Walk: Stacks of Duncansby drama

📌 John o’ Groats, Highland
★★★★

Duncansby Head is the furthest northeast you can travel on the Scottish mainland. This rocky point is worthy of a visit in itself, but the real attraction is found a mile to the south: the magnificent, twin Stacks of Duncansby, shaped like sailing boats anchored off high cliffs. There is a direct path from the car park, but this misses the other minor headlands and geos nearby, of which many are superb viewpoints in themselves, with thousands of nesting seabirds in breeding season. Our route sticks more rigidly to the cliff edges on fainter trods, with grass kept well-cropped by large numbers of sheep. Take time to view the stacks from all safe angles before returning via the Bay of Sannick on the contrastingly gentler, north coast.

🌍 Location

📌 Start / finish at Duncansby Head, minor road end 2 mi east of John o’ Groats

🧭 O.S. Grid Reference: ND 405733

🛰️ GPS coordinates: 58.643797,-3.027343

❌ No public transport within 1 mi – you could walk along the coast from John o’ Groats (just over 1 mi from northwest part of route)

🚗 Car park

📝 Key info

▶ 5 km / 3 mi | ▲ 160 m | ⌛ 1.5 hr

Features: 🌊 Duncansby Head; 🌊 Thirle Door arch; 🌊 Stacks of Duncansby

⬤ Easy | Grassy clifftop paths, often faint. Fairly steep ascent from Bay of Sannick. Tough route for this grade.

➡️ Clockwise circuit with extension to stacks: start & Duncansby Head – Stacks of Duncansby via east coast – return to low point between stacks & start – Bay of Sannick – start via north coast

Download file for GPS

🥾 On our last visit

Wildlife: Thousands of seabirds – fulmars, guillemots, razorbills, kittiwakes, shags (with chicks), seagulls, rock doves, skuas. Seals bobbing in the water.

Weather: A few brighter periods & odd spots of rain, 10°C, light winds.

May 2021