Meads of St John before reaching the hamlet of Mundole just outside the town of Forres, which is by far the largest settlement on the river's route. Passing under the Findhorn Bridge on the A96 and the main Inverness to Aberdeen railway line the river finally reaches relatively flat land just before it reaches Findhorn Bay. This is a large tidal basin and at low water the river is joined by the Muckle, Mosset and Kinloss Burns as it flows unimpeded over its sands. The combined streams flow on to the north with the village and military base of Kinloss to the right, crossing the bay and passing Findhorn Ecovillage and the harbour of the village of Findhorn before exiting the bay through a narrow, sandy channel and entering the Moray Firth with the Culbin Forest on the left. At higher stages of the tide the riverine waters mix with the incoming sea, creating a brackish lagoon. Etymology The derivation of the name 'Findhorn' is not absolutely clear. Watson (1926) states that it is derived from Gaelic Fionn Èire, meaning "white Ireland" which "doubtless refers to the white sands of the estuary". The genitive Èireann then gave rise to the use of the anglicized 'earn' or 'erne' in other local names such as Invererne and Dunearn. 'Burn' is a Scots language word for stream although most of the names referred to above are of Gaelic origin. Other common tributary names include abhainn (river or stream) and allt (brook, burn or stream). Monadhliath is Am Monadh Liath in Gaelic and means grey mountain range and Càrn means a cairn or heap of stones. Coignafearn is from Cóig na Feàrna and means "the fifth of the alder", in this case "fifth" referring to a fraction of a davoch, a land measurement that could be subdivided into halves, quarters or fifths. Amongst the main settlements Tomatin is from Tom Aitinn meaning "juniper hillock", Forres is from farrais, a small copse and Kinloss from cinn lois, herb headland. Geology and geomorphology During the Caledonian orogeny, some 500 mya, much of the land that is now northern Scotland was subject to folding and metamorphosis and then intruded with granite magma which contributed to the uplift of the area and ultimately the creation of the Grampian mountains of which the Monadliaths that form the head waters of the river Findhorn are a part. The bedrock of