Distance: 17.93 miles
Ascent: 451 metres
Duration: 5 hours 37 minutes
Births
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The research we did before heading out this week always suggested that today would be tedious. It certainly was. We should have been celebrating our most northerly coast walk so far, but instead found ourselves trudging mile upon mile of road, ranging from quiet back streets to a busy dual carriageway.
So let's instead consider some local births.
The street signs welcoming you to Inverbervie declare it to be the birthplace of Hercules Linton, the designer of the Cutty Sark. Beside the Bervie Chipper a replica of the ship's figurehead regards the A92 with suspicion.
Not to be beaten, Stonehaven's signs lay claim to the birth of R.W. Thomson, "inventor of the pneumatic tyre". I think the town council would rather that contribution to modern life be remembered more than the one declared on a banner hanging from the side of one of the town's chippies, for it was the Carron Fish Bar that's said to have originated the Deep Fried Mars Bar.
(If you're ever in the area, don't miss Stonehaven. It's the nearest town to where we're staying this week and we've come to really appreciate its large market square full of independent shops and cafés. The Tolbooth Museum — where the staff urged us to come and live north of the border — is also worth a visit, as is Dunnotar Castle. And of course at Hogmanay there's the fireballs.)
To the north of Stonehaven is Cowie. This village seems to be mainly caravans, but it was here ten years ago that a fossil of the world's oldest living creature was found. At 428 million years I don't much fancy putting the candles on this millipede's cake!
Notes for future walkers:
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