The north coast of Scotland has wonderful scenery with white sandy beaches, remote rocky cliffs and lots of wildlife.
Work has started improving and signposting a walking route along this coast – the North Coast Trail (NCT) – which is an ambitious but superb project. It is being carried out by the charity, Association of Northern Trails Scotland (ANTS) which Brian is involved with. This route has great potential and will link up both the John O’ Groats Trail to the east and the Cape Wrath Trail on the west for even longer hiking opportunities in northern Scotland. See the North Coast Trail website for trail descriptions and developments.
At the moment hiking the north coast involves a huge range of terrain, from cross country, bog, faint trails along tussocky cliff edges, beaches and roads. So it is a bit of an adventurous hike requiring navigation and the ability to deal with wet feet! However the views are incredible and the trail will improve through time.
Brian has backpacked about 2/3rds of the north coast in two hikes:
August 2020 Tongue to Thurso (eastbound)
April 2026 John o Groats to Thurso (westbound)
April 2026 John o Groats to Thurso (westbound)
Almost six years on from my last hike from Tongue to Thurso, I set off this time from John o’ Groats to hike back west to Thurso. This time I had the advantage of some very welcome initial work organised by Laura Gray as part of ANTS charity on the North Coast Trail; some signage has been added and route descriptions are available on the Walk Highlands website.
Day 1 April 2026 John o’ Groats to Brough I started from John o’ Groats early afternoon amidst the tourists next to the sign for the terminus of the John o’ Groats Trail. Its an easy start with mostly minor road walking for about 6km to Gills Bay (one of the two ferry points to Orkney). I had a go at following the coast ‘off piste’ around Ness of Quoys but gave up at Kirkstyle church as it was slow going and instead took the easy option of grassy verges of the A836 road to Gills Bay.
I then crossed knee-deep heather moorland towards Head of Crees crossing some steep sided gullys before deciding it would simpler to drop down to the water edge and hike the lumpy grass on sheep trails. The Island of Stroma is prominant from here with the sea crazily choppy from the strong tidal currents. I had to climb back up into the heather to round the scenic bay of Scotland’s Haven- and a very welcome new NCT sign!
I was quite happy to then follow easier minor roads and tracks westwards past Castle of Mey and the smal pier of Wester Haven. An easterly breeze was at my back but it was still chilly and not tempting to stop for too long. Reaching Scarfskerry the hiking picked up as a faint grassy signposted trail above the water edge along to the bay at weirdly named Ham.
My final stretch continued nicely along the rugged coast but with pretty easy hiking on small trails to the campsite at Brough. I prefer wild camping but this has a grand setting with the sounds of both moorland and seabirds in the air and The Old Man of Hoy just visible across the Pentland Firth to the north.
Day 2 April 2026 Brough to Dunnet Head to Clardon Head
I hadn’t realised that the campsite is shared with the Caithness Seal Rehab Centre and woke to loud crying sounds from the nearby pool with a couple of seal pups. It must be feeding time!
I left the seals and headed north to start the long circuit of the Dunnet Head peninsula (the most northern point of mainland Britain). This was grand coastal walking on a narrow trail above coloured cliffs with fulmars circling and the sun warming me up as it rose above the sea.
The lighthouse at Dunnet Head has panoramic views out to Hoy and Orkney and along the north coast in both directions. I could see the Hamnivoe ferry on the horizon rounding Hoy on its way to Stromness. The western side of Dunnet still has a good trail but it crosses many mossy wet seeps in the hollows and I gave up on keeping my shoes dry. It was all very grand and atmospheric though with the birds and crashing waves below.
Stopping for lunch at the old ‘Salmon Bothy’ down at the sea, I set up the stove for tea to stay warm as the sun had disappeared and the wind was now frigid. I now had an easy walk along the beautiful beach sands at Dunnet Bay with huge breakers that looked good for surfing.
Castletown was a bit out the way but I was glad to walk to the Spar grocery store for second lunch and watch a rain shower pass by.
I loved the next section hiking along the high tide level to Clardon Haven on the tilted sandstone slabs and white sea shell sands. A good grassy trail followed along the low cliff edge before I found an excellent camp spot west of Clardon Head overlooking Thurso Bay to the west and back to Dunnet Head to the east.
Day 3 April 2026 Clardon Head to Thurso Still cold overnight but I was away early for the short hop on the good trail into Thurso and the bus back to John o’ Groats.
