided over time by a city that needed more roads! But, actually, Westburn park was once belonged by Westburn House, a mansion built in the mid-1800s. The house became a tea house in 1901, but unfortunately, it’s now a ruin. It’s such a shame as it would make the cutest café. I have to say it’s not my favourite park, but if I’m honest I’m not sure it’s meant for me. It seems like the perfect place to take your dog or your children, and I have neither. It even has a children’s cycling proficiency track. There’s also an open section of water called the Gilcomston Burn running through the park. It’s unsatisfyingly asymmetrical!

Seaton Park

Seaton park is another one of my favourites and is definitely the park I visit the most. The park is huge and feels wild, there’s even a wetland area. There are parts of the park that make me feel like I’m not in the city at all and I love that. It’s been a great comfort during the pandemic to grab a coffee from Shelter or Kilau, walk past the St Machar’s Cathedral and down to the River Don. The park is full of wildlife; lots of different birds, red squirrel and otter. Sometimes when I want a slightly longer walk I wander east to the little village by the ‘Brig O Balgownie’ and dream about living here or west to the Wallace tower. It’s such a cool place. When I was writing this I also found out about Mr Therm! Mr Therm is a former steam engine which used to transport coal to the harbour, but it’s now in the children’s play area. I’ve never noticed it before because I don’t pay much attention to the playground. But, that sounds pretty awesome to me!

Duthie Park

This is another park I’ve only been to once. I was meant to go again before I wrote this, but I had an ME flare up and I didn’t make it. It’s a big park set back from the River Dee but it’s the Winter Gardens that I really fell in love with. They are currently closed to the public due to COVID, but once they’re open again I really recommend a visit. The park has a tonne of Victorian features like boating ponds, bandstands and fountains. I’ve driven passed lots of times and seen folk doing group exercise. It looks like a really nice spot for that.

Hazelhead Park

Hazelhead is huge. It’s also quite far out so I’ve only been there once. It’s not my favourite, but to be fair I wasn’t in the best mood when I was there, and it was winter. I should probably visit again! I particularly need to go and see the rose gardens when they’re actually in bloom. They’re really quite extensive. I actually went because I wanted to visit the memorial to the Piper Alpha incident (I’ll let you google that). It’s a really cool monument. I also stumbled across another monument to the Aberdeen crematorium scandal. I’ll let you google that too if you’re interested, I learned something really quite shocking.

In addition to the park there’s also an area of woodland nearby. In fact, there are two areas of woodland which kind of merge into one (Den woods and Anderson woods). They also join up with Countesswells woods to make the largest woods in Aberdeen. If you live nearby or you have a car, I think this is the perfect quick escape from the city.

There are of course plenty more parks in Aberdeen, but these are the ones I’ve visited. Green space is so important, and I think it’s become more important since the pandemic…so, get out there and enjoy it.

As I mentioned in my last blog, the thought of spending the weekend in my Raigmore flat doesn’t fill me with joy. So on this particular weekend, my boyfriend came up from Aberdeen to drive around Loch Ness with me….much better.

29th February

Mattia ‘alighted’ in Inverness about half 10 but I’d already been in town for a while excitedly buying maps, shopping and picking up a donut in Perk (essential)! We collected the keys for our hire car at the train station from ‘Focus Rentals’. The guy who met us and introduced us to our car was very friendly and as the car we originally wanted wasn’t actually available we’d been upgraded to a brand new car. Winning!

As soon as we’d picked up a few picnic supplies we headed off out of the city towards Loch Ness. I was actually pretty excited and as soon as we hit Dores the views across to the Loch had me buzzing! Also, Mattia loves driving (I do not) so I just got to sit and watch out the window, pointing things out.

Our first stop was Farigaig where we just climbed straight up to the viewpoint and had lunch. It needs to be said that the toilets were delightful! A great place to stop if you’re out kayaking or hiking the trail from Inverness to Fort Augustus. Loads of people had left their post it notes of thanks behind which were really sweet to read.

After our Farigaig lunch we followed the ‘Walk Highlands’ route to Foyers Falls, down to the shores of Loch Ness and then back to the car through the village of Foyers. The falls were epic! We’d been told with a grunt earlier in the day that they weren’t that impressive, but they blew us away. The falling water was so powerful that as we approached them I thought someone was having a bonfire, the spray of water being forced upwards looked like smoke. In fact, the Gaelic name for the falls, Eas na Smùide, means the smoking falls…I can totally see why.

