Two new trail guides for Aberdeen were today launched at the start of the October school holidays which will help locals and visitors discover places full of history, heritage, and beautiful green spaces.
The family-friendly guides and maps, produced by Aberdeen City Council with help from community groups and student placements for some of them, are designed to encourage people to walk around our beautiful and historic city and discover – or rediscover – different aspects of the city.
People can also use the ‘discover’ function in the free GoABZ app, available from Apple’s App Store & Google Play, which contains the trails as well as more than 800 points of interest featured in the guides so people can create their own routes.
The new or revised trail booklets, which are available as printable downloads from the council’s website, include:
- NEW Seaton Park;
- NEW The Best of Aberdeen;
- EXPANDED Old Aberdeen;
- EXPANDED Bloody Aberdeen;
- EXPANDED History Trail.
The new Seaton Park guide means the three biggest parks in Aberdeen – Duthie, Hazlehead and Seaton – all now have trail guides.
The new trail guides, many routes of which can be cycled, mean there is now a total of 24 in the series covering many historical and natural gems around the city.
Items in the new trail guides include a WWII pillbox, a 250-year-old elm tree, a former steam engine which is now a playpark, the oldest and second-oldest bridges in Scotland, a ‘super scurry (seagull)’ public art mural, the second-largest granite building in the world, and a former fishing village.
The Lord Provost of Aberdeen Dr David Cameron said: “We want to encourage people to walk or cycle more and we hope these trail guides help people to get out there and find out what’s in the city at the same time.
“We have many green areas and stunning buildings so it’s fantastic these new trail guides have been produced showing even more of our fascinating heritage.
“We live in a beautiful city with a rich and interesting history so it’s great the trail guides show people what there is, from our stunning and award-winning parks and gardens to quirky little anomalies found all over the city.”
The new trail guides complement the existing ones which are Aberdeen Coastal Trail, People & Places Trail, Sculpture & Curios Trail, Boundary Stones Trail, Aberdeen Granite Trail, Old Aberdeen Trail, Aberdeen Maritime Trail, The Green Trail, Aberdeen History Trail, The Jacobite Trail, Bloody Aberdeen Trail, Donside Heritage Trail, Duthie Park Trail, Hazlehead Park Trail, Rosemount Local Area Trail, the Scottish Samurai Trail, Old Aberdeen Trail, Torry and Woodside Trails, Lower Deeside Trail, Denburn Trail, Kingswells & The Four Hills, and Kincorth & Tullos Hills.
There will also be digital pdf booklets available online at the City Council’s website plus printed copies at selected venues.
The trail guides and GoABZ Discover are funded by Smarter Choices, Smarter Places (SCSP), which is Paths for All’s programme to increase active and sustainable travel throughout Scotland. The programme is grant-funded by Transport Scotland. The current SCSP match fund is Cycling Walking Safer Routes (CWSR) which is also funded by Transport Scotland. CWSR aims to improve the uptake of walking, cycling, and wheeling in Scotland.