A fine trip with lots of great scenery and mostly rough trail or hiking along above high tide. The new signposts were a cheery sight and very useful to keep on track with the many junctions. Oh, I didn’t see anyone else hiking! Hopefully this coast will become more popular for both day hikers and backpackers- it certainly deserves to be.
August 2020 Tongue to Thurso (eastbound)
This was a short backpacking trip by Brian to the north coast of Scotland during a summer of Covid-19 travel restrictions. I have seen a lot of Scotland over the years but this area in the far north is somewhere where I haven’t been to too much and I thought a coastal backpack would be a good way to explore. The downside was that August is not my favourite time to visit, mostly due to high, wet vegetation and the midge, a particularly gruesome insect!
Summary A scenic hike with stunning coastal cliffs and expanses of sand but was tough going due to a few factors. There are currently few trails on this part of the coast in between the town and road sections and the terrain above the cliffs was heather and peat, mostly not too bad for walking but at times very wet and tussocky. The midges were pretty awful at camp as feared, even when pitched on a sandy beach at high tide level. Very little sitting outside the tent with a cup of tea gazing at the scenery here! There was a bit of road walking, such as the 6 miles of busy road to get round the nuclear power station at Dounreay.
Having recently been backpacking in Cornwall, the towns of the north lack the ‘cuteness’ and interesting old buildings found down there. However this was balanced by the fantastic scenery and lack of crowds- hiking on the coast away from towns, I saw virtually noone else hiking- maybe for the reasons above!
So when hiking here again I would go between March and June- with maybe May being optimum depending on the weather.
Monday 17th August 2020 The weather was set fair for the next few days as I left my car near Tongue, ready to hike east following the coast as much as I could. Tongue is on the side of the ‘Kyle of Tongue’ sea inlet– which surely must rank as one of the most beautiful places in Scotland with huge expanses of white sand exposed at low tide, a jagged mountain backdrop inland and a number of islands dotting the horizon out to sea.
I headed up the east side of the inlet at first on a pebbly shore before I was forced up a steep slope above the sea by a cliff. I had to bushwhack through head high bracken for a bit before popping out at some houses and taking a gravel access road back out to the main A836 road at Rhitongue.
An overgrown trail past a river valley took me to some cottages at Skullomie and then I had a really cool stretch north on sheep trails to ruins at Sletell. The views over to Rabbit Islands and Eilean nan Ron were grand. Some more bracken bashing followed before I picked up a sequence of short trails and minor roads to Skerray and on to Torrisdale Bay. I was finding that the vegetation was really high and difficult to hike through near to houses, but away from there and on the coast it tended to much better short cropped heather.
Crossing the River Borgie via a footbridge, I then hiked round the sandy dunes of Torrisdale Bay to Invernaver- another lovely stretch. I road walked into Bettyhill town, arriving about 7pm to find the grocery store was closed, but I picked up water at the public toilets. So I headed on and dropped down to the smaller beach of Farr Bay. There was one surfer riding to waves at twilight as I stopped to pitch the tent on the beach at high tide level.
The wind died down and midges descended as I pitched, and I ended up eating whilst walking along the edge of the water to keep them at bay. Lovely spot though!
Tuesday 18th August 2020 Midges chased me off in the morning as I headed north to Farr Point. Wild cliff scenery around the point and past the ruined Borve Castle made for dramatic hiking. I struggled a bit zig zagging through the cluster of houses at Swordly, with some head high bushwhacking to get through an overgrown path.
A better jeep track over the hill eastwards down to the road at Kirtomy provided some easier walking and then I had another good jeep track up the hill north of a big antenna with lovely views back west across Swordly Bay. At this point I headed cross country north east a bit inland to the ruins and trail at Poulouriscaig over quite remote feeling ground. A stop a bit further on on top of an old concrete building allowed me to dry off and carry out some minor repairs to the tent guy lines. My feet were also suffering a bit from the continuously wet underfoot conditions and sand in everything.
Easy tracks led down to Armadale road and I picked up a signposted route down to Armadale Bay- an lovely expanse of sand with no one else on it strangely. Lunch was had above the cliffs on the east side as the sun came out and a breeze kept the midges away. I was able to relax with the stove out for a couple of cups of tea with the bay as a beautiful backdrop.
