Discovering the Ruins of Fast Castle

Fast Castle is one of those places I have been meaning to visit since we moved to East Lothian in 2013 and is marked on my copy of OS Explorer Map 346 with a big pencilled circle.  

Situated 3-miles north west of Coldingham in the Scottish Borders and 16 miles from Dunbar there isn't much left of the castle that was first mentioned in the 14th Century and was destroyed by Henry VIII in the 16th. 

The ruins sit on a headland on cliffs 50 metres above the North Sea at the southern entrance to the Firth of Forth and are still an impressive site today, so the castle must've been spectacular back in the 13 and 14 hundreds.

The ruins are reached by turning off the A1107 down towards Dowlaw Farm.  The road takes you 2-miles over two cattle grids before reaching the car park just before the entrance to the farm. There is a sign by the car park pointing the way.  

The path leads you through gorse and heather and I have made a note to come back in late summer when the hills will be a blaze of purple when the heather blooms.  The views from up on top of the hill of the coast line are breathe taking and as you come over the top of Telegraph Hill, you see the ruins of Fast Castle far below.  

Telegraph Hill is 168 metres above sea level and the climb, while not hard, is not for the infirm - more so on the way back up.  Also you need to be careful of the cliff edge as there are no fences and it is a long drop down to the sea and the rocks below.

The ruins are accessible by a concrete bridge and this is the only part of the path that is fenced, also at the far end of the bridge there is a big step up to get onto the area where the old gatehouse would have stood.

Once you are on the top you get a sense of why for hundreds of years this was a major fortress.  With a narrow entrance it was easy to defend and the rocky outcrop that sticks out into the North Sea is high enough to deter any attack from the sea.

All around you is small parts of the walls and dressed stone, which give visitors an inkling of how the structure must've looked 500 years ago.  The largest part of the wall that is still intact is right at the edge of the peninsula, high above the sea below.

There is an 18th century painting of the ruins of Fast Castle on the BBC website that gives a better idea of how the castle would've looked - CLICK HERE 

Before I took my camera out of the bag to start shooting, I sat for a while to take in my surroundings. I was the only person there and apart from the call of the seas birds nesting in the rocks below the castle, the peace and tranquility of the place was wonderful.

I got the camera out of the bag after deciding what to shoot and keeping one eye on the changing clouds rolling in above the Scottish countryside, I went about capturing the essence of Fast Castle.

The rocks and the cliffs surrounding Fast Castle are home to many sea birds that are very common in this part of the world. Gillemots, Razorbills, Cormorants, Shags, Terns and Gulls were setting up home in the nooks and crevices around the castle.  There were even some Gannets flying about heralding the return of the birds to Bass Rock just up the coast and visible on the horizon.

After a few hours of tranquility and lots of images I began the climb back up Telegraph Hill to the car park in the fading light.  

Fast Castle is well worth a visit but beware of the climb up the steep path and the high cliffs.  I certainly will be back as spring approaches for another visit and Fast Castle will be added to the schedule of the next MacLean Photographic Castle and Beaches Workshop.

CLICK HERE for more information on Fast Castle on Undiscovered Scotland

Images taken on a Fujifilm X-T1 or X-Pro1 with a Fujinon 10-24mm f4, 18mm f2, 56mm f1.2 or 55-200mm

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