Collieston

This is a much overlooked harbour about a mile north of Hackley Head

. It is small and drying and the entrance is quite narrow. It is totally cut off in on-shore winds and in strong SE winds the waves break over the North/South pier and the harbour turns into surf; on the other hand in settled conditions with an off-shore wind it is a little version of paradise.

It is popular with landlubbers at the weekends but during the week it is empty. On neap tides there is enough water just inside the knuckle of the pier for a boat to stay afloat but it dries completely on springs. Note that the local angling boats (open dories) are kept above the waterline in the Western corner of the harbour apart from the occasional boat which can be found moored fore and aft across the knuckle (see Google maps street view )

The harbour is maintained by donations and does not charge harbour dues but there is an honesty box for any donations.

Originally this was just an open bay with two approaches either side of rocks (the "Black Rig") in the middle of the bay. It was home to about 50 yawls which fished the herring and in the late 19th century some one had the bright idea of closing off the Northern approach with a pier. Unfortunately this had the effect of containing the sand and the bay silted up (how often have we seen that in this era of turning every old harbour into a marina!).

The result of this and the advent of the steam trawler was that the fishing fleet moved out and the village atrophied. Nowadays the local residents are an eclectic mix of retirees, professional folk commuting to Aberdeen or Peterhead and some holiday residents. There is no pub and the small Post Office and shop closed two or three years ago as no one was prepared to take it over when the owner retired.

The nearest shops are in Ellon about half an hour by bus from here. There is a small private bus operator who runs the school bus and a daily bus into Ellon every morning which gives enough time to do some shopping before returning. If you want to go further afield there is a bus which runs along the coast road about a mile and a half inland.

All in all this harbour has not much to recommend it but in a period of settled weather we would choose it as a destination every time; the villagers are welcoming, it is very peaceful and, as long as you have your supplies, well worth a visit.
But if there is any hint of a build up of weather from the SE or East, leave immediately because, if you wait to see how bad it might get, it will be too late, the harbour entrance will be impassable and you will be trapped and at the mercy of the surf.

Our photographs (in the Gallery) show what may happen and the boat being battered is the writer's!! And this video shows how bad it can really get.