- There and back walk: 4.32 miles
- what3words address for parking: ///pizza.belief.elsewhere
- GPX File
There is some parking on the left of the road about 100 yards beyond the white house. There seems to be a little more on the right a few yards further on. If you continue along the road you come to a gate across the road and if you open this and continue a little further the last house, at the end of the tarmac road, seems to be using part of its land as a car park – there’s a hand painted ‘parking’ sign on the gate post. It’s quite large; I suspect you may have to pay? No idea.
This was a fabulous little walk. We were really lucky with the weather – it was gorgeous.
Erraid is only accessible (if you don’t have a boat) when the tide goes out. We got there about three hours before low tide and the sand was clear of water.
From wherever you parked your car follow the tarmac road and then a stony track down to the beach. Turn left along the beach (the sound of Erraid) until you pass a rocky outcrop at the end of the visible part of the island. Just around the corner from this you can leave the beach and follow a vague track across the turf, aiming towards a white house with a wooden boathouse beside it. Cross the small bay in front of the house and onto a rough track that leads onwards, uphill slightly, and then passes beside a row of old coastguard houses that is now the Findhorn community. Keep the stone wall on your left and follow it round to the left. Just before you enter the walled area with the houses there is a gate and a path on your right. Follow the track uphill. This track is narrow, rough and boggy in places. The path forks with one branch leading towards the white, cylindrical, disused observation building. You could visit this on the way up, or on the way down depending on which fork you took. The forked path re-joins the main path. It wasn’t locked and would, I think, be a good place to re-gather yourself on a wet day.
Continue on to the ‘summit,’ marked by a rough, low cairn. The views were terrific from the top.
We lingered here a while drinking in the views and the solitude before heading back the way we had come (more or less).
It doesn’t take very long to complete this walk but make sure you understand what the tides are doing or it might take considerably longer than you’d planned.
Download file for GPS
