Did you know
A puffin colony.
The Wester and Middle Cletts hold large puffin colonies, easily seen from the clifftops.
Caithness
Drumhollistan
A wild stretch of coast on the Caithness and Sutherland border, where deep geos cut between striped cliffs and puffins nest on the Cletts in summer.
Welcome
Where Caithness meets Sutherland on the north coast road, between Reay and Melvich, a rough track leaves the A836 and runs down across the moor to the sea.
It leads to Drumhollistan, one of the wildest pieces of coast in the north.
Here the land ends in a maze of geos, narrow sea inlets cut deep into the cliffs, their walls striped in bands of red and grey sandstone. Pebble coves lie at their heads, sea stacks stand out in the channels, and on a rough day the waves break white against the rock and throw up spray. Out in the water stand the Cletts, islands of rock.
In summer the Cletts hold large colonies of puffins, with fulmars and kittiwakes alongside, and the birds can be watched easily from the clifftops. Keep back from the edge, keep dogs close, and give the nesting birds their space.
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Before you go
Open coast, there at any time.
The path is rough and the cliffs unfenced; in the nesting season keep well back and do not disturb the birds.
- Where
- The A836 at the county border, between Reay and Melvich.
- Walk
- About ten minutes on a rough path.
- Puffins
- On the Cletts in summer.
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Did you know
On the border.
The cliffs here straddle the old county boundary between Sutherland and Caithness.
What is on
What is new across Caithness, day by day.
New places, news and stories, as we find them.
What is on in CaithnessWhere it is
On the north coast at the Caithness and Sutherland border, on the A836 between Reay and Melvich; park on the north side of the road.
Close byMelvich.
Nothing of ours in this part of the map.
Stay nearby
Places to stay near the coast, and when each is next free.
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Find out more
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