Dunnet Head Lighthouse
Photo © Ken Trethewey 

The most northerly point on mainland Britain, Dunnet Head is the farmost northern tip of Scotland and on the same latitude as Alaska and Stavanger in Norway. Eleven miles further north than Moscow, this rounded, cliffed sandstone headland rises some 100 metres above sea level and juts out into Pentland Firth of the North Sea. 

The headland's northern tip is crowned by a 346 ft high lighthouse built in 1831. The bay it accompanies is popular with surfers all year round as they take advantage of the Pentland Firth breakers.

The Pentland Firth is actually one of the most treacherous waterways in the world. Only 7 miles across, it forms a narrow channel between the Atlantic Ocean and the North Sea. For 14 hours a day the tide tears through here from west to east at a rate of 10 knots or more, flooding back in the opposite direction for the remaining 10 hours. Combined with the rocky sea bed and the high wind off the top of Scotland, the confused sea provides deep whirlpools and 30 - 40 ft towers of water crashing against the reefs off-shore. This is the reason stones thrown by the sea have at times damaged the windows of the Dunnet Head lighthouse, such is the force of the Pentland Firth.

The Dunnet Head lighthouse was built in 1831 by Robert Stevenson, grandfather of the author Robert Louis Stevenson. It was automated in 1989 and on a clear day the view point allows the visitor to see as far as Cape Wrath to the west and across to John O'Groats to the east.

The cycle route along this beautiful and rugged coastline includes magnificent views and uses single track and quiet roads all the way.

In Dunnet itself,  it's worth stopping at Mary-Ann's Cottage, a farming croft vacated  in 1990 by 93 year old Mary-Ann Calder, whose grandfather had built the cottage, and is maintained just how she left it, full of reminders of the three generations who lived and worked there for the last 150 years.

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