My new favourite beach: Fun trip to the seaside is a tale of two lighthouses
Scotland is blessed with the most beautiful beaches and growing up a trip to the seaside was one of my family’s favourite days out.
Buckets, spades, bats and a ball were often loaded into the car along with a picnic and off we went to the likes of Lunan Bay, the West Sands at St Andrews, or Broughty Ferry beach for the day.
It is only recently, however, that I have discovered another gorgeous beach in the area – the beautiful Buddon Ness.
As we walked the dog along Monifieth beach, my son points to a lighthouse out on the coast and asked if we could go out to it. I had noticed it many times, but had never ventured that far – mainly because I wasn’t sure of the route.
After a little online research, I found that you can walk south and east from Monifieth beach, along Barry Sands to the two lighthouses at Buddon Ness.
I check the tide times, which is an absolute must for this adventure, and also the weather report for that weekend. With everything looking good, we agree to go for it.
I pack the usual things for a beach walk and also pop a towel into the bag for drying our feet.
I’d read that there can be small areas of shallow water to cross as Monifieth beach meets Barry Sands.
We park the car and take the sandy footpath along the front of Riverview Caravan Park, then descend the wooden stairs to the main beach area.
After walking east for around 15 minutes, we find shallow areas of water that we need to cross to get to the next beach. Taking our shoes off, I dip my foot in to test the temperature. I wince as the freezing water stings my foot at which point my son decides he’d rather be carried than cross the water himself.
He jumps on my back, I take a deep breath and quickly splash across to the other side.
Barry Sands does not disappoint. It is wide, flat and a much quieter beach than its neighbour.
We walk across the sand and our footprints were the only ones as far as I can see. We are also amazed at the size of some of the huge shells here, with one dwarfing my son’s hand as he picks it up!
Staying close to the dunes, we wander round the bay, every so often climbing up the sand to see how close we are. Both lighthouses are slightly inland so it’s important to keep checking or you may walk too far and pass them.
After around 20 minutes we head up and over, into the long grass and before long are at the foot of the lower lighthouse, with the larger one only a few minutes walk away.
This seems like a great place for a picnic before exploring and then retracing our steps to the car park.