Back to our road trip through the western Highlands. In our last post, we drove the beautiful strip from Ullapool to Durness.
Durness is a small town (and by “town” I mean “cluster of small buildings”) at the northwestern tip of mainland Scotland. We spent a night there (at the friendly Hillside B&B), and woke up to one of the staple meals of Highland travel: the full Scottish breakfast.
Bellies full, we headed out to hike the Faraid Head peninsula.
The tide was rolling out as we started, so we did the first part of the hike along the beach, which we had almost to ourselves. I do love a deserted beach.
After a ways the coast starts to get rocky, and we climbed up to the path which led us out over the cliffs at the end of the peninsula.
The views over the seaside cliffs and the menacingly-named Cape Wrath kept us interested enough to brace the wind out at the peninsula’s end.
It was another day of stereotypical Scottish weather, with clouds rolling in and out each time we blinked.
For the hike back we took the road through the giant sand dunes.
We encountered the occasional hiker and a couple of big military vehicles (there’s a military installation of some sort out on the peninsula as well), but for the most part it was quiet, the giant dunes creating an other-planet-like feeling.
Faraid Head is one of the most memorable Highland hikes we’ve been on so far, thanks to the delightful combination of expansive beaches, rocky sea cliffs, and towering dunes. I hope we get to do it again someday.
After our hike we had lunch at the nearby Balnakeil Craft Village, and then got on the road to our next Highland destination.
