The Caithness East Coast – Steps, a Castle and Sea Stacks
A day by car, from Wick and back.
The route
Caithness is where the mainland runs out, and its east coast is the part most people picture: high cliffs, sea stacks and a harbour town that grew up on herring.
This is a day out of Wick and back, up and down the A99, with never more than an hour's drive between one place and the next. It is a day of big skies and sheer edges, of fishing history and seabirds, and it turns for home at John o' Groats.
Before you go
Book a table for lunch at No 1 Bistro, Wick
Book a table for about noon at No 1 Bistro by ringing Mackays Hotel on 01955 602323, and ask its lunch hours when you ring.
The day
Caithness
A day on the edge of the land, south from Wick first and then north to the corner of the mainland. The morning stays close to the town and its herring years; the afternoon is all clifftop and sea air. The last stop is the harbour at John o' Groats, and the day ends back in Wick.
1 hr 57 min at the wheelAbout 60 miles
Whaligoe Steps
An attraction
Leave Wick by 8.30am. It's 13 minutes' drive south on the A99, then an unsigned turn towards the sea opposite the Cairn o' Get signpost. Over 300 cliff steps drop to an old herring harbour, partly unrailed: never in rain, frost or a wind you lean into. The ten bays are residents' parking: small vehicles only. From November to April Wick's museum is shut and the light short: keep to Castle Sinclair Girnigoe and Duncansby's stacks, from mid-morning on a dry, still day, and leave these steps until May.
4 min on foot
Wick Heritage Centre
An attraction
Drive 15 minutes back to Wick and Bank Row, near the harbour. Volunteers run this museum of furnished rooms, a blacksmith's smiddy and a schoolroom. It opens from May to October, Monday to Saturday, 10am to 3.45pm, and on Sundays in July and August only. When it's shut, spend the morning at the harbour, 4 minutes' walk away. Lunch is at No 1 Bistro in Mackays Hotel, 6 minutes' walk: book for about noon on 01955 602323 and ask its lunch hours. Bridge Street Cafe, shut on Sundays, is second choice.
15 min by car
Castle Sinclair Girnigoe
An attraction
It's 15 minutes' drive north to the car park where single-track Noss Head Road ends. The castle is about half a mile off over open ground, 13 minutes each way. The cliff path is narrow in places and unfenced: keep children well back, and stay away in wind or after rain. The footbridge gate is normally open from May to September; otherwise the castle is seen from outside. With under five hours of daylight left on leaving Wick, skip the castle, to be off Duncansby's cliffs an hour before sunset.
50 min by car
Duncansby Head
An attraction
Drive about 50 minutes north on the A99 through Keiss; the last two miles, from John o' Groats, are single-track. Park at the lighthouse and walk south over the grass for a little over half a mile to the Stacks of Duncansby. Only part of the edge is fenced and the drops are sheer: keep well back, and leave the walk out in rain or a wind you lean into. Puffins nest here from roughly May to July, never for certain. Be off the cliffs an hour before sunset.
6 min by car
John o' Groats
An attraction
It's 6 minutes' drive back down the lane to the harbour at John o' Groats. This is the end of the road at the north-east corner of the mainland, not its most northerly point, which is Dunnet Head to the west. Photograph the signpost, which is free, look across the Pentland Firth to Orkney, and have a coffee or an ice cream by the harbour. There are toilets in the village. Wick is about 35 minutes' drive south on the A99.
If it rains
This is a cliff day, and in rain or a wind you have to lean into most of it is off. The Whaligoe Steps are not safe wet, in wind or in frost. Castle Sinclair Girnigoe stands on unfenced cliffs, and the stacks at Duncansby Head are a little over half a mile's walk from the lighthouse car park along an edge that is only partly fenced, so leave both walks for a dry, still day. What is left is the museum, in its season from May to October, Wick's harbour and the streets round it, and John o' Groats, where the harbour is beside the car park and the cafés and shops are under a roof. Old Pulteney Distillery is the other indoor hour in Wick.
Worth a detour
- Wick harbour
The harbour is 4 minutes' walk from the museum, which tells the story of Wick, Pulteneytown and the herring fishing. Wick is said to have been the busiest herring port in Europe in its day, and that story makes more sense with the quays in front of you. Give it a quarter of an hour among the fishing boats before lunch.
- Ebenezer Place
Ebenezer Place is credited by Guinness World Records as the world's shortest street, at 2.06 metres. It has one address, the door of No 1 Bistro in Mackays Hotel, so lunch takes you along the whole of it. It's 6 minutes' walk from the museum.
- Old Pulteney Distillery
Old Pulteney Distillery is on Huddart Street, 11 minutes' walk from the museum. A tour is best booked ahead and takes an hour or more out of the afternoon, so check the days and times when booking.
- Keiss
Keiss is the village the A99 runs through on the way north, 29 minutes' drive from the Noss Head car park and 23 from Duncansby Head, so stopping adds about 2 minutes at the wheel. The ruin of Keiss Castle stands on the cliff edge north of the village and has done since around 1600. Park in the village, as there is little room at the harbour, and walk down: it is under half a mile. The castle is seen from the coast path only, and the house behind it is private.
- Castle & Gardens of Mey
The Castle of Mey is 17 minutes' drive west of John o' Groats, and Wick is 50 minutes from the castle, about 34 minutes more than driving straight home. It does not fit after Duncansby Head: it normally opens from Wednesday to Sunday between May and September, shutting for a spell from late July, and takes its last visitors in mid-afternoon. Keep it for a morning of its own, and check castleofmey.org.uk for this year's dates first.
Where to eat
No 1 Bistro, a restaurant in Wick.
