Strathlethan Bay is on the

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian S ...

coast of

Aberdeenshire Aberdeenshire ( sco, Aiberdeenshire; gd, Siorrachd Obar Dheathain) is one of the 32 Subdivisions of Scotland#council areas of Scotland, council areas of Scotland. It takes its name from the County of Aberdeen which has substantially differe ...

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 ...

just south of Stonehaven. To the north is

Downie Point Downie Point is a prominent headland located at the southern edge of Stonehaven Bay in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. (United Kingdom, 2004) From the Stonehaven Harbour, there is a panoramic view of this cliff landform, especially from the tip of Bel ...

near which lies Stonehaven's Black Hill war memorial – the popular walk from Stonehaven to

Dunnottar Castle Dunnottar Castle ( gd, Dùn Fhoithear, "fort on the shelving slope") is a ruined medieval fortress located upon a rocky headland on the north-eastern coast of Scotland, about south of Stonehaven. The surviving buildings are largely of the 1 ...

runs along this part of the trail. On the other side of the bay is

Dunnicaer Dunnicaer, or Dun-na-caer, is a precipitous sea stack just off the coast of Aberdeenshire, Scotland, between Dunnottar Castle and Stonehaven. Despite the unusual difficulty of access, in 1832 Pictish symbol stones were found on the summit and 21 ...

, an inaccessible

sea stack A stack or sea stack is a geological landform consisting of a steep and often vertical column or columns of rock in the sea near a coast, formed by wave erosion. Stacks are formed over time by wind and water, processes of coastal geomorphology. ...

just offshore of

Bowdun Head Bowdun Head is a headland landform on the North Sea coast approximately one kilometre south of Stonehaven, Scotland.(Ordnance Survey, 2004) Slightly to the north is another headland, Downie Point. Somewhat to the south along the coast is Dunnot ...

. The long-distance Aberdeenshire Coastal Trail runs around the bay at the top of steep cliffs. On 19 November 1916 the wreckage of the Norwegian steamer ''Isa Fiord'' (meaning ice fiord) was washed ashore in the bay and on 8 October 1940 the Danish ship ''Bellona II'' came aground after it had suffered bombing damage off Gourdon.

References

{{coords, 56, 57, 18, N, 02, 11, 44, W, display=title, format=dms, type:landmark_region:GB Bays of Aberdeenshire