As the bus makes its way along the narrow single track road Stewart, the driver turns us yells over rattle of the engine, “This is the only place in Europe that the military are allowed to drop live thousand pound bombs.” Somehow, as I stare through the misted bus window, out on to the bleak landscape of the Cape Wrath peninsular, I’m not surprised. If I was looking for somewhere to drop a bomb, these miles of uninhabited rolling heather covered hills would seem just the place. You could easily drop a shed load of thousand pound bombs here and no one would notice.

There’s me and my mate Major and a bunch of tourists heading for the lighthouse at Cape Wrath. Everyone is wedged into the mini bus as Stewart, who’s been driving the particular stretch of road for eight years, tries manfully to entertain us all with his running commentary. The Major cracks a joke about tight fisted German’s and then Stewart asks everyone where they are from. “Germany,” says a stony faced young man at the back of the bus. Oops, atmosphere solidifies, piece of shrapnel required for cutting it. Then everyone laughs and peace breaks out. Don’t mention the war.

It’s five years since I was on the Cape Wrath peninsular that was a cold day in January when I walked in to Kervaig bothy that sits on a beach with its face to the Atlantic and is home to the legendary Kervaig Pipe Club. I’ve never been to Cape Wrath itself before and I’m keen to see the lighthouse and spend the night in the old house that sits a few hundred yards from the light. Even in summer getting to the lighthouse can be a be an adventure. The peninsular is separated from the mainland by the Kyle of Durness, a narrow strip of water that is vulnerable to bad weather. The ferry is a open topped aluminium boat that is capable of taking about ten folk. There is no shelter on the little boat so if it rains you get wet, if you are going to Cape Wrath you need to make sure you are well equipped with waterproof clothing as, even on a good, a rain squall can appear from nowhere and on a bad day it can rain as if there is no end.

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The ferry only runs during the summer months and Shifty, the boatman tells us that he will sail into the beginning of October but, as the weather can be so fickle at the first sign of bad weather in October the ferry will go off for the winter. The Kyle can be a treacherous stretch of water and it isn’t the place to be in a small boat with a strong wind. It takes about five minutes for the small ferry to make its way across the water to the slipway at the far side. There we meet the bus and climb on to it for the lurching ride to the lighthouse. The journey is only 11 miles but the single track road that leads to the Cape itself is so dilapidated that the minibus has to crawl a lot of the way so the journey takes an hour. The cape is made even more isolate by the fact that, as the bus driver said, you must cross a military firing range and if you are walking in independently, it’s a good idea to check that the range is not in use by calling this number MOD 0800 833 300

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You’ll have realised by now that it is only the most adventurous who make it to Cape Wrath lighthouse but for those bold enough to make the trip the rewards are huge. The lighthouse stands high on a promontory where the storms of the Atlantic ocean do battle with the rugged coast of the northern tip of Scotland. Perhaps a thousand years from now the sea will win, as it always does, and the lighthouse will fall into the rolling waves three hundred feet below. As you stand facing the seas the wind on your face has travelled three thousand miles across the ocean. This is a magical place and feels unlike anywhere I have ever seen. It has the feel of frontier town, a place on the edge, on the borderline between the land and the savage ocean.

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This is the terminus of the Cape Wrath Trail, probably the toughest long distance walk in Britain. The Trail begins in Fort William and walkers make their way by a variety of routes through some of the most rugged mountain terrain in Britain to arrive, foot sore and weary, at this refuge. Here they are greeted by John Ure, who runs the remotest café in Britain, the Ozone with a small bunkhouse attached for those who want to stay a night or two.  To book call 01971 511 314 John has been gradually restoring the buildings that supported the light when the lighthouse was manned many years ago. He offers tasty, hearty food to those who journey to this distant place.

 

 

 

 

Cape Wrath is the jewel in the crown of this northern landscape and has a rugged beauty unmatched elsewhere. Sutherland has been blighted in recent years by the success of a driving route called the North Coast 500, this was invented a few years ago and is based on the fact that if you create a route and call it something then people will follow. The North Coast 500 is rapidly becoming a 500 mile traffic jam driven by lemmings whose only instinct is to follow the person in front. Doubtless there will soon be calls to improve the infrastructure of the area by widening the roads and destroying the remoteness and charm that brought folk here in the first place. Come to Sutherland and you will be stunned by it’s space, it’s wildness and it’s spectacular mountains. But if you go there take the time to explore it on your own terms. Don’t follow the masses. Walk on the empty beaches, enjoy the solitude of the mountains and be sure to visit Cape Wrath where only the bold and the independent go.

There are two Cape Wraths. There is the summer cape Wrath when the little ferry plays back and forth across the Kyle and brings the curious to this remote place. Then, when winter comes and storms drive the ferry from the waters of the Kyle. Then the only resident of Cape Wrath is John Ure and the occasional passing walker taking shelter in the café. That is the real Cape Wrath, lonely, windswept and silent. Why not go there one day, and take a walk on the wild side.