Scotland Off the Beaten Track

Moray | Covesea | Half day walk | ★★★ [Sculptor's Cave] Severed heads on stakes and an underground pool full of Bronze Age treasure - it sounds a bit like the opening of an Indiana Jones film, not Scotland! "This cave on the Moray coast hides a ghoulish, 3,000-year-old secret", warns Richard Holloway in an old BBC News article about Sculptor's Cave. This temple cave dedicated to dead children is hidden from the Hopeman to Lossiemouth leg of the Moray Coast Trail below tall cliffs, cut off at high tide and inaccessible from directly above. The BBC team reached the cave by boat, while excavators constructed scaffolding down the cliff face here to gain access. For ordinary visitors, it's possible to visit on foot if your arrival coincides with a falling tide. The cave itself is no more interesting than the several others that litter the coastline here, and the severed heads are now gone. Nevertheless, it's a highly atmospheric place if you know the bac

Dundee City | Broughty Ferry | Museum | ★★★ [Broughty Castle & Museum] Broughty Castle was built at the end of the 15th century under the command of James IV, to defend the Firth of Tay from marauding English ships. Dundee City council operates the interior as a museum about the local area, but in our opinion the imposing exterior is the biggest draw, looked after by Historic Environment Scotland. The tower house was later embellished with a surrounding gun battery and commands extensive views across the estuary into Fife. [View across the estuary from the castle] Location & info 📌 Broughty Castle & Museum ★★★ Broughty Ferry harbour, 10-min walk south of the town centre, G.R.: NO 465304 ///sometime.forgotten.baking Open daily, April to September; Tuesday to Sunday, October to March | Free [Broughty Castle and battery]