Cuilags & Old Man of Hoy 1
HY245040 From the pier, take road inland, keeping ahead at junctions and crossing a cattle grid. Where the small singletrack road bends right, keep ahead on a track, signed for Rackwick. In 300m, the dam of Sandy Loch is ahead. Fork right, at a signless signpost, to cross the stream.
2 HY219032 The path continues south-west (to Rackwick) into the wide gap beneath Cuilags but instead turn up the pathless, steepish slope. An ascent with widening views leads to an easing of the slope at a cairn, with the well-built bee-skep (domed) cairn of Cuilags just ahead.
3 HY209033
Descend northwest, on grass with a few scattered rocks. Mountain hares skip about here, and in May and June there‘s nesting bonxies (skuas) – a broad-brimmed hat makes you feel safer from their aerial attacks. At the wide saddle follow the top of the Enegars drop on your right. Then bend left, south-west, over moorland with a few small pools, to the wall-enclosed trig point of Sui Fea. 150m south-west is the summit cairn, built of slabs. 4 HY190030 Drop north of west, to reach the 7 highest point of clifftops. A small path follows the foot of the moor, with the sea an awful long way below on the right. Soon pass the outstanding Bre Brough, an isolated patch of cliff top with fort traces (the sanctuary could be reached by an awkward exposed scramble on vertical vegetation).
5 HY186031 The small, peaty path continues south along cliff tops, skirting the head of Leaden Geo (cliff slot) then flirting along the brink before the ground starts to drop ahead and the Old Man comes into sight. The main path keeps south, or a smaller one forks right nearer the clifftops. They rejoin to pass the head of another deep inlet of cliff, Stours Kinora. The path then follows cliff tops for Old Man views, to reach a high headland opposite the famous sea stack. 6 HY177006 A wide, stony path heads south-east across the moor. But at the head of the landslipped hollow Runnarto, bear off right on a small peaty path, to rejoin the clifftops for a different view of the Old Man. The path passes the head of Geo of the Light, then runs close to cliff tops to the moor's high point at the cliff edge above Rora Head.
7 ND174995 Small paths bend down left, across heathery moorland, to join south-facing cliff tops and cross Burn of Stourdale. The small path heads up the slope opposite, then slants up left to rejoin the wider path. Turn right, around the slope of Moor Fee, then gently downhill to a kissing gate at the top of enclosed lands ofRackwick. The path continues past a house. The grass- and heatherthatched Craa Nest just above is part of the Rackwick Museums group. Below it, the path drops to join a green track.
8 ND198995 For the hostel, keep ahead here. But for Rackwick Bay and its bothy, turn back right on the green track. Contour south for 400m, to the bend of a stony track. Fork left, gently downhill to the shoreline, then bending back left to a road end with car park. Take a track to the right, passing a small shed with toilets. Cross a stream to a gate with kissing gate; through this, turn right on a green track past a small ruined hut. The track reaches the shoreline and follows it to the bothy.