Fowlsheugh – A Clifftop Path Above the North Sea
About 1.9 miles on foot.
Fowlsheugh is a line of high sea cliffs south of Stonehaven, looked after by the RSPB, and one path runs along the top of them from the hamlet of Crawton.
It's about a mile out to a small shelter that looks back along the rock, and a mile back. In spring and summer the ledges are packed with seabirds. For the rest of the year you get the cliffs and the open sea.
- Time
- About an hour and a half: 1.5 km each way to the shelter, with time to stand and look.
- The path
- An unsurfaced, uneven clifftop path with two flights of steps near the start and a gate one metre wide at the reserve entrance. Perch benches at intervals.
- Where to start
- Crawton car park, at the end of the road signed for Crawton off the A92 south of Stonehaven: 12 spaces, free, with a voluntary charge by RingGo or PayByPhone. It doesn't suit coaches or caravans, and the RSPB asks nobody to park on the verges.
- When to go
- All year in daylight and still weather. The seabirds are on the ledges from May to early August; from mid August to April it is a walk for the cliffs and the sea.
- Dogs
- On a lead at all times: the RSPB manages the reserve for breeding birds.
- Children
- The path runs along the top of high sea cliffs: keep children close.
- Toilets
- None here. The nearest are in Stonehaven, five miles away.
The walk
Crawton car park is at the end of the narrow road signed for Crawton off the A92, three miles south of Stonehaven. It has 12 spaces and it's free, with a voluntary charge you can pay by RingGo or PayByPhone. If it's full, the RSPB asks you to come back another day and not to park on the verges, which blocks the road for the people who live here and for emergency vehicles. The reserve entrance is 100 metres away, through a gate a metre wide.
The trail is 1.5 km each way, about a mile, and it's unsurfaced and uneven, with two flights of steps near the start. Close to the start is the Crawton Burn, a stream that runs off the edge of the land and falls straight into the sea. After that it's grass underfoot and cliff beside you all the way to a small shelter that looks along the ledges. From May to early August those ledges hold more than 115,000 guillemots, razorbills and kittiwakes, with a few puffins and fulmars.
By the middle of August they've gone back to sea, and from then until spring this is a walk for the rock, the swell and the wind, with the chance of a grey seal or a dolphin below. Keep to the path, keep children close and keep a dog on a lead the whole way. Leave it for another day in strong wind, ice or thick mist. There are no toilets and no café here: the nearest toilets are in Stonehaven.
If it rains
There's no cover on the clifftop but the small shelter at the far end, and the grass path is slippery when wet. In heavy rain or a strong wind, leave it for another day.
Before you go
Book accommodation nearby
If you are staying over: here are ours nearest where the day starts and ends.
For further reading, before you go.