Handa Island and Scourie: seabirds and a short boat hop
South of Durness the road stops trying to impress you and just gets on with being beautiful. The A838 slows right down, curling around a string of deep sea lochs with the glaciated humps of the north-west's oldest mountains sitting stark on the horizon — Foinaven, Arkle, the sort of names that sound invented until you see the shapes that earned them. It's a short day by this route's standards, and almost the whole of it is given over to one thing: getting a small boat out to an island where more than a hundred thousand seabirds have decided, entirely on their own terms, that this cliff and no other is where they'll nest.
🧭 At a glance
Route: Durness → Kinlochbervie & Oldshoremore Beach → Scourie → Handa Island (ferry from Tarbet)
Time: around 1.5 hours' driving, plus 3–4 hours for Handa Island if the tides and the boatman allow
Best for: seabird colonies, empty beaches and a fishing village that hasn't tidied itself up for anyone
Don't rush: the Handa ferry runs first-come, first-served — get to Tarbet earlier than you think you need to
📶 Before you set off. Signal is patchy for most of this drive and drops out completely around Kinlochbervie and on Handa Island itself. On Wi-Fi, open Google Maps, tap your profile icon, choose Offline maps, then Select your own map, and drag the box to cover Durness, Kinlochbervie, Scourie and Tarbet.
1. South from Durness: sea lochs and blind summits
The A838 out of Durness winds south around a series of deep, glacier-carved sea lochs, with the bare, stark peaks of Foinaven and Arkle standing off to the east — some of the oldest exposed rock in Britain, worn down to their bones long before most mountains had started forming.
⚠️ Route warning. The A838 features frequent blind summits and sharp dips. Don't let the stunning scenery distract you from oncoming traffic.
Oldshoremore Beach
A short detour beyond Kinlochbervie leads to one of Sutherland's finest beaches: a sweep of pale sand backed by dunes and flower-rich machair, with rocky headlands and clear turquoise water that looks more Hebridean than Highland.
Time needed: 45 minutes.
💡 Insider tip. The single-track road from Rhiconich is narrow — allow 15 minutes each way and use the passing places. There's a small car park with toilets above the beach.
Walkhighlands: Oldshoremore Beach · Navigate · Google Maps
2. Scourie and Crofter's Kitchen
Scourie is a proper working fishing village rather than a postcard version of one — a scatter of white houses around a sheltered bay, with a shop, a hotel and very little else, which is exactly the point. It's also the last civilised meal before the Handa ferry.
Crofter's Kitchen, Scourie
Award-winning seafood on a working croft above Scourie Beach, ten minutes from the Handa ferry — langoustines, crab and whatever came off the boat that morning.
💡 Insider tip. Walk-ins only, and it's closed on Sundays — don't plan your one big lunch of the day around it without a backup.
Official website · Navigate · Google Maps
3. Handa Island: a hundred thousand seabirds and a first-come ferry
A few minutes on from Scourie, a tiny passenger ferry from Tarbet crosses the sound to Handa — an uninhabited island whose sheer Torridonian sandstone cliffs host one of the largest seabird colonies in Britain. There's no booking system and no timetable in the way most people mean it; there's a boatman, a stretch of water, and however many people turn up before the tide or the weather says otherwise.
Handa Island Nature Reserve
Take the small passenger ferry from Tarbet (April–September) out to sheer sandstone cliffs home to over 100,000 breeding seabirds, including puffins in season. A circular path rings the island, taking in the Great Stack of Handa and some of the loudest, busiest clifftops in Scotland.
Time needed: 3 to 4 hours.
💡 Insider tip. The small foot ferry is weather-dependent and runs first-come, first-served. Have cash ready for the boatman, and get to Tarbet earlier than feels necessary in peak season.
Scottish Wildlife Trust: Handa Island · Navigate · Google Maps
4. Where to stay tonight
Scourie Hotel for the famous fishing hotel right on Scourie Bay — comfortable rooms, a celebrated set dinner menu and a lively bar that's been the centre of the village for longer than anyone can quite agree on. Book · hotel website · Navigate · Google Maps
Scourie Caravan and Camping Site for terraced pitches stepping down to the bay, so almost every van gets a sea view, with the village shop and hotel a stroll away. Book · campsite website · Navigate · Google Maps
5. Onward: Kylesku and the strangest skyline in Scotland
South of Scourie the road crosses Kylesku Bridge into Assynt, where the landscape stops behaving like the rest of Scotland altogether — Suilven, Stac Pollaidh and a run of mountains that rise alone out of the bog with nothing else around them.
What to avoid
Turning up to Tarbet late and hoping. The Handa ferry is first-come, first-served with no booking system — arrive earlier than feels necessary, especially in July and August.
Assuming Crofter's Kitchen is open. It's walk-ins only and closed on Sundays; have a backup plan for lunch.
Speeding on the A838's blind summits. The sea-loch views are spectacular, but the road hides oncoming traffic over its crests.
Skipping cash for the Handa boatman. Card readers don't reliably work on a small boat in the middle of a sound.
Next step
Heading onward? Read our feature on Assynt: Suilven, Stac Pollaidh and the strangest landscape in Scotland.
Free guide: Short Walks & Water Days. Eleven walks, boat trips and swims, each with the one thing to know before you lace up, in a short PDF for your phone. Get the free Short Walks & Water Days
For the ferry queue. The Route500 Scotland Travel Mug is 20 oz of double-wall vacuum insulated stainless steel in Highland Navy, with a slide-lock lid, and it comes with free tracked worldwide shipping. See the Travel Mug
