📌 Headland in Torry, Aberdeen City
★★
Aberdeen Harbour is protected from the south by Girdle Ness: a windswept, rocky headland topped with a lighthouse and an old artillery battery. Despite being within spitting distance of the fringes of suburban Torry, the promontory has a wild, isolated feel and offers grand views into the North Sea (along with a distant offshore windfarm). Closer to the battery on the north side of the headland, the panorama couldn’t be more different, with a view straight into the heart of busy Aberdeen harbour, backed by the many church spires and office blocks of the city centre. Rafts of eider ducks, bobbing seals, gulls and oystercatchers can often be spotted around the coastline; this is supposedly the best place locally to look for dolphins, though we’ve never been lucky enough on our own visits. Since 2022 you can gaze over it all from the warmth and shelter of the Greyhope Bay Centre: a mini visitor centre built out of old shipping containers.
🌍 Location
📌 Off Greyhope Road, 2 mi east of Aberdeen city centre
🧭 O.S. Grid Reference: NJ 972053 (Girdle Ness Lighthouse) / NJ 965056 (Torry Battery)
🛰️ GPS coordinates: 57.139019,-2.048547 (Girdle Ness Lighthouse) / 57.141563,-2.059173 (Torry Battery)
🚌 St Fittick’s Road (1 mi from lighthouse)
🚗 Car parks / street parking
⌚ Always open – Greyhope Bay Centre open Wednesday to Sunday
🎫 Free
