Scotland Route 500 - Part 3: Puffins, Lidl's Car Park and Chocolate
- Caroline & Garry
- Mar 22, 2019
- 5 min read
I was thrilled when we reached the North coast of Scotland. As a child of seven years old I was given an atlas as a gift from my father and I can remember being fascinated by my Island home. This book inspired me and I set myself two ambitions, the first was to travel as far south and as far north as I could in the UK and the second was to complete a circuit around the British coastline. Luckily Garry is as keen as I am and we are working on both!
So here we are fast approaching completion of our northern mainland goal, John ‘O’ Groats, which as it turns out, is the most northerly inhabited point on the mainland, the furthest north geographically is in fact the wonderful and exhilarating Dunnet Head. So just to make sure, we went to both.
John ‘O’ Groats in our opinion is 100% more tasteful and low key than Lands End. Not a Darlek in sight and when we pulled into the car park we couldn’t believe there were no parking charges. The views over Pentland Firth towards Orkney and Stroma are amazing. You can watch the small ferry navigate these treacherous waters and even take one of the many organised day tours to Orkney. There are the usual coffee shops and cafes, shops and an information point. Plenty of places to sit, eat a picnic and take in the views. We stayed more than a short while watching the numerous visitors come and go and admire the view.
Dunnet Head is a must if you want to experience the true northern point of the British Mainland. This wonderful peninsular with its lighthouse and minor fortifications, used during WW2 to protect Scarpa Flow, can be wild and windy. It is a nature reserve and its dramatic cliffs are home to puffins (we saw hundreds of these wonderful little birds), razorbills, fulmars, shags and cormorants were in abundance too. A bird lovers paradise. We enjoyed it on a fairly cloudy day but luckily it wasn’t raining or blowing a gale.
We drove on to the north-easterly tip of the Scottish mainland and Duncansby Head, which sits on top of high cliffs. A short walk takes you to the dramatic Stacks of Duncansby that rise up out of the sea and you guessed it, yet more puffins. Well worth the mile or so walk. You also get a frightening glimpse of the many bird watchers hanging perilously over the cliff edge, photographing the diving and cacophonous bird life. We agreed they must be bonkers, the bird watchers that is, not the birds!!
We stayed at Dunnet Bay Club Site (Caravan and Motorhome Club). It is beautifully situated just behind the beach, with the usual clean facilities and helpful wardens. Above the campsite offices you find the Seadrift Visitor Centre, which has a viewing area and displays, with lots of interesting things for little ones to do. There’s a great hotel a short walk up the road for good food too. Links below.
Whilst we were on this coast we picked up a leaflet on Mary-Ann’s Cottage Dunnet and decided to visit. This remarkable little museum about Scottish rural history is based in a cottage built by Mary-Ann’s grandfather, John Young in 1850. Lived in by three generations of the same family, it is run by volunteers and funded through private donations. Mary-Ann lived in the cottage all her life, moving out just before her 93rd birthday. The cottage has been preserved and you can learn all about her and Scottish life as told by the knowledgeable volunteers. Well worth a couple of hours.
The time came to move on and we continued our route along the North Coast, stopping off at Lidl’s in Thurso! You may be wondering why and to cut a long story short, during our stay in Dunnet we were asked several times if we had been to Lidl’s Car Park and with our interest well and truly piqued we decided we should probably go and see what everyone was on about. It was worth it! What a view. It was a lovely sunny day and we could see right over to The Old Man of Hoy on Orkney. Absolutely fabulous, so good we bought a couple of croissant from Lidl’s, as we were sat in their car park, and spent quite a while simply enjoying the view.
Just before Cape Wrath we did manage a quick visit to Smoo Cave, not much in the way of parking here but luckily someone was leaving as we arrived. With its unusally large mouth Smoo Cave holds a small lake and waterfalls apparently, unfortunately due to low water there was no cave boat trip for us that day. So after a quick walk in the outer cave we moved on.
One place we couldn't miss was Cocoa Mountain, both a café and where they make delicious luxury chocolate, it is purported to be the most remote chocolatier in Europe. What can I say, the hot chocolate was heavenly. It is located in Balnakeil craft village. This is an unusual place, a former cold war observation camp, it is now lived in by a community of craftspeople. Considering its remoteness it can get busy, but there are many artists and craft studios you can wander round and spend some money in and you could even get a hair cut.
As the road turns southwards, south of Cape Wrath, the wonderful mountains and views just keep coming. This simply amazing part of our journey fills my soul. The raw beauty of the Highlands has been talked about, photographed and videoed but none of this prepared me for the sheer breathtaking wonder of it all.
We took the A837 to Lochinver and spent a couple of hours exploring this lovely town we felt like we were on the edge of the world. Then retracing our steps a short way we turned onto the B869 down a beautiful windy road surrounded by the white and grey rocks that make up the hills here. Along the route there are numerous miniature lochs full of white lilies. It’s an experience we won't forget.
Clochtoll Beach Campsite is, as its title suggests, on the beach. Privately owned it is a fairly large and popular site, with modern, clean facilities. A short walk from our pitch took us onto the hills behind the beach and the quite stunning views over to the Isle of Lewis, which we sat and took in for quite a while!
A popular area for walkers and canoeists this area was a joy to explore and simply enjoy all the views.
As ever with this trip we were reluctant to move on to our next planned stop further down the coast at Poolewe, but pack up and move on we did - eventually.
Taken from A Man in Assynt - Norman MacCraig
Who possesses this landscape? – The man who bought it or I who am possessed by it?
False questions, for
this landscape is
masterless
and intractable in any terms
that are human.
Part 4 – Storm Hector and a change of plan
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