Old Man of Hoy

The Old Man is a stack of Old Red Sandstone standing 137 metres on a base of basalt lava, the tallest sea stack in Britain. It is geologically recent: maps from 1600 show a headland, an eighteenth-century chart shows a promontory with an arch, and by 1819 the arch had collapsed leaving the stack, so it has existed in its present form for around two centuries and is expected to fall within a similar span, since the base is undercutting. Chris Bonington, Rusty Baillie and Tom Patey made the first ascent in 1966, and a live BBC broadcast of a climb the following year drew an audience of millions and helped make British climbing a public spectacle. The walk from Rackwick gives the clifftop view; the Scrabster to Stromness ferry passes close beneath it.

What you actually see

• The 137-metre stack - the tallest sea stack in Britain, on a basalt base.
• The recent formation - a headland in 1600, an arch by the 1700s, a stack by 1819.
• The clifftop view - the standard vantage on the walk from Rackwick.
• The ferry pass - the Scrabster crossing running close beneath it.

When to go

May to September; Hoy ferries run a limited timetable and the walk takes three hours return from Rackwick, so day trips need planning around sailings. Clear weather matters, since sea fog hides the stack entirely.

Honest expectations

Getting there involves a ferry, a road transfer and a five-kilometre walk each way over moor, and the whole day can be lost to weather. The clifftop is unfenced with a sheer drop. Hoy has minimal facilities and no shop at Rackwick.

Nearby

Rackwick Bay is at the walk's start; Stromness lies across the sound on Mainland.