📌 Sandend, Aberdeenshire
★★
There isn’t much left of Findlater Castle: just a few precarious walls and vaults threatening to collapse into the sea at any moment. But the reason to visit is the dramatic setting – on a par with any other Scottish castle, hanging grimly onto a rocky promontory above the turbulent North Sea. Coastal erosion aside, it was obviously once a formidable defensive location, surrounded by vertical cliffs on three sides and with a stone causeway complete with double drawbridge on the remaining landward edge. Paths do lead out onto the headland but you can get a good view from the main path without risking life and limb too. There’s a car park fairly nearby, but visiting the castle as part of a coastal walk between Sandend and Cullen makes an even better trip.
🌍 Location
📌 On the coast, off minor road 1 mi west of Sandend
🧭 O.S. Grid Reference: NJ 542672
🛰️ GPS coordinates: 57.692438,-2.770554
❌ No public transport within 1 mi. Nearest bus stop is in Sandend (1.5 mi via coast path), with better service stopping on A98 at village turnoff (2 mi)
🚗 Car park at Barnyards of Findlater, 🧭 NJ 541665 / 🛰️ 57.686427,-2.772320
📝 Key info
⌚ Always open
🎫 Free
💬 From the car park it’s a 15-min walk (each way) to the castle on a level track then good path (⬤ Easy). Venturing onto the castle promontory itself requires great care and is now discouraged by local signs – rough paths, unprotected drops & unstable masonry with concealed underground vaults.
