Brothers' Point – A Trotternish Shore Walk and Lunch
A few hours.
The route
Brothers' Point, Rubha nam Brathairean in Gaelic, is a green ridge running out into the sea from the Trotternish coast, with cliffs and sea stacks on either side.
A grassy path drops from the road at Culnacnoc to a pebbly shore, where dinosaur footprints show in the rock at low tide, with the point rising beyond. Lunch is a short drive on in Staffin, at the café of Columba 1400, a youth charity whose café pays for its work.
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 Half of One, 4 miles away. Sleeps 8; next free Mon 19 Oct to Wed 21 Oct.
The day
Trotternish
A walk down to the shore below Brothers' Point at Culnacnoc and back up, about two hours, then lunch in Staffin, a few minutes on up the coast.
About three hoursAbout 1.5 miles on foot
Brothers' Point
An attraction
Culnacnoc is on the A855 on the Trotternish coast. Park in the small free car park on the west side of the road, just north of the turn for Grealin and about 120 metres north of The Glenview, whose own car park is for its customers. If it's full, drive 2 minutes south to the free Lealt Falls car park. Across the road, a well-graded grassy path runs about a kilometre down to the pebbly shore by the Lonfearn burn (a stream), about 25 minutes, with a steady climb on the way back. Shut the gate behind you. At mid to low tide, look on the flat rock either side of the burn's mouth for dinosaur footprints, and leave them as you find them; the rock and the weed are very slippery. The way out along the ridge to the point runs above sheer drops with no clear path, so enjoy it from the shore and only go on if you're sure-footed, in dry, still weather. Keep dogs on a lead, as sheep graze the crofts. Allow about two hours.
7 min by car
Columba 1400
Lunch
Then it's 7 minutes' drive on north to Staffin and lunch at Columba 1400, a youth charity whose café pays for its work. The café is a round, double-height hall under timber rafters, with tall windows over Staffin Bay and a terrace for fine days. There's home-made soup and bread, toasties, salads and baking, with lunch from noon to 3pm. It opens Monday to Friday, 10am to 4pm, and it's shut at the weekend, so bring a picnic then.
If it rains
In wind and rain the path and the shore rocks are slippery and the point is no place to be: keep to the shore walk, or skip it and make the most of lunch in Staffin.
Worth a detour
- Lealt Falls
Lealt Falls is just south of Culnacnoc, with a free car park beside the A855. A short slope leads to a railed platform looking down into the gorge, where the river drops towards the sea. Stopping adds about a minute of driving, and a quarter of an hour there is plenty. Stay at the platforms: the path beyond them down to the shore is dangerous.
Columba 1400, charity café under Trotternish.
The Hungry Gull, brunch café in Staffin.