Wick – a Boat Trip Under the Cliffs and Lunch at Mackays
A few hours.
The route
Caithness Seacoast is a small local firm whose boat takes a dozen people at a time out of Wick's marina and along the cliffs, south to the Whaligoe Steps or north to the ruin of Keiss Castle.
Seals and dolphins are often seen and there are always seabirds. Afterwards, lunch is a short walk across the town at Mackays Hotel's No 1 Bistro. Children from four can go.
Before you go
Book accommodation nearby
If you are staying over: here are ours nearest where the day starts and ends.
The nearest of ours is House of the Northern Gate, 16 miles away. Sleeps 18.
Ring Caithness Seacoast on 01955 609200 (or text 07747 404128) well ahead to book the 1½-hour coastal trip from Wick Harbour marina: it sails every day from 1 May to 30 September, weather permitting, at times set by demand and the sea, and you pay at the office on the day.
Book lunch at No 1 Bistro, Mackays Hotel
Book a lunch table at No 1 Bistro in Mackays Hotel on 01955 602323 for after the boat: lunch is served until 1.45pm, and the hotel takes card details when you book.
The day
Wick
An hour and a half under the Caithness cliffs with the seabirds, then a walk over the river to lunch beside the world's shortest street.
About three and a half hoursAbout 1 mile on foot
Caithness Seacoast
Caithness Seacoast is a local couple's boat firm, running since 2008 and skippered by a former Merchant Navy captain, and its boat leaves from the marina in Wick Harbour with no more than 12 aboard. Its booking office is a small blue cabin on Harbour Road beside the Coastguard Station, a minute from the marina gate, with free parking across the road and toilets beside it. The hour-and-a-half coastal trip goes south to Whaligoe Harbour and its steps, the most popular choice, or north to Keiss Harbour and its castle, with more Viking and clan history. It's £42 an adult and £30 for under-16s at the time of writing, paid at the office by cash or card. Be there 20 minutes before you sail. Seals and dolphins are often seen, though never promised, and puffins from mid-April to early July. Children need to be four or over to sail beyond the harbour, and younger ones can take the half-hour harbour cruise instead. Pets can't come aboard. A hoist on the marina can lift a wheelchair user aboard, so ring first.
10 min on foot
No 1 Bistro
Lunch
Lunch is about 10 minutes' walk away, round the harbour and over the river, at No 1 Bistro in Mackays Hotel, whose front door stands on Ebenezer Place, at about two metres the world's shortest street in the Guinness record books. Lunch is served until 1.45pm, with sandwiches on locally baked bread, a full lunch menu, vegetarian and vegan dishes and a children's menu. Book a table on 01955 602323; the hotel takes card details when you book. Dogs are welcome in the hotel's bar.
If it rains
The boat sails only when the sea allows, and a trip called off for weather is refunded in full; the skipper may switch to the sheltered side of the coast. Wick Heritage Centre on Bank Row, a few minutes from the marina, is indoors from May to October, Monday to Saturday.
No 1 Bistro, a restaurant in Wick.