Culbin Forest, 18th September 2026

 I was feeling quite chilled and unrushed at Woodend when I woke up in the morning. I didn't leave the site till about 1000, which is late for me. I wanted to get to Findhorn though, so I headed over the high road, then joined the A9 right to Inverness and rolled into Sainsburys at Forres for supplies and fuel. I had lunch at some garden centre which was very good value, and then I trundled into the hallowed sands of Findhorn Bay and into my pitch on the beach campsite for 2 nights. I headed for a wee run to familiarise myself, then dinner in the van, then off to the beach to not see a sunset and enjoy a dram.

Beach dram

No sunset for me

I was glad to be back. I headed to the Kimberley for a chat with some locals by the fire and then hit the hay under a starry sky. 

Findhorn runs on whatever time you like, so the next morning I was up at some point for brekkie and then I was very keen to head to the Culbin Forest to see one of the filming locations from the Odyssey. I took the wee back roads from Forres and found myself parked deep in the forest. It's fantastic. I had no real plan other than just to run a bit, so I got ready, packed a load of snacks and set off from the van at 1045.

The forest itself is huge, but I wanted to see the northern coastal side of it, so I headed in that general direction. It comes to a very distinct end and you're met with a huge swathe of tidal mudflats. There was no one in sight, it was quite wonderful.

Culbin Forest

The forest floor was filled with fungi of all sorts, it was truly an incredible sight to see. I took some photos, but you need to go macro to get some of this to work out well.

Fungi

There was a lot of long straight roads, it reminded me a lot of the Speyside Way that I walked in 2008.

Long, straight roads

I headed back towards the centre and followed a little trail to get to the trig point at the middle, but more importantly, the fire watch tower. I wasn't sure how accessible this was, but a few flights of stairs later, I was standing above the tree canopy with views all across this quarter of Scotland and the north sea.

Fire watch tower

View above the canopy

I ran a bit further, then went back to investigate another tower on the map which wasn't there, and all that ended up doing was giving me a load of ticks the next morning.

Back at the van, I stopped the watch and I'd done 14km. I was quite happy with that for a morning's work, so I headed back to Findhorn to tidy the van a bit, eat some cake and read until it was time for a visit to the Watershed Sauna, on the beach at Findhorn. I'd booked this a week before coming so I was quite excited for it. 

Watershed Sauna

Quite content

I met some lovely people, swam in the sea under that rainbow and watched the gannets drop into the sea. There were seals bobbing a bit further out. After the week of mixed weather, it was a pretty special moment, and a very Scottish one.

I was feeling very chilled and happy with myself but also starving and a van dinner wasn't going to cut it, so I headed for the Kimberley again, and ordered a hefty main and a pint. When I walked in I saw one of the locals I had chatted to and gushed to them about how good the sauna was and how chilled I was feeling.

A little later, Reuben from Cornwall and Kat joined me at the table. They'd been on Experience Week at the Findhorn Foundation and it was the end of their break too. We all got on really well and I had one of the deepest conversations of my life. Kat is 71, and had come from Boston just to go to the Foundation. They were lovely folk and I was feeling quite emotional on the walk back to the van. One last moment of joy for the week was to head down to the beach and have a dram under the stars, before turning in for the night.

Reuben, Kat and I

In the morning, I headed to the bay for a final short swim, but it was time to go home. Much like last year, Findhorn gave me something I didn't expect. I'm sure I'll be back.