The Angus and Mearns Coast – Arbroath, Lunan Bay and Dunnottar
A day by car, from Dundee to Stonehaven.
The route
Between Dundee and Aberdeen the quick road, the A90, runs inland and sees little of the sea.
The A92 is the other way north. It keeps near the coast through Angus, by harbour towns, long sands and red cliffs, then crosses the North Esk into the Mearns, the old name for the Kincardineshire shore, where fishing villages sit below the road. This is a day up that road from Dundee, 56 miles with a little over two hours at the wheel. It is one-way: the day ends at Stonehaven, not back where it began.
Before you go
Book a Dunnottar Castle ticket online, refunded if the castle shuts for weather, and be parked two hours before it closes (6pm from April to September, 5pm in March and until 24 October, 3pm from 25 October to January, 4pm in February), as last entry is an hour before closing and it shuts at short notice in high wind, so check its website that morning.
Book lunch at the Anchor Hotel, Johnshaven
Book a table at the Anchor Hotel, Johnshaven, for about one o'clock, Wednesday to Sunday only (food is served from noon to 3pm, none on Mondays or Tuesdays), and not from 25 October to the end of February, when the day leaves Johnshaven out.
The day
Dunnottar
A day up the coast with the North Sea on your right. The road runs north through Angus and into the Mearns, never far from a harbour or a beach. The day has one fixed hour, at a ruined castle on its rock, and it finishes on a seafront a few minutes beyond it.
2 hr 2 min at the wheelAbout 56 miles
Arbroath Harbour
An attraction
Leave Dundee by about a quarter to nine. It's 35 minutes' drive up the A92 to the car park at Arbroath's harbour, a few minutes' walk from Cel's Fresh Fish on Ladybridge Street. Cel's smokes its own Arbroath Smokies in a covered barrel over a hardwood fire, and its counter is open daily from 8 until half past five. Buy one warm and eat it beside the boats. Half an hour is plenty: the abbey, a short walk up from the harbour, deserves a visit of its own.
21 min by car
Lunan Bay
An attraction
Drive 21 minutes north on the A92, the last stretch by a lane and a farm track taken at 10mph, to the car park at Lunan Farms. A sandy path through the dunes comes out on the beach north of the Lunan Water, the burn, or stream, that cuts the bay in two: stay on this side and do not wade it. The ruin across the water is Red Castle, unsafe and fenced off, so look from the sand and go no nearer. Give the beach an hour. The farm shop has toilets.
9 min by car
Montrose Basin
An attraction
It's 9 minutes' drive up the A92 to the Scottish Wildlife Trust's visitor centre, a mile before Montrose. The Basin is a wide tidal estuary, and the centre looks out over it, with telescopes at the windows. What you see depends on the tide and the month. It opens daily, 10.30am to 5pm, from mid-February to October, and Friday to Monday until 4pm in winter, and adults pay to go in. If the morning has run late, or from 25 October to the end of February, leave this stop out.
24 min by car
Johnshaven
Drive 24 minutes on, through Montrose and over the North Esk, then down off the A92 to Johnshaven, a village round a small harbour where lobster and crab are landed. Lunch is at the Anchor Hotel, two minutes' walk from the boats, serving food from noon to 3pm, Wednesday to Sunday. On a Monday or Tuesday, buy a filled roll at Cel's for a picnic by the harbour, and have fish and chips later at The Bay. From 25 October to the end of February, leave this stop out.
24 min by car
Dunnottar Castle
An attraction
It's 24 minutes' drive up the A92 to the castle's small car park; if it is full, park in Stonehaven and walk the cliff path, 40 minutes each way. Last entry is an hour before closing, so arrive two hours before it shuts: 6pm from April to September, 5pm in March and until 24 October, then 3pm to January and 4pm in February. In those winter months, come straight from Lunan Bay, leave out the Basin and Johnshaven, and lunch at The Bay after. It shuts in high wind: check its website that morning. Going in is 180 steps down and 38 uneven ones up to the door, and the same again in reverse on the way out.
9 min by car
Stonehaven
An attraction
Stonehaven is 9 minutes' drive on. Park at the Beach Promenade, beside The Bay, and walk the front: the harbour is 15 minutes away, with the old Tolbooth on its pier. Walk the harbour walls in daylight and keep back from the edge. The Tolbooth's small museum opens on weekend afternoons only. The day ends here, where the coast road meets the A90. Aberdeen is about half an hour further on, and Dundee is about an hour and ten minutes back down the A90.
If it rains
Until 24 October, the Montrose Basin visitor centre is the day's shelter: it is indoors, with hot drinks and the estuary on the far side of the glass, so give it longer. On a day when it is open, the House of Dun is a second roof, 12 minutes' drive from the centre. Lunch at Johnshaven, Wednesday to Sunday, is indoors too. Keep Lunan Bay to a short walk on the sand. Wind matters more than rain here: if Dunnottar is shut, stay off the clifftop and drive on to Stonehaven for fish and chips in the car.
Worth a detour
- Auchmithie
Auchmithie is a small clifftop village, 10 minutes' drive from Arbroath harbour, with a pebble beach below it. It is said to be where the smokie began, before its fisher families moved to Arbroath. Lunan Bay is 21 minutes on from the village, so the detour adds about 10 minutes to the morning. Do not count on finding anything to eat there: have the smokie in Arbroath first.
- House of Dun
The House of Dun is the National Trust for Scotland's Georgian house west of Montrose, 19 minutes' drive from Lunan Bay and 12 minutes from the Basin's visitor centre, so it adds about 20 minutes. The house is seen by guided tour on some days of the week only, and the days change with the season. The Trust's own page has them: check before going.
- St Cyrus National Nature Reserve
St Cyrus is a village just over the North Esk, with a National Nature Reserve of beach, dunes and cliffs below it and the ruin of the old church in its kirkyard. The reserve's car park is 18 minutes' drive from the Basin and 9 minutes from Johnshaven, so it adds about 3 minutes. It is open ground with no gate: go in daylight and in dry, still weather, keep back from the cliff edges, and check before going.
- Gourdon harbour
Gourdon is the next fishing harbour up the coast, 9 minutes' drive from Johnshaven, and the Anchor's menu names fish from Gourdon. A quarter of an hour by the boats is enough. Dunnottar is 20 minutes on, so the detour adds about 5 minutes. The Maggie Law Maritime Museum by the harbour opens on Saturday and Sunday afternoons from April to September only.
- Catterline Bay
Catterline is a small village above a bay, 22 minutes' drive from Johnshaven and 12 minutes short of Dunnottar, so it adds about 10 minutes. The painter Joan Eardley lived here from the 1950s until her death in 1963 and painted the sea and the fields round it. Park at the roadside in the village and walk down the steep lane to the pier. Leave it out if it would make you late for the castle.
Where to eat
StonehavenThe Bay Fish & ChipsA restaurant
StonehavenThe Carron Fish BarA restaurant
StonehavenAunty BettysA café
StonehavenTolbooth Seafood RestaurantA restaurant
MontroseLilybank BakehouseA café
MontroseTomorrow Is Another DayA café
MontroseRoo's LeapA restaurant
CarnoustieEast Scryne FruitA café
Chapelton of ElsickBrae at ChapeltonA caféPhotographs by Montrose Basin and David Rigby via Google