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Thurso Bay.

Start. Thurso (Riverside car park).

Route. Thurso (Riverside car park) - Ellan Bridge - Sir Archibald Road - Thurso Castle - The Slates - Sewage Works - East Lug of Tang - Sewage Works - Harold's Tower - A836 - Sir Archibald Road - Ellan Bridge - Riverside car park.

Notes. A pleasant enough ramble exploring the seafront along the eastern side of Thurso Bay, a rocky coastline made up of massive slabs of Caithness Stone. Not the prettiest stretch of coast I’ve ever walked but the views were stunning. Across Thurso Bay the fishing port of Scrabster and the cliffs of Holborn Hill, in the opposite direction the rocky heights of Dunnet Head, then out to sea the island of Hoy sat on the horizon.

The start of this walk was a little less than impressive, no stepping out of the car into stunning scenery, the area was a little run down, a bit disheveled, if it wasn’t the fact the car park was lined with camper vans I may of looked for somewhere else to park. But park we did before heading across Thurso River via Ellan Bridge (a footbridge). Once on the other side we swung left into a large park, the path guided us to a road then through a small industrial estate before reaching the coast.

Coastal walking followed a rough path under foot, passed The Slates, a rocky shoreline made up of giant slabs of Caithness Stone, passed Thurso Castle, closed due to it’s dilapidated state, then on passed a sewage works. We continued walking until reaching East Lug of Tang, some low sea stacks and caves, at this point we’d had enough. One thing about this coastline there’s plenty of places to sit, Caithness Stone makes an excellent surface to place your backside, we sat and had lunch, looked at the map to plot our route back.

After re-tracing our steps to the sewage works, a faint path cutting along the edge of the boundary fence welcomed us, this we followed, it ejected us onto a tarmac lane which would guide us back to Thurso, but first, at a sharp right hand bend, to our left, in a field full of grazing cattle a strange castle like structure. I braved the bovine beasts until forced to turn back as they closed ranks, the structure was the mausoleum of the Clan Sinclair. Once back on the safe side of the fence the tarmac lane guided us back into Thurso, just before stepping onto the busy A836 we passed the remains of an ornate gate house, a few hundred yards further on just passed the school we swung right into the road we walked down earlier, a few yards further the footbridge over Thurso River and the parked car.

view route map.

home.

Situated at the mouth of the River Thurso, Thurso Harbour was established more than a thousand years ago, Vikings used it as a port and fishing base. The name 'Thurso' derives from 'Thorsa', meaning 'Thor's River' in the Norse language. During the 1200s the Scots evicted the Vikings from the Caithness area, the harbour became an important fishing port , by the 1850s a new harbour was being built at Scrabster, thus reducing the importance of the river harbour.