Walk: Fugla Ness - Shetland's Chalamain Gap

Shetland | West Burra | Short walk | ★★★

[The lighthouse on Fugla Ness is reached by a rough, tiring causeway]

Fugla Ness is the only land guarding Hamnavoe village from the full might of the Atlantic Ocean. It's tenuously joined to the the rest of West Burra by an exceptionally rough causeway - comparing it to the Chalamain Gap in the Cairngorms is no exaggeration. On a calm, sunny day the coastline between here and the tropical-looking Sand of Meal gives a beautiful clifftop walk; westerly gales bring their own wild appeal.

[You might encounter Shetland ponies on the windswept cliffs around here]

Location & info

📌 Walk: Fugla Ness - Shetland's Chalamain Gap ★★★
Start / finish at Sand of Meal, minor road 0.5 mi east of Hamnavoe, West Burra, G.R.: HU 377355 ///asked.vine.booms
🚌 Bus to Hamnavoe, at a slightly different point on the route | 🚗 Car park

▶ 4 km / 2 mi | ▲ 160 m | ⌚ Short
Features: Hamnavoe; Sand of Meal; Fugla Ness
⬤ Tough | Good path to beach, then intermittent coastal paths. Access to Fugla Ness is over a long causeway covered with boulders, slippery when wet and not far above the high tide mark (omitting this lowers walk grade to ⬤ Moderate). Minor road return.

Route: Car park - Sand of Meal - Lu Ness - Pundsar - Fugla Ness - Hamnavoe - start


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On our visit

Wildlife: Shetland ponies, sheep; oystercatchers and other seabirds.
Weather: Cold and windy with low cloud and a little rain.

[Sand of Meal]

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