Day 37 - Tuesday Cape Wrath return by minibus
Weather forecast: Sunny with cloudy periods; chance of rain during the morning. Winds ESE 13 kph. H20 L14
POP 24% at noon.
Departure: Homeknowe, Durness IV27 4PN
Destination: Homeknowe, Durness, IV27 4PN
Planned distance: N/A
Planned ascent: N/A
Planned descent: N/A
Route: Photo from International Travel Maps
Good morning/ Good day.
Today is our day to “check off” our third corner of the British Isle - Cape Wrath . The NW corner of Scotland!
The r Road to Cape Wrath apparently hasn’t been paved for 50 years so all along Ralph planned for us to take the bus two miles along A838 to Keoldale, take the Ferry to Cape Wrath across the Kyle of Durness and the mini Bus tour to and from Cape Wrath from where the ferry dropped us off.
The Durness Bus company bus showed up on time at 8:05 and dutifully drove us two miles for £1. Our driver was a welcoming, friendly woman who talked about the expansion of her business and her decision to buy very comfortable Mercedes Benz buses. She was doing one run today then meeting friends for a dinner party with a Naked Butler. This grandmother was quite looking forward to it and going to have fun!
Our bus route took us out of town on the A838 which we will bike along tomorrow.
We were dutifully dropped on route A838 ½ mile down a side road from the ferry dock. .
Considering the (only) bus left Durness at 8:05 and the ferry left Keoldale at 9:30, I had plenty of time to read up about the movement of continents and the geology of the area we had been cycling over the past two days. A helpful organization has placed Geopods of information around this area explaining how the continents have drifted from one mass somewhere in the Southern Hemisphere and why the Scottish Highlands here are the same rock as the Appalachian Mountains in Eastern North America. The information posters, at the car park close by the bus stop, were excellent.
The Kyle of Durness was quite lovely and calm this morning.
I didn’t realize that the British Army has a firing range across the road that the shuttle bus uses. It seems we will be OK. I will admit I didn’t read the fine print in red.
The ferry isn’t here yet but then weather is good so we don’t expect any issues.
This is looking good considering it is Tuesday September 6th today.
There is even a cafe at the point. If Ralph is lucky the coffee will be good! If he is really lucky it will be his new favorite brew from the Inverness Coffee Roasting Company.
…. And the little ferry arrives!
It was full of soldiers and a military dog heading to Durness for the day.
Unfortunately our signs were updated by the ferry Captain, who definitely ruled the pier. It seems there will be firing on the range… and not just today but for the next couple of days. The little red print says September 5-10th.
I am not so sure how much our inconvenience is actually “regretted” by the British military but I know with certainty that the ferryman wasn’t going to take us across! Next trip to Cape Wrath on the minibus will be September 11th. This is not useful to us.
So here we are at a signpost CLOSE to Cape Wrath!
We now had a true day off! I explored Keoldale with its attractive lodge and beckoning walking trails then headed back towards Durness chatting with the dog handler part of the way.
I thought the addition onto this house showed a very well done combination of the very old and very new.
I spent some time enjoying wandering in Durness. I watched a primary school class, all with green reflective vests, board a bus for a field trip. I didn’t walk as far as Balnakeil which has a chapel and a chocolate factory. I am feeling now that I made a mistake as I did in Orton weeks ago.
The last bit of excitement was watching an army helicopter arrive and land and after half an hour or so …. take off again. Someone is special enough not to have to take a little ferry and walk two miles into town!
We cooked our suppers in our little kitchen with laundry hung up drying where we thought it had the best chance. Thus completed another interesting day in Northern Scotland!
Safe travels.
Lorraine