Dunnottar Castle - A Sense of Place
Walking the Land - First Friday Walk for October
This is my response to the First Friday Walk on October 2nd, 2026 . The prompts for this month’s walk were initiated by Zoë Ashbrook.
At the time I was travelling back from Shetland and driving to Edinburgh. We stopped off very early at Dunnottar Castle (near Stonehaven on the Aberdeen coast), and I took the opportunity to make some responses. I took notice of some of the prompts, others I didn’t use.
There was no-one else around when we arrive and park in the empty carpark. Following the path to the beach, we pick our way down the slightly precarious stone steps and look up at the ruined castle perched on the rocks above us. It’s a dramatic sight. As the guide book says ‘Perched atop a 160 foot rock and surrounded on three sides by the North Sea, these dramatic and evocative cliff-top ruins were once an impregnable fortress of the Earls Marischal, once one of the most powerful families in Scotland’.
Noticing -
lark singing • crows circling diving landing cawing • wind whipping around me • grass blowing swaying waving • glistening black rocks • pools of water • dark green seaweed thrown up on rocks • orange lichen • sea rippling • waves breaking over rocks foaming • smooth round stones embedded in rock • eyes rising to castle walls • castle silhouetted dark against light • broken walls • my breath as I climb worn stone steps • layers of rock • shades of green • shades of brown • pink flash • lone bright pink rose amongst red hips • pale yellow stems • waving dry seed heads • mottled leaves curling • tangles caught in spider web • dark clouds moving fast • patches of blue sky • sun breaking through • rainbow • murmur of voices • laughter
I make two rapid drawings using a freeform app on my phone and finger as I look up at the castle,. watching the crows diving down to perch on the towers before they take off again and whirl into the sky
Walking back, either side of the path is a mass of swaying grasses and pockets of wild flowers - so many colours
I make another quick finger drawing in the freeform app on my phone
Then one more on a strip of folded paper and stub of graphite I find in my bag - eyes closed listening to the sounds and the feel of the wind around me.
As we return to the carpark more people are arriving - some walking up the coastal path from Stonehaven - joggers, dog-walkers, families, friends arm-in-arm….. it’s a popular place. I wish we had more time - but Edinburgh was calling.
