ACTIVE OUTDOORS: Pokemon Go fans have gotta catch this Moray Coast trek from Hopeman to Lossiemouth
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It’s rare for anyone to describe me as fashionable. In fact, the closest I might come to it is being ‘fashionably late’ for something. So when we went on a wee break in our camper van and decided to make it into a walking holiday, I was thinking how to make it more exciting for the wee ones.
My girls are both primary school age and are known to complain about walking a mile to the shops, so asking them to do what should have been the 13 miles or so round trek from Hopeman to Lossiemouth would be a big task.
Thankfully, I’m a great believer that things happen for a reason and in this job you’re exposed to all sorts of inspirational ideas, so I thought why not suggest to the Mrs that we download Pokemon Go and use that as motivation for the girls.
This was prompted by an event at Dores covered in the Inverness Courier. For those unfamiliar with Pokemon Go, it was a craze in 2016 (probably a tad too long ago to still be fashionably late) and is a simple concept where you download a mobile app which uses GPS technology to map where you are and it places Pokemon around you and nearby for you to collect. There are also checkpoints such as Pokestops and Pokegyms where you get goodies and battle other players.
It’s simple, addictive and a super-positive by-product is that you have to walk to the places it put on its interactive map in order to make progress.
This turned out to be a godsend as the Moray Coast Trail route produced no moans, yet plenty of ‘I bet that lighthouse is a Pokegym, let’s get there and find out’ and ‘I wonder what type of Pokemon we’ll find around that corner’ and ‘I want to get another Pikachu!’
Indeed, Hopeman is a neat little seaside spot, perfect for families with its play park, outdoor gym, skate park and football pitches – as well as several Pokemon checkpoints.
Leaving via the trail, you take in beautiful views of coves (inset circle, above right), multicoloured beach huts and historic landmarks.
The terrain is natural, sandy and grassy. I wore walking boots but the others had trainers and none of us had any trouble, bar one annoying blood blister for me – which seemed to return from a previous long walk in the Cairngorms.
The trail sweeps around the coast, as you’d expect, and is well marked. It passes a few buildings and what looked like a quarry (although the heavy machinery was inactive).
There are a couple of steeper sections that may upset anyone afraid of heights because they come close to the edge of a drop toward the sea, but views throughout are magnificent.
Around halfway, we were faced with the choice of continuing along the trail or going across the beach and we chose the sand. It was one of the warmest days of the year and we wanted to make the most of it. The beach initially was practically deserted apart from a lone woman collecting washed up rubbish in a bag – good on her.
On reflection, the beach route probably added at least a mile to our trek and as we came closer to our destination, it became busier, especially as we were adjacent to a Parkdean camp site. After leaving Hopeman just after 9am, we arrived in Lossie at around noon – a perfect time for lunch at the harbour, after visiting a second-hand bike shop.
We left Lossie at around 2.30pm after stopping off at a shoreline play park.
We decided to return via the trail which ran along the edge of a golf course. The dune route was undulating with some unkempt areas of spiky bushes prompting me to scoop up the kids to avoid them becoming pin-cushions. Afterwards, they said my legs looked like they had chicken pox due to the damage! We also took a short-cut through the Parkdean resort as the chances of rain increased and we were keen to stay ahead of it.
Two RAF jets overhead were a noisy highlight, adding to the memorable walk, which ended at around 5pm with the promise of ice cream for kids who complained less than the adults when we noticed a replica ‘Hopeman 1 mile’ pointy sign around half-a-mile after its doppelgänger.
Overall, we collected at least 20 new Pokemon, helping breed a new love for walking among our young ones, while also falling for the beauty of this section of Moray coast.
