The bay at Smoo caves near Durness

August 2016

is in the far north of Scotland, just 18km from Cape Wrath, Cape Wrath, the forcefully named point is neither the furthest west nor furthest north point in Scotland, but counts as the furthest north west, and not easily accessible by road. More info here.

Durness however is a village scattered along the north west point and is accessible by road so long as convoys of Italian motorhomes haven't beaten you to it. It is now a destination on the North Coast 500 route and increasingly popular.

I've been meaning to visit for some time and managed to fit it in to a holiday with my wife, Jenny, hiring a VW camper from the amiable Jamie at Fort William Car Hire. Despite terrible rain and gales we had a great time and our waterproofs and the excellent camper van stood up to everything the north west could throw at us.

We set out on several short walks in variable conditions, while in Sutherland, but the two walks from Durness were the highlights. This first was short but very interesting - the area around Smoo caves, both within the caves (see pic above) and the headland nearby, not forgetting the waterfalls pouring in to the caves (it was raining heavily and the river leading in to the caves was in full spate; we couldn't take the trip through the deeper caves because the water level was too high).

Next day we went, in better weather, along the coast to Balnakeil.

Here there is a ruined church, where Christianity has been active since the 8th century when it was founded by St Maelrubha. This church dates from around 1617.

Within the church is the tomb of Domhnull MacMhurchaidh, vicious henchman to the chiefs of Clan Mackay.

Rather unexpectedly there is also a craft village created from old RAF buildings and a grave to Elizabeth Parkes, aunt of John Lennon. Lennon apparently spent holidays with his aunt (more info here).

Enjoying a short spell of welcome dry weather we strolled along the lovely beach, investigated the graveyard, made it to the headland, the craft village and back to the Durness camp site.

And so I walked in Sutherland, either a bleak place or a beautiful one - or both, depending on the weather and your acceptance that "bleak" is often wonderful.