Brough of Birsay Walk, Orkney – Lighthouse and palaces

The Brough of Birsay is a tidal island located in the northwest corner of Orkney Mainland. Reached over a tidal causeway for a few hours each day it has a long history and is now home to puffins and fulmars.

The area can be explored in a beautiful circular walk which has just one gentle hill to the lighthouse but is otherwise on flat but undulating terrain. There is plenty to see on this circular walk including historic sites, wildlife and a lighthouse.

• Start/End: Point Buckquoy at the steps down to the causeway.
• Walk Distance: 8.5km
• Duration: 2-3 hours
• Difficulty: This is an easy walk along a cliff path and small roads. There is just a small hill up to the lighthouse.
• Total Ascent: 67m
• Highlights: Tidal island, lighthouse, Earl’s Palace, Pict settlement, wildlife

Directions Overview

This route can be completed in two parts – the island and the loop to the whalebone and village. Depending on the weather it may not be possible to cross to the island so the walk begins at the causeway towards Skiba Geo and the whale bone.

Along the way

Causeway to the Brough of Birsay

Walking down the steps from the car park the causeway is visible below the surface of the clear turquoise shallows.  The remains of the tide wash over the concrete pathway that now provides a route from Point of Buckquoy to the Brough of Birsay. The 240m Sound of Birsay swirls with the last of the water, the receding tide revealing the sandy foreshore and the deep rock pools.

Oystercatchers chatter away as they pick through the seaweed, uncovering treats left in the freshly washed seaweed.  The myriad of colours from periwinkles, iridescent top shells and broken sea urchins reflect and sparkle through the shallow water. Distracting the eye as the perilous journey over the slippery, seaweed-encrusted causeway continues. Looking to the south from the causeway the wide sweep of Birsay Bay and the cliffs of Markwick Head and the Kitchener Monument can be seen, dramatic in stormy weather as the Atlantic waves crash up the cliff face.

Pictish and Norse Settlements

A steep pathway from the boulder-strewn beach leads up to the remains of the village.  Inhabited by the Picts and later Norsemen, the remains are now protected from the ravages of the exposed Atlantic coast. Outlines of the settlement remain, a stone slab with intricate Pictish carvings and the remains of the Norse church of St Peter are all visible.  This small ruinous village lies as a testament to the importance of this small tidal island as the seat of the rulers of Orkney before the 12th century.  

Birsay Geo

 A small path leads down to the pebbled shoreline.  Waves funnel through the narrow opening in the cliffs, throwing up flotsam and jetsam, echoing off the cliffs of this narrow inlet.  Fulmars reside on the cliffs, shouting to each other above the roar of the ocean.  This pebble beach is distinctive and unique at any time of the year, but with a storm beyond the cliffs, the ocean roars through the gap.  

Continuing around the island, hares dart into their forms as they sense our imminent arrival and the cliffs climb.  Covered in a beautiful machair in spring and early summer and nesting puffins in high summer the cliffs are magical.  Accompanied by skylarks singing their hearts out it feels as if the winter storms that engulf the cliffs are a distant fiction.

Birsay Lighthouse

As the path curves around the cliff tops the lighthouse comes into view.  A guiding light along this rugged coastline it was built in 1825 and is powered by solar panels and in the summer it is an enticing roost for starlings.  

Lined up on the crenellated balcony the busy thugs squabble amongst themselves. Beyond the lighthouse the cliffs are sheer.  Home to puffins in summer. Remote and wave-beaten in the winter.  They are washed by deep turquoise waves continually.  This is a perfect spot to contemplate life and watch time pass.

The lighthouse was designed, like many Scottish lighthouses by David and Charles Stevenson in 1825 and was fully automated in 1995. The lighthouse is 11 metres high, but significantly higher given the height of the cliffs. It flashes 3 white every 25 seconds.

Back to the Mainland across the Causeway

The walk back to the causeway is downhill whichever path is chosen.  Either following the path straight down the island’s centre or meandering gently around the cliff top. In the summer flowers and butterflies are everywhere.

The views across to Westray in the distance and the cliffs towards Evie are vast, the sky seems to go on forever. In the winter, storms bring huge waves that break over the causeway and the rocks on the shoreline.

Skipi Geo / Skiba Geo And the Whalebone

A short walk along the coast from the Point of Buckquoy car park will bring you to the small beach called Skipi Geo or Skiba Geo. There is a small 19th-century fisherman’s hut and steps dug out to house the fishing boats when they were hauled out of the water at the top of the path down onto the beach. The geo is narrow with fulmars nesting on the ledges of the cliffs and seals watching from the surf line.

A little further along the cliff from Skipi Geo is the rugged Point of Nether Queena. The rocks here are exposed and huge waves break over them during winter storms. Cormorants and shags can be found on the salt-drenched rocks and seals mooch around in the surf.

On the cliff top is a lichen-covered whale bone, a strange sight that appeared after a baleen whale washed ashore in about 1876. It is thought that the whale remained on the shore for at least 25 years before the sculpture appeared although the reasons behind its placement aren’t known. Ideas range from a marker for fishermen coming into Skiba Geo to superstition behind the whale stranding but it is believed that the whalebone arch at Kirbuster Farm Museum is from the same whale.

Earl’s Palace

Built between 1569 and 1574 this small palace was home to the harsh Earl of Orkney, Robert Stewart who was one of the illegitimate sons of James V. By 1615 the Stewarts had been overthrown and the palace was left to decay. In 1700 it had no roof and was already crumbling, a sad end for a large two-storey building that was never really used.

St Magnus church and Zanzibar Cottage

After leaving the Earl’s Palace you can pop into the small church dedicated to St Magnus or wander to the Palace Store or Birsay Tea Rooms before walking back along the shore towards Point of Buckquoy. On the way, you will pass a small wooden chalet on the shore, Zanzibar Cottage.

In 2009 Top Gear raced a letter from the Isles of Scilly in Cornwall to Zanzibar bungalow on Orkney Mainland.  I am sure there are better ways to demonstrate the Porsche Panamera, but the Top Gear trio never did things the easy way.  A race of 804 miles; a letter with a Royal Mail stamp and nothing more, versus the British motorway system and a ferry for good measure.

Food and drink

Palace Stores
In the village opposite the Earl’s Palace is the Palace Stores with a range of options for snacks and drinks

Birsay Tearooms
The tearooms are a short distance up the hill from the Earl’s Palace and are a lovely stop for lunch or afternoon tea. IT gets busy so if you have it in your plan ring to book a table.

Getting to Brough of Birsay

From the small village of Birsay, follow the main road past the ruins of the Earl’s Palace on the left and then an almost immediate sharp right-hand bend. Follow the road along the cliff top until it runs out.
Remember that you only have four hours of exploring.

Free parking is available all year round at the end of the road but in the summer it can get very busy.

Bus 7E stops at the Palace Stores in Birsay. It starts at Kirkwall Travel Centre and goes via Finstown, Evie and Dounby.

Check bus times HERE

Toilets are available next to Palace Stores.