St Combs to Rattray Head

This is a repeat of a walk that was in the last programme.

We will meet at Old Rattray Cemetery car park, leave some cars there, and then drive everyone to the start of the walk at the St Combs Community Hall parking area.  We will walk from there to visit the cemetery.  Next to the cemetery we take a grassy track which heads downhill to join another track, then continues straight ahead behind the dunes with access to the beach.  Unless there is a very high tide, we head onto the sand and continue walking south.
A gap in the dunes is reached where the outflow from the Loch of Strathbeg reaches the sea.  Here we head inland around the edge of the lagoon - a great habitat for wading birds.
We continue crossing a footbridge over a drainage canal and then another larger bridge, across the main outflow of the Loch of Strathbeg. On the far side we turn left back downstream towards the beach.  When the flat grassy area is reached we bear right (south), following the bottom of the sandy bank.
We follow faint grassy tracks, sometimes a little wet underfoot, for almost a kilometre and then enter the dunes, following faint tracks until it is possible to safely gain access back down onto the beach.  We now continue along the beach. The lighthouse at Rattray Head is out of sight and a kilometre passes below the dunes before the corner is rounded and the lighthouse is seen again.
When almost level with the lighthouse there is a gap in the dunes on the right where a sandy route heads inland. This becomes a track and passes the former lightkeepers cottages. The walk continues along the track to Old Rattray cemetery where some cars will have been left.  There will be an opportunity to visit the cemetery and the St Mary's Chapel ruins.  We will then return to St. Combs to pick up the remaining cars.
This walk is on beaches, dunes and rough grassland with uneven surfaces.  Although graded leisurely  the walking can be challenging at times because of the terrain.