Dunvegan – The Two Churches Walk and Orbost's Black Sand Beach
About 3.5 miles on foot.
Dunvegan's Two Churches Walk runs through woods and over open moor from the village's parish church to St Mary's, a roofless kirk where MacLeod chiefs and their pipers lie, with the Duirinish Stone on the rise between them.
A short drive south, a farm track at Orbost leads to a bay of black sand on Loch Bharcasaig.
- Time
- 45 minutes to an hour.
- The path
- Woodland and moorland paths.
- Where to start
- The Duirinish Church of Scotland's car park, on the road from Dunvegan village towards the castle.
- Set off
- About 10am.
The walk
Park at the Duirinish Church of Scotland, on the road from Dunvegan village towards the castle, where the MacLeod Estate has enlarged the car park. The Two Churches Walk is about 3 km (2 miles) through woodland and over open moor, 45 minutes to an hour, with an information board at the start.
On a low crag above the village stands the Duirinish Stone, 5 metres tall, raised by hand by the people of Dunvegan on Midsummer's Day 2000 to mark the millennium, with MacLeod's Tables across the loch. Below it lies St Mary's, a roofless kirk with 1694 carved over its north door, where some of the MacLeod chiefs and generations of the MacCrimmons, the clan's hereditary pipers, are buried.
The path can be muddy, so wear good footwear.
If it rains
In heavy rain, the Two Churches Walk on its own makes a shorter morning.
Afterwards
11 min by car
Varkasaig Beach
Orbost is 11 minutes' drive south of Dunvegan, at the end of the minor road. Park near the farm buildings at Orbost Farm, keeping the farm's gates and tracks clear. A marked farm track past Orbost House, about a mile, leads to the shore of Loch Bharcasaig, where Varkasaig Beach, which people here call Orbost beach, is a bay of black sand with forest down one side. On a clear day you can see Harlosh Island across the water and the Cuillin beyond, and with luck deer or an eagle. Check the tide times before you go, as little of the beach shows at high tide. Bring a picnic.
Before you go
Book accommodation nearby
If you are staying over: here are ours nearest where the day starts and ends.
Where to eat
Dunvegan Bakery & Coffee Shop, a café in Dunvegan.
Make it a weekend
More days out on the Isle of Skye.
For further reading, before you go.
Photographs by Tom W and Kristine Winger via Google