Sutherland: Cape Wrath, Dun Dornaigil: Highlands of Scotland
Chapter 2

Cape Wrath

The "Ferry" across Kyle of Durness:

In the morning we ate our breakfast at the speed of my sisters dachsund, Lucy, in order not to miss the "ferry" to Cape Wrath, only to get to the dock and find -- no ferry.

Nicola was a bit worried, since we were toward the end of The Season and evidently the operators can be startlingly casual about whether to show up or not.  I wasn't worried, because I knew we'd have fun whatever we did, and enjoyed wandering around photographing the shores of Kyle of Durness and continuing my amazement at the beauty and purity of this region.

That morning I saw the first Berenice sky of this trip; there were to be many more.  I was introduced to Berenice, a fine artist, because of the wonderful Highlands landscapes she paints.  "A Berenice sky! A Berenice sky!" I shouted, then had to explain to Nicola and David.  If you check out Berenice's website, you'll see what I mean.

The more-or-less ferry did finally arrive and, in a light rain, we huddled in the boat and made our way across the kyle.  On the other side we were met by a minibus that began the trek through the peat bogs to the lighthouse.  This country is so wild that the sheep were not the usual blasé about vehicles, and several nearly hurt themselves leaping away from the bus.  We even saw quite a few deer along the way.

Cape Wrath Lighthouse:

At the lighthouse, we were on our own.  You could see all the way to the North Pole.  We explored the ancient terrain, the weird foghorn, the rock walls, and drank in the spectacular rocky coastline.  It was interesting to read about the efforts to land the lens, and about the terrible number of deaths, even in a single night, that occurred before the lighthouse was built.

Eventually we bumped and bounced our way back to the kyle and returned to Durness.  From there we cut across country with the eventual goal of Dornoch.  At this point, I lost the battle with the horrible cold I had, and fell asleep in the back seat.  When I rejoined the living a bit later, David teased me cruelly about having seen hoards of hedgehogs along the way while I was asleep [Most of you know I'm hedgehog crazy].

More of Sutherland:

But what I awoke to was pretty stunning, if not as fabulous as hedgies.  There we were at the stone age broch, Dun Dornaigil.  I have not found a way to articulate the weirdness I feel when I see something so... old... old... old.  It's also quite beautiful in a haunting sort of way.

I managed to stay awake from then on, and enjoyed the lovely village and beach of Dornoch.  More rose coloured sand, and shells galore, and some great ice cream.

Heading for Plockton

At last it was time to get to the Dingwall station, to catch the Highlands train to Plockton.  We were sad to part with Nicola, but also anxious to join our Hamish clan, no doubt tying on a good one in the hospitable bar of the Plockton Hotel.

And speaking of having tied one on, the oddest drunk performed for us while we waited for the very late train to Plockton.  This will mean nothing to the younger audience, but he looked like a middle aged, paunchy Howdy Doody.  And was completely unintelligible.  A thick Highlands accent is hard for an incomer to understand under the best of circumstances, but under the influence is not the best of circumstances.  We sussed that he was returning to his home in Garve, and wasn't happy about that, but couldn't grok much else.  I took refuge in my old reliable ploy, the sage nod, which worked far too well -- he was quite encouraged by it, and babbled without stop until the train finally arrived.

We managed to give Howdy Doody the slip, and immediately found our clanmate Rieko, who had come all the way from Japan to join in the gathering.  By this time it was quite late, and too dark to enjoy the scenery, so we dozed our way down the coast toward the place of my heart.  Though, I did find the energy to shriek in dismay to find that Robert the Carlysle was in Embra (where I clearly wasn't).  I fervently hoped that the clan had spared a wee dram left in all the village, for I surely needed one.

Cape Wrath & Sutherland Photo Gallery