Kyle of Durness

 

The Kyle of Durness cuts into Sutherland, separating the Cape Wrath peninsula from the rest of the country for many miles. Travelling to Cape Wrath itself, and its' famous lighthouse, requires the avoidance of two obstacles the first of which is the use of the military bombing range around the Cape and the second is the crossing of the Kyle. A system of warnings prevents the tourists from venturing into military danger, while passenger ferry plies the Kyle in summer months. 

The ferry wasn't running when we were in the Kyle of Durness, so instead of crossing the water and heading out to the wild West Coast, we followed the edge of the Kyle towards Durness itself. It treated us to a wonderful 7 mile circular walk, which constantly changed as we worked around around it.

Sutherland is often portrayed as being basically a lochan-speckled peat bog, the monotony of which is only occasionally punctuated by a solitary peak. As such, my expectations of the scenery were rather low. I am happy to report however that they were massively exceeded; this country is stuningly beautiful and I am itching to back.