Wandering Atop Arbroath’s Seaton Cliffs

Angus’s eastern coastline bears the brunt of the North Sea’s waves as they endlessly hammer the red sandstone cliffs running north to Stonehaven and Aberdeen. This is the eastern edge of Scotland, and sometimes, on a clear day, it seems like you might just be able to see Denmark or Norway across the water. Around the town of Arbroath, Angus’s biggest settlement and my grandmother’s birthplace, the Seaton Cliffs Wildlife Reserve makes for an ideal walk along these coastal stalwarts with a chance to see some of the local wildlife.

Some of my friends and family don’t understand why I like road trips and walks in Scotland but not back home in the States (in my neck of the woods, at least). I usually just show them pictures of Arbroath smokies and Scotland’s myriad gorgeous landscapes, but it’s clear that doesn’t always suffice. Sometimes you simply have to visit a place to understand, and when that place has an ancestral connection, well, the experience is even more powerful.

Victoria Park hugs the coast in Arbroath’s eastern reaches, and a car park lies just beyond the park proper. From here you’ll find a path leading up onto the Seaton Cliffs that runs north to Auchmithie, the original home of the Arbroath smokie — a whole, oak-smoked haddock that is perfectly divine.

As the sign says, these cliffs can be dangerous — like most cliffs — so please take care and stick to the path as you wander here. The path often cleaves close to sharp drops into surging gullies and seething pools. The extra couple inches in your photo aren’t worth falling to your demise. Instead, follow the tarmac path while gazing out to sea. I had a gray, cold, and blustery day, but the natural geological features kept me pressing onward.

One by one I came to Needle E’e, a great sandstone arch, Dickmont’s Den, a narrow inlet and beach, and the Deil’s Heid, or Pint Stump, sea stack. The tarmac path ends near a small woodland at Carlinheugh Bay, but you can continue on a rougher path toward Auchmithie.

This section of the walk is much less traveled and makes for good bird-watching and wildflower identification, though if you’re looking for a good place to turn back to the car park then Carlinheugh Bay is ideal.

Out here you’ll see seabirds like kittiwakes, fulmars, terns, and gulls nesting on the cliffs. If you’re lucky you might spot seals and dolphins in the surf, too.

On a decent weather day, the hike from Arbroath to Auchmithie is a wonderful way to experience a rocky slice of coastal Angus. And truthfully, it’s the best way to work off a recently consumed smokie or drum up the hunger to enjoy one in Arbroath after the hike. Take care and have fun on the Seaton Cliffs!