Glenbuchty Aire

Today, 12th March, we started the day by walking the dogs around Findhorn. It is a beautiful area, especially first thing in the morning before anyone else is about. We decided we would drive along the North Aberdeenshire coast to see the scenery.

Our first stop was to get fuel in Elgin. We knew where Tescos was, having found it last year, but the garage was closed for renovation, so we went off to find Asda's instead.

Our next stop was at Kingston. This is Spey Bay, which is run by the Scottish Wildlife Trust. On the opposite side of the mouth of the River Spey is the Scottish Dolphin Centre. This is somewhere I would really like to go, at some point, but parking a 7 metre motorhome there on a Sunday, would not be easy! Besides, as it's only March, the centre probably wouldn't be open yet. We spent a bit of time bird watching in the car park, before continuing our journey.

We drove through Cullen, which brought back memories of our stay there and the fantastic fish and chips. Unfortunately, a number of people did not look after the place and overnight parking has now been banned. There is talk of them opening an official aire but not sure what is happening with that at the moment.

Once we had driven through Portsoy, we turned off onto the B9031 as the aire we were going to stay at was on this road. This was the first time during this holiday that we saw actual snow! Despite the fields being white and there being drifts at the side of the road, the roads were completely clear, which is a good thing as there were many hills and hairpin bends!

When we arrived at Glenbuchty aire, the owners came out to greet us. The were very friendly and helpful. It cost £5 a night to stay, and an extra £5 to empty the toilet. We paid the £10 but ended up not using the toilet emptying facility. You will find out why tomorrow.

Another van arrived later in the afternoon. It turned out to be Amerimanx Travels, who we follow, and who follow us, on Instagram! They are doing a three month tour of Britain. It was nice to meet them and have a chat, until it started raining again, and we went inside.

This aire is right on the edge of Fraserburgh, practically next door to Asda and Home Bargains so easy walking distance to get any provisions. Not ideal for dogs. They own a small amount of land opposite the aire where dogs can be walked, but only really big enough for toileting rather than walking. There were two seats on this bit of land, overlooking the sea, which would be lovely during the summer months.

The aire itself has toilet waste disposal but it is an above ground tank and you have to climb up a few steps to get to it. There is a tap on the side of the house, which can be used if you have a very long hose or a watering can, to top up your fresh water tank. Rubbish wise, we were given a food waste recycling bag on arrival. There is a food waste bin, to put those bags in, there is a glass bin and there is a general recycling bin. Other rubbish needs to be taken away with you, although someone had put a bag of rubbish into the general recycling bin!

Despite a lack of dog walking at tonight's aire, we still managed to walk 6,316 steps today.