free to be able to rate and comment on reports (as well as access 1:25000 mapping).
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/north_east/6252605.stm"A 3,000-year-old Scottish temple cave dedicated to dead children" was the macabre destination for today. We'd first read about it on the walkhighlands description for the Hopeman to Lossiemouth coastal walk. The cave is also marked and named on OS 1:25000 maps, but when passing by last year on the clifftop above, we couldn't see an easy way to get down to the beach below.
Fast-forward to February 2014 and we'd done a little more research, but access to the cave remained, like its history, shrouded in mystery. The BBC team in the news article above had accessed the cave by boat. Without this option available to us, the most viable way seemed to be along the coast, timing our arrival to coincide with a falling tide, and hoping this would leave a long enough window to get to the cave and return to high ground before the tide rose again. We'd also read of the existence of a set of dodgy Victorian steps cut out of the cliff face to allow more direct access to the site, but we had no idea where these were, so they couldn't be relied upon. The prospect of having to spend a night waiting for the tide to fall again in a cave containing a "ghoulish, 3,000-year-old secret" wasn't an attractive one.
The closest guaranteed access to the shoreline looked to be at Covesea, about a mile to the east. We parked at a layby on the B9040 by the crossroad at grid reference 189705. There was an incredibly strong southerly wind, shaking the car as we pulled into the layby, and almost blowing us off our feet as we walked along the dirt track towards the sea. Fortunately as soon as we passed the few houses at Covesea Village and headed down to the beach, we were sheltered by the cliffs above; this remained the case for the rest of the walk.
Almost immediately after reaching the shore and turning left, we caught site of an otter playing amongst the rocks! This was confirmed (not) by a terrible photograph, managing to capture the rock that the otter had just hidden under, but not the otter...
The traverse along the shoreline under the cliffs was slippery going, but some of the scenery is spectacular. There are some very impressive caves and stacks, as well as arches that are really more like tunnels through the cliff face.
This stack is also visible from the coastal path above, but it's much more impressive from below:
There are four main headlands to pass around on the way to the cave. We began walking at about 2 1/2 hours before low tide, and the wettest of these was just passable without getting our feet wet. So there's a total window of about five hours when this route is doable - presumably less in rough sea conditions. The headlands are tiring, but some beach sections allow easier going. The next photo is taken looking back between the second and third headlands: at the far end of the photo, there's actually a easy descending ledge which makes it possible to descend from the clifftop here. This would make the walk a lot easier, although we would have missed the otter.
![4.jpg]()
Between the third and fourth headlands, we discovered the site of the Victorian steps, hewn directly out of the rock. Despite erosion at the base, these are still a possible access route (and not really dangerous as some websites suggest, although they'd be tricky for somebody not used to very mild scrambling). We later returned this way, using a couple of metal stakes handily driven into cracks in the cliff to lever ourselves up the first bit.
After a slightly longer walk than expected, we arrived at the Sculptor's Cave, set underneath a high cliff - definitely no direct access down the cliff here. During excavations of the cave, scaffolding was actually erected down the cliff face here for access - you'd have to have a head for heights.
The cave itself has two entrances - the right entrance has been partially boarded up. The left entrance has a Historic Scotland info board on the wall, pointing out the location of a few carvings - easily identifiable amongst more modern efforts.
The cave interior is light enough that a torch isn't really necessary, but without one we couldn't really take any worthwhile photos. It's empty now, but the 1929 excavation "revealed thousands of bone parts". The story doesn't stop there - the cave was dedicated to dead children, and people used to place "some of the heads of their infants upon poles". Inside the cave there used to be a "sacred pool strewn with Bronze Age treasures", which was believed to be the "gateway to another world". The back story turned the cave from a fairly impressive rock feature to a very atmospheric place indeed, if you're into that sort of stuff. Adding to the overall picture was a low rock boulder shaped like a table in the gloom at the back of the cave, upon which somebody appeared to have placed a skull. Gruesome...
It was certainly a worthwhile visit, but we didn't want to stay there very long. Back to Covesea via the Victorian steps and the recently upgraded cliff-top path then. We didn't see a single person today - the difficulty of accessing the cave is perhaps an advantage. In the cave you'll be alone... except for, maybe, the spirits of the dead children!
