Loch Fleet and Balblair Wood Walk

The Loch Fleet and Balblair Wood Walk is a beautiful circular route through Loch Fleet National Nature Reserve, combining century-old Scots pine woodland with the shoreline of one of Scotland's most important tidal basins — a haven for wading birds, seals, ospreys, and pine martens.

The route starts from the small parking area off the minor road between Golspie and Littleferry, opposite the entrance to Balblair Wood. A signed path leads through the trees past NatureScot information boards, crossing a small wooden bridge with the towering Sutherland Monument atop Ben Bhraggie visible off to the right. These woods are a breeding ground for the Scottish crossbill, so it's worth keeping a sharp eye out, and Balblair Wood is remarkable for holding some 90% of the entire UK population of one-flowered wintergreen, alongside other rare plants including creeping lady's tresses and twinflower. A waymarked path bears left off the main track to a beautiful bird hide overlooking Loch Fleet, renowned for its wading birds.

Continuing past the house at Balblair — please take care not to disturb the residents — the route follows a narrower track close to the shoreline before emerging onto the pebbly beach itself, with fine views to the head of Loch Fleet and the A9 bridge slanting up from The Mound, a causeway built by the engineer Thomas Telford in 1816. The shoreline walk continues past Creag Beag and the wider mountains inland, before a path heads back into the pinewoods at a large bay, passing occasional old marker posts from when the whole route was once waymarked. The path continues through a crossroads marked by a treehouse lookout, before returning over the footbridge to the car park.

This is an easy, wonderfully varied walk suitable for most visitors, with a wide, firm gravel path for much of the way, though some sections can be loose or muddy after rain, and the pebbly shoreline stretch is slower going underfoot.

Parking at Balblair Wood is free; there is no direct public transport, though Golspie, around 3 kilometres away, has both a railway station and bus services.