Scenic Point in Caithness

The Cliffs of Hoy on the west coast of the island of Hoy in Orkney are the highest vertical sea cliffs in Britain, the St John's Head section rising approximately 335 metres from the Atlantic Ocean in a sheer sandstone face of extraordinary scale. The cliffs are visible from the Scrabster to Stromness ferry crossing the Pentland Firth, their profile providing one of the most dramatic natural views available from any scheduled ferry service in Scotland, and are accessible on foot from the Rackwick valley across the interior of the island. The Old Man of Hoy, the most famous sea stack in Britain, stands at the southern end of the cliff section, a column of red Torridonian sandstone approximately 137 metres high that has become one of the most iconic images of the Scottish coast and one of the most challenging and most sought-after rock climbs in Britain. The first ascent of the Old Man of Hoy was made in 1966 and a live television broadcast of the ascent in 1967 introduced the stack to a national audience as one of the defining images of British climbing culture. The walk to the Old Man of Hoy from the Rackwick valley, passing through moorland of the characteristic Hoy character with its heather, bog and dramatic topography quite unlike the rest of Orkney, takes approximately two hours and provides an increasingly impressive series of views of the stack and the cliff coastline as the approach develops.

Duncansby Head is the most northeasterly point of the British mainland, a dramatic headland of red sandstone just east of John o'Groats in Caithness whose combination of the massive sea stack scenery of the Duncansby Stacks, the puffin colony on the cliff face and the extraordinary views across the Pentland Firth to Orkney make it substantially more dramatic and more rewarding than the more famous John o'Groats immediately to the west. The two great stacks of Duncansby, rising 60 metres from the sea in isolated pinnacles of Devonian sandstone, are among the most impressive sea stacks on the Scottish mainland coast. The walk from the lighthouse at Duncansby Head south along the cliff to the viewpoint above the stacks takes approximately twenty minutes and provides progressively more dramatic views of the stacks as the path approaches the most impressive vantage point. At the height of the summer breeding season the puffins that nest in burrows on the cliff face between the stacks and the lighthouse provide one of the most accessible puffin watching opportunities on the north Scottish coast, the birds coming and going from their burrows at close range throughout the day. The Pentland Firth visible across the water from Duncansby Head is one of the most powerful tidal races in the world, the enormous volume of water flowing through the strait between the Scottish mainland and Orkney creating tidal streams of considerable force. The view of this great tidal strait, with Orkney visible clearly on the far side, provides the most direct appreciation of the geography of this extreme corner of Britain.