Westray, Tuquoy circular

Description

Walk round the Ness of Tuquoy following the coastal path to Cross Kirk. The broad shallow Bay of Tuquoy is a good habitat for the edible cockle and creeling for crabs is carried out from here. From the path you can usually spot turnstone, redshank, eider duck, dunlin and ringed plover, and further out on the rocky point, shag and seals. In summer, sea mayweed and corn sowthistle decorate the shore.

Past the Kirk continue along the shore to the beach. This route takes you past a series of old stone boat nousts, which were winter shelters for fishing boats. The dazzling beach of Mae Sands is wild and beautiful, backed by eroded dunes that form a white 'badland' reaching far inland.

A path leads from the end of the beach inland to join a minor road and from here, travel north past the farm of Langskaill, where nearby is the Old Manse, an interesting Grade B listed building. Along the road there's a wonderful view of the 'abandoned village' of Nether House with Fitty Hill behind it, and beyond the crossroads, South Hamar is a rare survival of an old Westray croft or 'but and ben', with outbuildings and barleydrying kiln.

Continue to follow the B-road east back to Tuquoy.

Access Info

Ferry access to Rapness Ferry Terminal. From here go north along the B9066 until you reach the B9067; travel south until you reach a T-juncion, turn east to arrive in Tuquoy where there is parking available.

Additional Info

Cross Kirk was built by a Westray Norseman about 1140 and was partly dismantled in the nineteenth century.

Behind the farm of Langskaill, a Norse longhouse has been discovered, in use in about the twelfth century with an Iron Age souterrain or earth house beneath it.

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