Rockfield ( gd, Creag Tarail Bhig) is a hamlet in the parish of

Tarbat Tarbat (Gaelic , meaning 'a crossing or isthmus'Place-names of Ross and Cromarty, by W J Watson, publ. The Northern Counties Printing and Publishing Co. Ltd., Inverness 1904; p.45) is a civil parish in Highland, Scotland, in the north-east corner ...

, on the Tarbat Peninsula, near the village of

Portmahomack Portmahomack ( gd, Port Mo Chalmaig; 'Haven of My .e. 'Saint'Colmóc') is a small fishing village in Easter Ross, Scotland. It is situated in the Tarbat Peninsula in the parish of Tarbat. Tarbat Ness Lighthouse is about from the village at t ...

Easter Ross Easter Ross ( gd, Ros an Ear) is a loosely defined area in the east of Ross, Highland, Scotland. The name is used in the constituency name Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross, which is the name of both a British House of Commons constituenc ...

Highland Highlands or uplands are areas of high elevation such as a mountainous region, elevated mountainous plateau or high hills. Generally speaking, upland (or uplands) refers to ranges of hills, typically from up to while highland (or highlands) is ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

. There is a small stone

jetty A jetty is a structure that projects from land out into water. A jetty may serve as a breakwater, as a walkway, or both; or, in pairs, as a means of constricting a channel. The term derives from the French word ', "thrown", signifying somet ...

and the traditional way of life included

fishing Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment, but may also be caught from stocked bodies of water such as ponds, canals, park wetlands and reservoirs. Fishing techniques inclu ...

and

agriculture Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people to ...

. Rockfield is generally east-facing, below the level of a

raised beach A raised beach, coastal terrace,Pinter, N (2010): 'Coastal Terraces, Sealevel, and Active Tectonics' (educational exercise), from 2/04/2011/ref> or perched coastline is a relatively flat, horizontal or gently inclined surface of marine origin,P ...

Coastal Walks

Rockfield is a good place to start or finish a coastal walk. In a south-south-west direction you can walk from Rockfield to the Seaboard Village of Balintore. In a north-north-east direction you can walk from Rockfield to

Tarbat Ness Tarbat Ness (Scottish Gaelic: ''Rubha Thairbeirt'') is headland that lies at the end of the Tarbat peninsula in Easter Ross, Scotland. The name is from the Gaelic ''tairbeart'' meaning "isthmus" and the Old Norse ''ness'', meaning "headland". It li ...

, round the headland and return to

on the other side of the peninsula.

Rockfield to Balintore

This walk places the

Moray Firth The Moray Firth (; Scottish Gaelic: ''An Cuan Moireach'', ''Linne Mhoireibh'' or ''Caolas Mhoireibh'') is a roughly triangular inlet (or firth) of the North Sea, north and east of Inverness, which is in the Highland council area of north of Scotl ...

on your left with the opportunity to observe dolphins and occasional whales. The distance is reported as 8.5 kmBalintore to Rockfield Walk Description
/ref> with modest changes in elevation.

Rockfield to Tarbat Ness and on to Portmahomack

This walk may be broken into two halves. The first half, from Rockfield to

is in a general north-north-west direction with the Moray Firth on the right-hand side. At Tarbat Ness, you can break your walk by viewing the Tarbat Lighthouse and tide pools. A road runs to the Lighthouse and an old salmon station. The second half of the walk is on the opposite side of the Tarbat peninsula. You will be walking in a general south-south-west direction with more protected arm of the sea to your right-hand side. The walk ends in the village of

External links

* Populated places in Ross and Cromarty {{Highland-geo-stub