This figure of eight loop takes in many of the highlights of Eday including a standing stone, chambered cairns, open moorland, cliffs, a bird hide and farmland.
Bog Factor
Minor roads, moorland path, boggy in places, unmarked coastal path, navigation required
Shop, north end of island on B9063.
Request bus runs on Thursdays, book on 01857 622206 .
HY569365
The walk starts opposite the shop which sits on the B9063 at the northern end of Eday - from the ferry you will either need a bicycle or car, or book the Thursday bus. From the shop follow the Heritage Walk sign to take the road opposite which soon runs alongside Mill Loch. This is home to eight breeding pairs of red-throated divers in the summer months, take a look from the bird hide on the left. Continue along the road past the hide until you take a kissing gate on the right signed for the Stone of Setter.
The 4.5 metre high stone is the tallest single standing stone in Orkney and other nearby structures suggest a ritual use. From the stone head NW on a faint path to go through a kissing gate. From here a line of marker posts and some boardwalk show the route which heads for Vinquoy hill via a number of archaeological sites the first being a stone and turf bank thought to date back to the bronze age known as the Fold of Setter. Braeside Cairn is a neolithic tomb where the stalls, or slabbed partitions can still be seen. After Huntersquoy chambered cairn follow the indistinct path uphill through the heather, bearing right at the fenced water tank.
The lump ahead is Vinquoy chambered cairn dating from before 2000BC, likely to have been used as a burial place for several hundred years. The low entrance passageway leads to a central chamber with four small side compartments. From the cairn take the path NNE (not the one to the west signed for Red House Croft) to reach the summit of Vinquoy Hill where there is a view indicator. There are good views of the adjacent island, the Calf of Eday, which supports a large seabird colony including puffins, kittiwakes, guillemots and razorbills which can often be seen in the waters off Red Head. From the view indicator continue on a vague path to go through the gate in the stone wall ahead, Carrick House can be seen down on the right.
Traverse the side of the hill, heading north and gently downhill to reach a stone wall. Don't go through the farm gate as this area has newly planted trees, instead go over a gap in the wall on the left and and follow the wall ahead, staying with the wall as it turns right, the ground can be very wet here. When a farm gate is reached on the right, head left (north) following the sign for Red Head on a grassy track which winds up through the heather. Pass old peat cuttings and just to the left of the top of Noup Hill to eventually reach the trig point at the highest spot above Red Head.
From the trig point and view indicator turn left to head west along the fence to head down to the clifftop. Here turn left to follow the fenced cliff south west. Here there are some good spots for seabird watching - arctic terns are often seen in the air from May onwards as they breed nearby. When a gate is reached signed for Cusbay, don't go through it but turn left to follow the fence line inland. The fence soon becomes a wall and when that finishes, continue in the same direction until you reach the gate and sign for Red Point passed earlier. This time go through the gate and follow the grassy track, keeping left to head downhill when it forks. Calfsound Light built by David Stevenson in 1909 can be seen down on the left.
Go through the kissing gate in the stone wall and head for the far corner of the garden wall of the imposing Carrick House, a good example of a 17th century laird's house thought to have been built in 1633. In 1725 a notorious pirate, John Gow, was imprisoned here after his boat ran aground. He was eventually hanged in Greenwich but not before inspiring a Daniel Defoe story and a Walter Scott novel. Don't go through the gate into the private garden but stay in the field and skirt round the outside of the stone wall to soon reach a small gate leading to the road. Turn right along the road, bend left at the farm buildings and then turn right at the T junction to return to Eday shop.
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