Cape Wrath

Cape Wrath stands at the most north-westerly point of mainland Great Britain in Sutherland’s Durness parish. A narrow passenger ferry crosses the Kyle of Durness to reach the cape, which is joined to the mainland by a road built in 1828. The cape itself is a 280-square-kilometre moorland wilderness called the Parph, owned largely by the Ministry of Defence for military training. Parts of the Parph are also protected as Sites of Special Scientific Interest and Special Protection Areas. The name comes from Old Norse hvarf, meaning a turning point used by Viking navigators. The cape once held crofting communities, but by the mid-20th century only shepherds remained. A small school at Achiemore closed in 1947 after serving up to ten pupils in the 1930s. The lighthouse, built in 1828 by Robert Stevenson, guided ships until automation in 1998. In 1915 the liner HMS Caribbean sank nearby in a storm, with fifteen lives lost. Military use began in the 20th century, and the area now supports live firing ranges alongside conservation zones. Visitors find high sea cliffs of Torridonian sandstone rising to 281 metres at Clò Mòr, the highest on the British mainland. Sea stacks such as Stac an Dùnain and Stac Clò Kearvaig break the surf, while offshore Garvie Island lies within the firing range. The cliffs host over fifty thousand nesting seabirds, including puffins and gannets, and the surrounding peatlands hold lochans like Loch Airigh na Beinne. Heather, juniper and ferns cover the boggy ground, giving way to cliff-top sand dunes near the cape.