Dunnet Head: where Britain finally runs out of land

John O’ Groats attracts the photographs and the visitors looking for the end of the road, although reaching the most northerly point of mainland Britain requires a different turning. At Dunnet Head, more than two miles farther north, a narrow road crosses an exposed peninsula to the lighthouse above Easter Head, giving anyone travelling the North Coast 500 anti-clockwise a useful introduction to single-track driving. You need a little patience with passing places and other vehicles, but the journey brings you somewhere that feels appropriately removed from the bustle around the famous signpost, with the Pentland Firth stretching towards Orkney beyond the cliffs.

The lighthouse has occupied this position since 1831, when Robert Stevenson’s engineering brought a light to a coast where the height of the land did much of the work. Its tower rises only about 20 metres, yet the cliffs beneath place the light approximately 105 metres above the sea, allowing it to serve shipping far beyond the headland. Automation brought the keepers’ duties to an end in 1989, although their former cottages remain and now offer accommodation for people wanting rather longer with the view. Looking around at the exposed ground and the water below, you can appreciate something of the setting in which those keepers lived without having to imagine it as an abandoned place.

During the breeding season, the cliffs acquire a much noisier population as guillemots, razorbills, kittiwakes and puffins occupy the ledges, while fulmars make flying in the wind look considerably easier than standing upright in it can feel. You may also see cormorants and shags around the coast, sometimes called scarfs or skarfs in Caithness, preserving a northern word inherited from Old Norse. Beyond that busy foreground, clear weather opens the view towards Stroma and the cliffs of Hoy, with the southern Orkney islands across the firth and a western outlook extending past Thurso towards Ben Loyal and Ben Hope. On an exceptional day, even the hills around Cape Wrath can enter the picture, giving you plenty of reasons to linger.

For all those distant landmarks, I find the simple fact of where we are standing equally absorbing, because looking north across the water means almost everything happening on mainland Britain is taking place behind us. It is an enjoyable thought to consider from an established viewpoint, where we can appreciate the height without approaching the sheer drops or leaning out to locate a bird below. Powerful winds and fatal falls give that caution a very practical purpose, however tempting the photograph might appear. The military remains scattered across the headland add another dimension, and in the audio blogcast we explore that part of Dunnet Head’s story, beyond the lighthouse and the geographical distinction that first brings many visitors here.

To learn more, listen to the blogcast or book one of our Private Tours.