Stoer Head Lighthouse, Sithean Mor and Old Man of Stoer

The approach to the beginning of the walk at Stoer Head Lighthouse is delightful. The B869 snaking through the coastal hills is an especially scenic alternative route from Lochinver to Kylesku, passing through the villages of Stoer, Nedd, and small crofting communities. A minor road leads off towards the Point of Stoer Lighthouse through fertile, open, and gentle croft land compared to the rock-strewn landscapes of Sutherland with its countless lochs and extensive peat bogs.

From the start the walk follows a path leading away from the coast and up to the summit of Sithean Beag (with its transmitter pylon helping as a point of reference), continuing to the highest point at Sithean Mor (161 metres above sea level), where on a clear day you can see the entire walk area before descending down to the Point of Stoer.

The walk back follows the clifftops closely, looking out to the coast beyond. Naturally, the Old Man of Stoer is the star of the show — an impressive standalone sea stack and popular rock-climbing rite of passage since it was first climbed in 1966 by Brian Henderson, Paul Nunn, Tom Patey, and Brian Robertson.

Apart from the stack, the clifftop walk invites observations of abundant birdlife and flora, including razorbills, guillemots, fulmars, kittiwakes, gulls, cormorants, shags, and gannets stretching their 6-foot wingspans into graceful flights and streamlined dives from over 100 feet in the air.

Acknowledgment: Text derived from the Out and Out Series; Discovering the Countryside on Foot. Pictures courtesy of Wikipedia.