Martin on the moto: Cape Wrath

Saturday. The only way onto Cape Wrath is to take a tiny (pedestrian-only) boat from Keoldale across the Kyle of Durness, at which point an ex-army man takes you 11 miles in a battered minibus on a crumbling track across an active military range to the lighthouse right on the north-west corner. On Friday the three of us who made the trip had to wait 30 mins at a check-point for the military to give the all-clear - an exercise was taking place and we could hear the thud-thud of mortar fire from time to time - at which point we crossed the danger zone and stopped at the cape. In the summer there are 4 minibus trips per day and some people choose to stay out in one of the bothies (there are two) and come back the next day, but this is only possible when there is no military exercise.

The lighthouse (built by Robert Stevenson in 1828) has been unmanned since 1998, but two people live there and run the Ozone cafe, catering for the handful of daily visitors. After taking photos around the lighthouse I climbed up to the derelict Lloyds building (yes, the same Lloyds) and got some great views of the surrounding wilderness, including the little island which the military use for dumping their bombs and some cathedral-like rock structures out to sea - two towers and a nave. I then had some soup in the cafe before getting the minibus and boat back to the mainland.

I can now add Cape Wrath to the collection of extreme points I've visited by moto over the last couple of years: JOG, Land's End, Lizard Point, Finisterre (NW tip of Spain), Cape San Vicente (SW tip of Portugal), Cape Ortegal (northmost tip of Iberian peninsula) and Crete (southernmost point of Europe). Cape Wrath was the most unusual of these.

It was now mid-afternoon, so I got back on the moto and headed south and west via Laxford Bridge, Scourie and Unapool out to the Stoer peninsula via Drumbeg. Miles of tiny, winding, single-track roads on the peninsula meant slow progress. I stopped, admired the view and took a walk at Stoer lighthouse then headed to Lochinver where I searched in vain for a wifi connection. It was getting late so I headed a couple of miles back up the road to a quiet camping right on the sea at Achmelvich. Updating the blog and checking email would have to wait!