Bridle Path

Bridle Path Circular via Scapa Beach, Inganess Bay, Airport

6 miles   Grid ref HY 443086

Submitted by Kate Barrett

Park at Scapa Beach where there is plenty of space and, facing the sea, walk left to the Pier and join the track leading uphill to your left.  This is usually muddy and covered in hoof holes but worth the effort for the view from the top.  Continue through the farmyard, pass modern bungalows on your right and join the Holm Road.

To your left there is a signpost advertising Bridleway' opposite a kissing gate.  Turn right through the gate and follow the track to a T-junction where you will find another signpost marked 'Inganess Bay'.  Turn right and walk the path between the wall and wire fence down to another gateway and a wooden bridge over a small burn, the path leading you further down to another bridge and a larger burn.  Turn left and follow this path, climbing the stiles as you go, until you reach some taller woodland and the airport road.

Inganess Bay is now ahead of you so cross the road and continue along the path following the burn until you reach the bay.  Once there, turn left and climb the hill up to the farm and the wind generator where you'll get a good view of Keelylang, Wideford Hill, Kirkwall and its Bay, Rousay, Gairsay and Shapinsay.

Take the first road left and, at its junction with the airport road again, bear left for a short distance before turning right.

Remember to face the on-coming traffic on the main road!

Ahead you will see houses and at a fork in the road beside Cattie Maggie's Quarry the left-hand track will take you to a house with trees around it and another kissing gate.  Going through the gate between gorse bushes will take you to a right-hand turn - now you have completed the circle.

Turn right and cross the Holm Road again, following the track through the farmyard back to Scapa Bay where you began.