Wednesday 11 September – Dunnit! Liz and John o’Groats!

A cold, windy day with rain on and off. After breakfast, off to Dunnet Heads, a picturesque peninsula and the northern-most point of the British mainland (that’s including John o’Groats, which is beaten by Dunnet by two and a half miles).  The lighthouse was built in 1924 and fully automated in 1997 and the headland provides views across to the Orkney Islands.  The north-westerly wind was at gale-force here and would blow a dog off a chain; although it was not raining at the time we were getting wet from the spray being whipped up from the waves 90 metres below.

We continued on to John o’Groats, which is almost anti-climactic after Dunnet – a few souvenir shops and cafes and a single signpost telling us how far we are from New York and Edinburgh (disappointingly, Mount Hutton isn’t mentioned).  We did learn though that Jan de Groot, a Dutchman, built a house near the current John o’Groats pub, in the time of James IV of Scotland (around the turn of the 16^th century) and ran a ferry across to Orkney Island for two pence a pop.  This coin became known as the “groat” and in time Jan de Groot, and the point now named after him, became John o’Groats. Another interesting anecdote is that Jimmy Page of the band Led Zeppelin was once a regular visitor to the area and funded the rebuilding of Phillip’s Harbour in nearby Mey.

We then took a short drive to Duncansby Head and trudged (or, more accurately, were blown) across several hundred yards of open moorland, extremely wet underfoot, passing deep fissures or gullies, known as Geo of Sclaites, that have been gouged into the cliff-side over the millennia by the pounding seas. They bite deeply into the cliff face, up to a hundred yards, and provide excellent nesting places for the seabirds.  On a bit further to marvel at the Duncanby Stacks and the Thirle Door.  These large, jagged rock formations loom out of the sea, just offshore (not dissimilar to our Twelve Apostles – or should that be Seven?) and a rock archway forms the Thirle Door.

We made our way back through the howling wind, which at times got behind us and helped us along, then the peaceful drive back “home” for our first leisurely afternoon since we left Australia, passing sheep of various hues on the way.