Route 1: Beach and Mill Circuit (purple waymarkers)

The walk starts at the foot of Skateraw Road, by our magnificent metal ship sculpture. The Isabella was a coal schooner, wrecked in the harbour below you in a huge storm in 1888. It was thanks only to the heroic efforts of villagers that the crew was rescued unscathed from the “mountains-high sea”.
 
The artwork by Jim Malcolm – once nicknamed The Stonehaven Banksy for his undercover installation of similar works – commemorates that event and all the local lives tied to – and sadly sometimes lost to – the sea.
 
At the beach side of the parking area, in a gap between a flower planter and a Scottish Water cabinet, take the well-maintained steps to the shore. (There are 64  - for a more accessible route that avoids the steps, please see below)

​At low tide, you may glimpse the remains of the harbour’s concrete pier, which was demolished for safety reasons in the 1980s. At its peak, the fishing fleet here was 26 boats strong, sustaining as many as 130 jobs, before it was scuppered by the arrival of steamships.
 
Explore the shoreline before taking the wooden bridge where the Elsick Burn tumbles down a waterfall to the sea.

​Steps lead up to a track between the two old fishermen’s houses. Head left (immediately on your right you will see the wooden steps which are the start of Route Two) and continue upstream, enjoying occasional glances of the burn as it tumbles over rocks. Pass by the driveway to the old mill, which operated right up until around 1948 and has since been restored as a private residence. When you arrive at the railway viaduct, constructed in 1849, turn left, back towards the mill, over the burn and up a path shaded by trees.
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​(To connect with Route Three (Orange) turn right here, up the road)