I couldn’t get the video to load – you’re just going to have to go!

We were both pretty knackered after climbing back up to the car, so after refuelling (the Foyers shop at the carpark is crazy cheap), we pretty much headed straight to our Airbnb home for the night just above Drumnadrochit. The only other time we got out of the car was to experience the crazy weather in the hills above Fort Augustus. Such a change from 10 minutes down the road! It was insanely windy. I had to crawl out of the car over the drivers seat because the wind was too strong for me to open the passenger door and it was blowing snow and little bits of ice off the hills which made it hard to face the wind. As painful as it was, it was fun leaning into it and trying to catch flight!

The accommodation was unreal. I thought it was going to be pretty special but it definitely surpassed expectations. It was a little wooden shepherd’s hut lit with fairy lights. It had a little wood burner inside, a bathroom hidden behind a ‘secret’ door, hot water bottles, some milk and biscuits for when we arrived AND some free whisky decanted out for us. They’d thought of everything. It was so cosy. I kind of wish I’d taken more pictures but I was too busy enjoying the space.

(Despite the fact the place/day was very romantic and it was the 29^th Feb on a leap year I did not, like one friend thought, propose! Bit early for that.)

1st March

We stayed in the hut as long as we could and enjoyed a lazy breakfast. I don’t enjoy cooking in the hospital accommodation so it was just really nice to have something more exciting than tortellini, pizza or super noodles (yep, I have indeed regressed)!

We decided to head to a place called Abriachan for a walk on the way back to Inverness. It was a recommendation from my office mate who has so far nailed it with everywhere that she’s suggested. Almost as soon as we drove away from the shepherd’s hut we saw a red squirrel. Or, more accurately, I saw a red squirrel, yelled ‘SQUIRREL, SQUIRREL, SQUIRREL’ and made Mattia reverse back up the hill so he could see it too!

I didn’t think the day would get much better after that but as soon as we parked in the Abriachan carpark my spider senses were tingling about some birds chirping about in the tree next to the car. They were only bloody crossbills! Sorry, if you’re not into birds or wildlife in general, maybe skip this little paragraph, because I need a little moment! I honestly never thought I’d be lucky enough to see these birds. I mean other things are hard(ish) to spot like otter, red squirrel, waxwings… but I’m happy to head to a hot spot for that species and have a go. I thought it was so unlikely I’d ever see a crossbill that there was no point actively trying! I knew they were shy and secretive and I mistakenly thought that all types of crossbill were only in certain parts of Scotland (I’ve now learned I was wrong on that point). But anyway, here I was, literally stood next to the car in a fairly busy car park watching both male and female crossbill in a tree a few metres away. No idea if they were Scottish or Common but that wouldn’t have changed how I felt. I was so excited! They were around long enough for me to stare and check in disbelief that they weren’t anything else and I hadn’t made an utterly stupid ID mistake but they left after a small group of kids ran screaming through the snow into the car park!

With me still chattering away about the birds and clutching onto my binoculars hoping to see more we headed off up the hill to the 434 metre summit of Carn na Leitire. We stopped via the pond to poke the ice, at the Lochside bird hide to see if we could spot anything, at the bronze age hut to talk about what people would’ve dressed in back then to stay warm and in the forest a couple of times because we were tired!

The views from the top were awesome and I’m sure my photos don’t do it justice. I’m often afraid to push myself to climb big hills or little mountains because last time I did (about 2 years ago now) I triggered another little ME relapse. It felt right though and luckily this time I’ve suffered no payback from it. It was a really nice moment to be up there in the snow, nobody else around, just taking in the scenery.

Once we were back down I finished the Perk donut I’d been nursing for two days (honestly the best donuts ever) and Mattia enjoyed watching another couple struggle to get their car out of the icy bay.

And that was pretty much it. We stopped for a late lunch in a place called An Talla at the Dochgarroch lock (not loch), dropped the car back off at the train station and then Mattia got his train home. I walked back to the Raigmore but avoided Burger King for once!

Next weekend I have a couple of friends visiting from Aberdeen and we’re exploring the Black Isle. Only time will tell if I’ll write about it!

Tag: outside

The Parks of Aberdeen City