This easy shorter walk starts from the RSPB visitor centre at Totronald, and heads through corncrake country down to explore Hogh Bay - a truly magnificent sandy beach.
Bog Factor
Easy walking on sandy tracks and beach.
Totronald RSPB parking area.
None to start.
NM168562
There is a grassy public car park at the road end at Totronald. Before beginning the walk from here, it is worth walking back a very short distance up the road to visit the RSPB information centre, adjacent to a private house. The centre gives an insight into the importance of the reserve here - best known for corncrakes (usually heard in the summer by their rasping sound, like a comb being stroked, but seldom seen as they hide in the long grass). If you stay still at the bench for a while, a raised platform gives a better chance to catch a glimpse of these very rare birds - which were once commonplace throughout Britain but have declined due to changes in farming practice.
Back at the car park, the walk proper begins on an obvious grassy track through the gate and onto the machair (the path off left through the gate offers a more circuitous route up and over the dunes, but also leads to the beach). When the track forks, take the left branch, passing between two small boulders. The track soon leads down to the west end of Tràigh Hogh - a truly stunning beach.
Head across the sands to the far (eastern) end of the bay to cross a tiny burn flowing out over the sands; cross this and then follow it inland.
This soon leads to the grassy track, beneath a row of telegraph poles. Turn right to follow this back to the start. The walk can also be done as part of the long central circuit of the island's roads from Arinagour - using either the grassy track or, preferably, the stretch out over the sandy beach - to link the road ends.
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