Cloud-bound: A Cape Wrath Photo Journal
When cartographer Timothy Pont drew the first map of the Scottish Highlands in the 16th Century, he was too afraid to set foot on Cape Wrath. He marked the area ‘extreem wilderness’ and ‘a path of woolfs’ and left the map blank.
Five centuries later, the last wolf has gone, but this most northerly point of mainland Britain remains a cloud-bound land regarded with awe and foreboding.
I stayed at the bunkhouse at Cape Wrath in 2022–eating at the Ozone Cafe, which is owned and operated by John Ure and his daughter, Angie.
The welcome is warm at the lighthouse, but the beauty is anything but polite– the wind has teeth, and the skies are vast and look like they can break open at any moment. At night things take a surreal turn when wild Deer wander, illuminated by the rotating beam of light from the lantern.
For most of my stay, the weather was (mercifully) fine: day–trippers gazed out into the dense cloud and exhausted Cape Wrath Trial Hikers propped up the walls.
Angie told me that in winter, when the lighthouse is closed to visitors, it’s often impossible to go outside without being blown off your feet by gales howling in off the Atlantic Ocean, and even when the wind drops, huge snowdrifts leave the lighthouse cut off from the rest of Scotland.
I often think of John and Angie in February, when I’m tucked up by the wood-burning stove in the Peak District, only a mile away from the nearest Lidl.
Still, I’d go back in a heartbeat.
How to go
2. Catch the minibus and ferry service from the lighthouse to Keoldale, which is just outside Durness. Then catch the#806 Far North Bus from Durness to Kinlochbervie and walk up to Blairmore Car Park.
Full details of the Boat and bus service are on the Cape Wrath visitor Website. You can visit as a day trip or stay overnight at Cape Wrath Lighthouse. During the summer it is is advisable to book ahead.
Staying at Cape Wrath lighthouse
There is a basic cafe and bunkhouse accommodation at the Cape Wrath lighthouse. I took a tent and camped by the lighthouse for a small fee. I did not book ahead and received a warm welcome at the cafe.
Either:
1. Retrace your steps and walk back to Kinlochbevie.
2. Catch the minibus and ferry service from the lighthouse to Keoldale, which is just outside Durness. Then catch the#806 Far North Bus from Durness to Kinlochbervie and walk up to Blairmore Car Park.
Full details of the Boat and bus service are on the Cape Wrath visitor Website. You can visit as a day trip or stay overnight at Cape Wrath Lighthouse. During the summer it is is advisable to book ahead.