Faraid Head

Faraid Head is a small peninsula on the northern coast of Sutherland in the Scottish Highlands. It lies about three kilometres north of the hamlet of Balnakeil and five kilometres north of Durness. The promontory stretches 3.62 kilometres north-northwest between Balnakeil Bay on the west and Loch Eriboll on the east. Its rocky cliffs rise to 100 metres above sea level and end in a point 13.7 kilometres east-southeast of Cape Wrath. The summit offers wide views from Cape Wrath to Whiten Head. The peninsula forms part of the Oldshoremore, Cape Wrath and Durness Special Landscape Area. Extensive sand dunes cover much of its surface, shaped by wind and tides. At the tip stands a small radar station built in the 1950s as part of the ROTOR system. By the time it was finished, the system had become out of date and the station closed. The Ministry of Defence kept the site, later turning the main building into a control tower for bombing ranges at Cape Wrath and Garvie Island. Visitors walk along the cliffs and sand dunes, feeling the force of Atlantic winds. The radar station’s concrete buildings remain near the tip, silent reminders of Cold War defences. From the summit, the view stretches across rough moorland to the sea. The contrast between wild landscape and military relics adds a quiet fascination to the place.