📌 Birsay, Orkney Mainland
★★
Heading east instead of west from the car park for the Brough of Birsay immediately takes you to a quieter section of coastline, but with its own charms and surprises. The coastal path follows the attractive rocky shore to Skipi Geo, originally a Viking harbour but now disused. Grassy hollows by the path here, or nousts, show where boats used to be hauled up from the shore during stormy winter months, with a reconstructed fishermen’s hut completing the scene. Before turning back you can continue to a whalebone sculpture looking out to the North Atlantic. Useful for an add-on to visiting the Brough of Birsay, perhaps whilst waiting for the tide, with ever-present Orkney birdlife.
📷 Chronological photo guide
🌍 Location
📌 Start / finish at minor road end, Point of Buckquoy, 0.5 mi northwest of Birsay, Orkney Mainland
🧭 O.S. Grid Reference: HY 243284
🛰️ GPS coordinates: 59.135256,-3.324734
🚌 Bus to Birsay (0.5 mi)
🚗 Car park
📝 Key info
▶ 3 km / 2 mi | ▲ Negligible | ⌛ 45 min
Features: 🌊 Skipi Geo and nousts
⬤ Easy | Narrow, mainly grassy coastal path alongside low cliffs.
Download file for GPS➡️ Out-and-back walk: start – Skipi Geo – whalebone sculpture near Skeres Naquer – return by outward route
🥾 On our last visit
Weather: Patchwork of sunshine but cold, northerly wind. Temperatures creeping into low teens.
Wildlife: Eider ducks at Skipi Geo; skua, shags and oystercatchers seen from the coast path; rabbits.
July 2015
