St Cyrus beach and cliff, St Cyrus

Head out along the fine sand of St Cyrus beach before climbing the cliffs for spectacular views and then return below the cliffs passing old salmon bothies in the nature reserve renowned for its grasslands, rare flowers and butterflies and moths. The walk can also be started from St Cyrus village.

Terrain

Sandy beach, steep cliff paths.

Public Transport

Bus to St Cyrus from Aberdeen and Montrose.

Start

St Cyrus Nature Reserve visitor centre. Open start point in Google Maps for directions.

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Walk Description

Stage 1

This route starts from the St Cyrus National Nature Reserve visitor centre 6km north of Montrose off the A92. The visitor centre and toilets are open daily from April to October and Monday to Friday from November to March. If starting from St Cyrus village follow Beach Road past the church to the clifftop car park where the route can be joined. From the visitor centre follow the path next to the road towards a cottage (once a fishing bothy used by the Tay Salmon Fishing Company) and follow the path in front of these and then turn right to cross the wooden bridge. The roof of a converted ice house can be seen to the right of the cottage. The bridge crosses the old river bed of the North Esk river which flowed here until a storm in 1879 caused the river mouth to crash through the dunes and form a new river mouth 1500 metres along the coast.

Stage 2

Follow the path up over the dunes and down on to the sands and turn left to begin the walk along the beautiful back. There are good views looking back across Montrose Bay. The cliffs behind the dunes show the original sea level before the end of the last ice age.

Stage 3

The cliffs are made of volcanic rock and when the ice melted 8000 years ago the cliffs were left high and dry. The cliffs erodes easily and this deposits minerals in the grasslands below which give the nature reserve its varied habitat of rare plant species. One plant to look out for on the edge of the dunes near the beach is the purple flowering sea rocket.

Stage 4

Keep heading along the beach (at very high tides or in stormy weather you may have to retreat to the far side of the dunes) aiming for the low cottage with the white gable end on top of the cliff. When you reach the cliffs under the cottage, where a number of rocks stick out of the sand and water, climb a steep path up the cliff. Take care as this path is prone to erosion (it is sometimes closed - in which case you'd have to use the descent path a short distance back along the beach in order to get an aerial view). At the top the path passes an ice house; turn left a little further up to pass the buildings at Woodston and then turn left again onto the cliff path.

Stage 5

Soon the car park at the end of Beach Road from St Cyrus village is reached. From here head down the steep path in wide zig zags down the cliff. Peregrine falcons live on these cliffs year round and can reach speeds of up to 180mph when they dive bomb their prey. Fulmars nest here in the spring, laying specially shaped eggs that spin around rather than roll if they are knocked so they are more likely to stay on the narrow nest ledges. At the bottom of the cliff turn right onto the grassy path to pass the salmon bothies.

Stage 6

Commercial salmon netting continued here until 2007, the tall posts used to dry the nets can still be seen. The large white building next to the converted ice house near the start was inhabited by fishermen until the 1990's. Ice would have been carved out of the frozen River Esk and used to keep the fresh fish cold during its journey to market. The path passes a number of salmon bothies and an ice house.

Stage 7

When the path forks keep left passing a marker post - you can detour to Nether Kirkyard by continuing straight ahead. The site dates back to 1242 and includes the grave of George Beattie, a local poet who shot himself here in 1823 after being jilted for a wealthier man. The stone hut in the corner was used as a watch hut by relatives of the recently deceased who would guard against body snatchers in the nights after a burial. From here return to the path which soon passes the reeds beds and the wooden bridge. From here retrace your steps back to the visitor centre.

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