June 19th – 28th 2025
Thursday 19th Helensburgh – Nairn
The original plan for this year was to continue from last year’s finish at Brough round Duncansby Head and down the coast. Neap tides and what latterly turned out to be good for the start of the trip did not look so good for heading further south. As with some other sections already completed we reversed the direction starting at Nairn and heading north.
Drive up from Helensburgh with stops at Perth & Newtonmore.
Friday 20th Nairn to Rosemarkie S, F3, 20km
Launched on beach just to the west of River Nairn. Hugged coast round to Fort George staying clear of dredgers working off Whiteness Head. Lunch on beach and brief exploration of Fort George’s outer walls including the hound cemetery. Crossed Moray Firth to Rosemarkie finding a wild camp in the dunes and beach north of town.
Saturday 21st Rosemarkie to Balintore S, F3, 25km
Run up coast by Sutors Stacks, crossing Cromarty Firth for lunch on beach east of Nigg Ferry. Continued north looking for suitable camping but not finding anything until Balintore village where we were generously accommodated by a small Caravan & Camping Club site. The owner having been a professional salmon fisher gave us lots of recommendations along the Firth coast in case we needed refuge, which the forecast predicted we might. Just missed dinner at the local pub by 10 mins.
Sunday 22nd SW, F3/4 Balintore to Tarbet Ness SW, F3/4, 16km
Fast run up the coast to Rockfield for a lunch stop. Continued in the afternoon to Tarbet Ness abandoning the original plan of Portmahomack due to strengthening SW winds and forecast that winds too strong for paddling tomorrow. Lovely camp in field just to south of Wilkhaven Pier. Tried contacting owner but told by his retired shepherdess that the family were away and that overnighting for kayakers would not be a problem.
Walked back along coast to Ballone Castle, then over to Portmahomack this time just managing to find a dinner at the golf club.
Monday 23rd Tarbet Ness W, F6
Whitetops everywhere vindicating plan for a day on shore. Walked up to the Robert Stevenson lighthouse and continued along coast path to Portmahomack. Inspected large whale skull bones just off the beach. Topped up provisions from the local shop followed by a super late lunch at the Carnegie Hall Coffee Shop. Back to camp site via road and lane.
Tuesday 24th Tarbet Ness to Brora SW, 2/3, 42km
Early start, with most of us needing a couple of hours from wake up at 05:00 to paddling at 07:00, thankfully no other early starts required on this trip. The strong winds dropped during the night and with them the sea settled and the sun came out. Stop at Portmahomack then long paddle around bay stopping at Loch Fleet entrance for lunch. Carried on in the afternoon with the following wind past Golspie and a camp in the dunes 2km north of Brora. The tide was fully out so a long carry of boats and equipment to get above HW. A speculative hope of using the official campsite proved unworkable as only two spaces left plus another carry across a golf course to reach it. A long day but great progress made and with it the possibility of getting to Wick by the end of the week.
Wednesday 25th Brora to Berridale S, F2/3, 29km
Another long walk to get the boats launched. A fair wind and slight sea soon saw us to Helmsdale. Along the way we kept seeing a walker following the shoreline, sometimes ahead of us other times trailing. A lunch stop in town at a café where we met up with the walker who it turns out to be walking the John O Groats Trail (Inverness to JOG) but in his case he had started at Lands End 3 months earlier. The afternoon was spent working our way up to Berridale where a great camp was found nearby some old fishing cottages. Another JOG trail walker also came to camp nearby. Explored the river area crossing the two-person suspension bridge.
Thursday 26th Berridale to The Haven near Sarclet. W then SW, F4, 37km
Passed by An Dun natural arch and great photo of Stuart taken by Gordon (bound to feature in the next photo competition). The rock strata here like that east of Thurso runs at an incline to the horizontal giving an illusion of paddling down or uphill
Stopped for break at Dunbeath and continued onto Lybster for lunch at cafe in front of the harbour.
We had expected a stop at Whaligoe Steps but could see nothing suitable (the clue was in the name!) Pressed onto The Haven which fortunately had room for four tents. Only able to get a weather update from the hill above the bay which indicated a solid F4 from the S.
Friday 27th The Haven to Wick. W, F4, 11km
Decided that we could split into two groups for the day, Steve & Paddy on an early shift to get Paddy on the way S to collect the vehicle from Nairn and Gordon and Stuart getting a more leisurely start and as it turned out a much less bumpy passage. Tide low at Wick so a bit of wading and towing required to get our boats up to the campsite on Wick River. A superb campsite well worth the haul up the river.
With Paddy back from Nairn we headed into town for a couple of beers and a curry, suitably finishing off a great week.
Saturday 28th Wick to Helensburgh
Headed south with stops for breakfast in Brora and lunch at Newtonmore.
A little dubious that the east coast would not offer the spectacular coastline of the west and the north, we were not disappointed – it’s a magical place and well worth return visits.
Although we did not manage the Merry Men of May and Duncansby Head reversing our original plan allowed us to get a full week of paddling, mostly with the wind in our favour. We are all looking forward to returning to the far northeast to complete the corner.
Seals off Witness Head
Fort George
Mermaids off Balintore
Tarbet Ness Camp
Dunrobin Castle
Berridale
The Haven
Wick River Shallows