PORTSOY

Anyone who loves traditional boats should head to Portsoy for the Scottish Traditional Boat Festival which takes place in late June. Traditional boats from far and wide congregate on the harbour here, while the festival itself showcases traditional crafts such as boat building, knitting, music and art. Hungry visitors also have a food fayre to whet their appetites.

Portsoy, established as a Burgh by Mary Queen of Scots, was one of the earliest ports to be established along the Moray and Aberdeenshire coasts. Portsoy has the oldest harbour on the Moray Firth, and its 17th century warehouses remain as a reminder of past glory. One of the warehouses acts as a workshop for a decorative stone known as Portsoy Marble, a variety of serpentine whose uses included parts of the Palace of Versailles. The Salmon Bothy is a former Salmon House which has been converted into a museum. The coastal path heading out of Portsoy offers views of fascinating rock formations as well as the chance to see the dolphins for which the Moray Firth is so well known.

Map of the area.

PORTSOY HARBOUR. Photo by Michael Garlick, via Wikimedia Commons.