📌 Scrabster, Highland
★★★★
The scenery around Holborn Head couldn’t be more different from that of decidedly functional Scrabster, where this walk begins. Shipping containers give way to sheep and sea views as soon as you pass the little lighthouse at the port’s northern end, with superb views across to Dunnet Head soon matched by those of Hoy – the hilliest of the Orkney Islands. 3 excellent miles of coastal scenery feature numerous stacks, arches, high cliffs and layered rock formations looking like placemats stacked on top of each other. Uneven surfaces, unexpected blowholes and big drops mean a slip here could be fatal, so care is needed, especially in windy or wet weather.
📷 Chronological photo guide
🌍 Location
📌 Start / finish by the A9, Scrabster Harbour
🧭 O.S. Grid Reference: ND 100703
🛰️ GPS coordinates: 58.611642,-3.550025
🚌 Bus to Scrabster
🚗 Car park
📝 Key info
▶ 7 km / 4 mi | ▲ 120 m | ⌛ 2 hr
Features: 🏠 Scrabster; 🌊 Holborn Head coastline
⬤ Easy | Unmade paths mostly on short grass, occasionally very close to cliff edges; track then minor road for return.
Download file for GPS➡️ Anticlockwise circuit: start – Scrabster lighthouse – Holborn Head – Spear Head – Heron Craig – Nells Cottage – start
🥾 On our last visit
Wildlife: Eiders, shags, fulmars, seagulls, rock doves, goldfinches. Roe deer, sheep & lambs, cows & calves, horses.
Weather: Just 6°C in late May, overcast & windy.
May 2021
