Thursday 27 August 2015

Jenny’s not so Well: Some summer holiday pictures from Moray

On the Moray Coastal Trail 2015           
A Walk on the Wet Side        

From The Megalithic Portal: 12 September 2006
Holy Well or Sacred Spring in Moray
To find Jenny’s Well join the coastal path in Portknockie, near Bow Fiddle Rock, and follow it towards Cullen. A short distance after descending to sea level and before the sandy beach, Jenny’s Well is on the right.
Site Name: Jenny's Well Alternative Name: Janet's Well
Country: Scotland County: Moray Type: Holy Well or Sacred Spring
Nearest Town: Portknockie
Map Ref: NJ495682
Latitude: 57.700762N  Longitude: 2.848947W
Condition: 5 Ambience: 3 Access: 4 Accuracy: 3

Other sites featuring Jenny's Well include:
http://www.walkhighlands.co.uk/moray/cullen-bay.shtml continue on the path to reach Jenny's Well.-
http://www.walkhighlands.co.uk/moray/buckie-cullen.shtmlalong the base of the cliffs to reach Jenny's Well”.
http://www.discovercullen.com/localwalk-cullenbay-portknockie.phpwalk around the rocks on the path until you reach Jenny's Well.”

Sadly, walkers on this part of the Moray Coastal Trail, on the way to the Whale's Mouth rock formation from Cullen this August, found that the path to the Well was overgrown with waist-high (for an adult - small children were submerged) bracken, nettles, mint and other plants - and when they got there the well had been blocked off. The problem was evidently not that the flow of water had dried up - seepage into the ground in the vicinity was making parts of the track very water-logged, even in summer. One can only wonder why this has been done (misguided "Health and safety"? Costs of maintenance?), and whether the effects have been thought through. 

Water from the well, 2013
Disappointment, 2015: Not what it was

(They still made it to the Whale's Mouth.)

For a long time the walk to Jenny's Well has been a favourite one for local Cullen residents such as Calum Smith as well as featuring on the itinerary, and among the holiday memories, of many tourists and visitors to the area.


Representatives of 3 generations at the Well, 1990s

Looking east to Cullen from the Well, 2011
Near Jenny's Well, c.2011

Whale's Mouth with rainbow, 2014

























A View over the Moray Firth
by Sir David Murray, RA (privately owned)

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