One of the things on my “must do” list is to go to Cape Wrath. There is a Stevenson lighthouse there. And I had been informed that the journey there was a real adventure.
The nearest “place” to Cape Wrath is Durness. I arrived there before anything opened so drove through it to investigate the times of the ferry for to Cape Wrath. You have to catch a ferry to cross the Kyle of Durness and then a mini-bus to drive the 11 miles from pier on the west of the Kyle to Cape Wrath. The ferry and the mini-bus are separate entities so you have to pay for each. However while the mini-bus takes 18 ish, the ferry only takes 8 so a trip is 16. The 9.30 trip was full. The next one was at 11.30. So I spent the time having a tidy up and a catch up.
However the 11.30 went at 12.30 and there was no mini-bus to meet. The mini-bus igniti0n had been left on overnight and run the battery flat so the 9.30 trip had had to wait until Dave from the lighthouse to come the 11 miles to the pier and charge it.
The ferry is run by a sporting Irishman. There were no lifejackets and he said he had lost his licence in the past by taking more than 8 passengers and had had to take the test again.
NB Dave from the lighthouse is on the left
We couldn’t be picked up by the mini-bus until it had delivered the 9.30 trip back from the lighthouse to the pier so I had a leisurely and very pleasant stroll up the road. The road was built by the Stevensons only to build and service the lighthouse. There are milestones so I know I had walked at least 3 miles before the mini-bus picked me up.
Kyle of Durness from the west side
A Stevenson bridge
The Army
Quite a lot of this area is an Army firing range, so access is not just weather permitting, it is also Army permitting. There are 5 dwellings “Cape-side”, all holiday homes and none with water or electricity.
Some of the 11 miles
The mini-bus taking the 9.30 group back to the pier
Stevenson milepost, updated
“The Cathedral”
Cape Wrath lighthouse
Most north-west trig point
Duslic rocks
A yacht motoring between the lighthouse and Duslic rocks
Next stop Canada
The Ozone Cafe
One of the surprises of Cape Wrath was that there was a cafe. There weren’t any WCs but there was a cafe. It was run by Dave’s wife, famous for going to Inverness on 19th December to buy the turkey for Christmas and not getting home until 23 January. So Dave didn’t have turkey for Christmas. I was too timid to take a picture of her but realised I had taken a picture of him earlier at the pier.
Mini-bus at the pier from the Irishman’s boat, on the way back. The man in the kilt was the mini-bus driver who was an English ex-REME.
I went back to Durness, but will deal with that tomorrow.
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