Banchory – The Salmon Leap and an Ice Cream at Conties
A few hours.
The route
Just south of Banchory, the Water of Feugh pours over rocks under an old stone bridge, and in autumn and late winter the salmon leap the falls on their way upriver.
Watch from the footbridge beside the road bridge, then cross the Dee into Banchory for a cone at Continental Cream on Dee Street, known locally as Conties. It's an hour or two out for young children, and best a day or two after rain.
Before you go
Book accommodation nearby
If you are staying over: here are ours nearest where the day starts and ends.
The day
Banchory
The river and the salmon at the falls, then over the Dee into town for the ice cream.
About an hour and a half
Falls of Feugh
An attraction
The Bridge of Feugh is on the B974, just south of the Dee. Cross the narrow old bridge and park in the car park on the left, which has toilets and asks for a voluntary payment by RingGo or PayByPhone. Walk back onto the metal footbridge beside the road bridge, which gives a view of the falls without steps. Salmon are most often seen leaping from September to November and in February and March, a day or two after rain has raised the river, so give it a patient half hour. Keep children on the footbridge, away from the road, the rocks and the fast water. The toilets open 8am to 6pm from October to March.
2 min by car
Continental Cream
Ice cream
Drive 2 minutes over the Dee to Continental Cream, which locals call Conties, at 14 Dee Street; park free in the Bridge Street car park. It's a family-run ice cream parlour and sweet shop serving Mackie's ice cream, made in Aberdeenshire, with milkshakes, bubble waffles, hot drinks and jars of old-fashioned sweets, and benches outside. It opens every day: noon to 5pm on Mondays and Tuesdays, 10am to 5.30pm on Saturdays, and 10.30am to 5.30pm on the other days. Hours can change in winter, so ring 01330 825733 before setting off from November. If it's shut, Ride Coffee House on Station Road does coffee and cakes every day until 5pm.
If it rains
Rain is what brings the salmon up, and the falls are at their fullest a day or two after it, so a damp afternoon is no bad thing; the ice cream shop is under a roof.
Photographs by Naw and Julia Fleming via Google