Cliffs of Hoy Orkney
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.