Anstruther to Dunnottar

You would need to catch a bus to Dundee and then train to Stonehaven and then walk or taxi to Dunnottar. You are looking at about 3 hours one way...

Remember the castle can get closed in bad weather, particularly if there are very strong winds.

Wasleys is pretty good with her buses, but the X7 from Dundee to Aberdeen stops at Dunnottar. You also have another change onto the 99 at St Andrews
I would get the X60 from Anstruther- direct to St Andrews in half the time of the 95.

Whichever way you do it is there hours and a bit by bus.

A Stagecoach East Scotland Day Rider for £11.50 currently is what you want. Single Fares cost £11.55 each way currently. Normally the X7's are double deckers with on board toilets but don't rely on it.

You could get off the 99 at Leuchars and train to Stonehaven in 1 hour 10 minutes then bus, walk along the cliffs or taxi back to Dunnottar. That should be about an hour faster overall.

Booked ahead of time an Advance train specific fare is £9.30 each way, plus your day bus ticket as above for Anstruther to Leuchars return and maybe the local bus Stonehaven to Dunnottar

Thank you both, researching trip possibilities continues.

Hi, Liz in Pennsylvania,

All things considered, you'd be better off taking the X7 Stagecoach bus from Dundee. The bus will let you off at the roadway which leads to Dunnottar. It's about a ten minute walk from there. You'd need to alert the driver where you want to get off.

If you take the train, the Stonehaven train station is a long way from Dunnottar. It's also a fair piece from downtown! You would definitely need to take a taxi from the train station to Dunnottar, otherwise it would be about an hour's walk (although a pleasant one!) each way!

If you do end up in central Stonehaven, you should try a fish supper from the Carron Fish & Chip Shop, which is on Allardyce Street (Stonehaven's main street), just after the bridge over the Carron Water. The Carron is the birthplace of the deep fried Mars Bar, a Scottish delicacy which sounds awful, but is surprisingly good!

Best wishes and safe travels!

Mike (Auchterless)

Thanks for the additional info Mike.
I suspect I would regret not making the effort to do this while I'm in the area.

I too think you would regret it. I also think you would regret not doing the walk one way to Stonehaven. When you stand in the parking lot at Dunnottar and look north to see the Doric style temple on the cliffs, they are crying out to be walked. The first time I went there I was being untypically lazy and was on a tour. So that wasn't an option.
So I had to go back independently on the X7 for that walk, getting off at that stop with its grass roof on the shelter.
The temple by the way is Stonehaven's war memorial. It may have been one of the later ones to be built, but sure is impressive, and has just been restored since I was last there.
It reflects the fact that in WW1 across Scotland, one in four of the men who went to war never came home- twice the casualty rate of the rest of the UK.
Stonehaven lost 163 men out of a total population of 4,200 men, women and children. For those of fighting age that probably was close to the 25% national casualty rate.
It was built to look like a ruin as a symbolic point.
Whether all that detail matters or not it really is a great walk.

And speaking of Dunnottar Castle...

www.pressandjournal.co.uk/fp/news/aberdeen-aberdeenshire/6668142/dunnottar-castle-visitor-centre-could-be-blocked/

Why does that Joni Mitchell song keep running through my head?

Mike (Auchterless)