Balmedie Beach

One place I've wanted to go for awhile now is Belmedie Beach -- a beach just north of Aberdeen a few miles. It is part of an area that Donald Trump wants to develop. From what I can tell, the Aberdeenshire Council has agreed to let him develop part of the land. Here is a link for people in the area who are determined on Tripping Up Trump. After having seen this lovely beach, I can see why the locals are outraged a man with money thinks he can come in and take over their precious public beach.

Despite what the first link above indicates, the beach is not as well sign posted as it claims! It was about a year ago that I first attempted to find it while practicing my driving for our then upcoming practical driving exam. But after not finding it I gave up. There are a few signs to the beach from the highway, but then all of a sudden they disappear and you have to make lucky guesses which way to turn based on where the sea is.But, should you be lucky enough to happen upon it (like we did last night), you will find a beautiful Scottish treasure. The beach area is quite extensive and full of massive sand dunes.

Peaks of the dunes

You can sort of appreciate how large these dunes are when you see the steepness of the dunes. We were brave and decided to go down. Then I was sad to suddenly realize we'd also have to go back up! Thankfully both were easier than I first thought they might be.

At the bottom of the dunes there was a large expanse of water kind of like a river, but its water looked stagnant like a small lake. We couldn't tell what it was or why it was there. It might be partially from the high tides waters or where the rain run-off from the dunes goes.

The closer we got to the sea, the smaller the above "river" got. It was definitely flowing and the water made a neat pattern in the sand kind of like tire tracks.

There were five horse riders (though here you can only see 3) out for an evening stroll as well. I thought it made for a nice photo with the fog settling in the background.

After we reached a certain point we thought we better head back. It was a cold walk back with the wind gusting in our faces. But what would a coast in Scotland be without the strong, cold wind? Even in August!