Next up was a long hike up northwards on the west coast of the peninsula of Strathy Point. I walked through heather and grass mostly above cliffs, zawns and islands. The rock mostly seemed to be ‘gneiss’ with some cool distorted and striped rock. The final couple of miles to Strathy Point lighthouse was particularly grand – natural arches and white water dashing against the cliffs. The sun also appeared again which helped!
I took the minor road back down the east side of the peninsula to Strathy and through some rare woods to a new trailhead toilet block area above Strathy Bay where I cooked up dinner. This is a good spot for surfing and on a warm sunny evening it was grand.
A strange sight on the way was a car driving slowly down the road with the sheep leading ahead of the car – very obediently. Normally sheep would just spread out off the road back into the fields!
The roads here are quite busy with campervans with the coastal road being part of the very popular ‘North Coast 500’ driving (and cycling) route. It would be a very scenic drive but you will be sharing it with a procession of vans, RVs and cars. One benefit I did find when road walking though is that when its cold and a campervan drives past I had a refreshing blast of warm air to heat me up!
I took water at the toilet bock – water availability is a slight issue as I have been a bit wary of streams at the coast flowing through the heavily farmed areas with lots of cattle. I am carrying aquamira water purifier tablets but prefer to take water from towns and public water supplies where I can.
The hike east along the cliff tops from here in the evening with the low sun behind me was one of the highlights of the trip and I found a wild camp spot near Rubha na Cloiche. A good varied day but the feet are blistering a bit being constantly wet!
Wednesday 19th August 2020 A few midges last night but not the apocalyptic swarms of the previous night. I had a soggy hike along the coast then headed out south to the A836 road to walk into Melvich. There is a campsite here so I stopped to dry the tent out and buy coffee and cake at the campsite store- the first open shop I had come across.
There was a bridge marked on the map over the Halladale River at the enigmatically named ‘Big House’. To get there I walked back up the road again then took a track down to the sand dunes to the bridge. But arrrgghh, the bridge had a locked gate with a sign saying no access. I looked at the river but it appeared to be swimming rather than wading depth.
[UPDATE: The Charity which I am involved with (Association of Northern Trails Scotland, ANTS) are hoping to fund a new bridge here as part of the wider ‘North Coast Trail‘ project to improve the trail and signposting. Information on the ANTS website and feel free to join volunteer projects or donate as well!]
So reluctantly I retreated back round to the campsite then along the verge of the A836 to the south over the river and picked up tracks back to Big House. Maybe only a 90 minute detour but it was frustrating that the bridge was closed to the public.
I headed east again along the cliff tops over tussocky heather past more grand cliffs. The rock type changed to sedimentary here with tilted bands and some massive overhanging rock faces. Later on this section became a bit of trudge though over continuously peat haggy ground then heavily dug up areas as I passed Sandside House and into Reay on road. I had hoped for a shop here but everything seemed closed – I did at least pick up water from a hose pipe in the local cemetery….
Now I had to face up to a long road walk on the A836 to get round Dounreay nuclear power station. I hiked fast and used the rough verges when cars passed, but walked the road when it was quiet. Not my favourite hiking experience it has to be said, but the views of Dounreay were strangely fascinating, changing slowly as I passed by at hiking speed.
Well, all good things must pass, and I soon picked up a track heading north back to the coast across some pretty wasted cattle farming land. The coast was cool though and I had a stop and brew of tea on slabby rock strata dipping into the sea. I decided to hike on to Thurso today as I couldn’t see much in the way of decent camping up to there and my feet were blistered!
The wind farm at Hill of Lybster was fun to hike past, as was the Chapel and bridge crossing at Crosskirk. Mist and some drizzle came in as I hiked field margins past Brims Castle and then uphill to Ness of Litter. There is a Caithness Flagstone quarry there perched right at the edge of the cliff but the visibility had reduced now and it was just me and lots of sheep dodging around. I took the track into the ferry terminal of Scrabster and by now the mist was down at sea level so I put my head down to walk roads into Thurso to finish. A long day of maybe 26 miles to wrap up the trip!
Useful links
North Coast Trail website Route descriptions and maps for the eastern half of the trail and watch out for updates ….
John o Groats Trail You can continue hiking down the north east coast.
Charles’ Walk A round Britain coastal hike in 2018 with informative daily blogs.
David Cotton’s 2003 coastal hike again with lots of detailed daily reports.
Walkhighlands Caithness and Sutherland Good general walking guide to Scotland.
