We enjoyed the stay in the little pod with the most trusting of owners, so having stayed 2 nights, not paid any deposit, he said he’ll message me the bank info soonish for payment! 

Leaving just after 9.15, the weather grey and damp, we may be in for 2 rainy days. First unplanned stop Moine House (ruin) built as a half way stop for travellers across this huge area of bog prior to a road being built in 1830.

Next stop the Ard Neackie, Limekilns, just a short walk to this little craggy peninsular but oh my it was so so windy.  The Loch is called Eriboll and it’s one of the deepest sea lochs, at the end of WW2, 33 German U-boats surrended here. 

It was a surprisingly long drive around the Loch and at just over halfway round we met up with the cyclist (from the bar at lunchtime yesterday), he was really struggling in the wind and only managing 5 miles per hour.

The roads are now more rugged, which Dave is enjoying.

The beach at Ceannabeinne was busy by our standard (about 10 people on it) so we decided to try and get to Rispond Bay/harbour but failed as we couldn’t find a footpath and everything was fenced off. Upon returning to the car and feeling a bit peckish we headed to the award winning Cheese n Toasted for a quick snack (it was extremely yummy –  definitely recommend) overlooking Durness beach.

We then decided to visit Smoo Cave (free) which is massive and quite worrying that the road into Durness goes straight over it. Unfortunately due to the high winds the boat tour into the back chambers was cancelled.

We did a little walk along the cliff edge before jumping in the car to take some shelter from the rain that had just started.

A minute up the road we discovered a memorial garden to John Lennon who holidayed here as a child.

We then drove to Balnakeil, where there is a church ruin with an impressive graveyard and unbelievably we were right next to the beach. So you guessed it we had to go another beach walk even though it was drizzling and the wind a bit mental. At the end of the beach, there was a road so we had to follow that as well, that ended on the sand dunes, we then found another spectacular beach but as the winds were now ferocious we decided to turn round and head back to the car. 

A quick drive back into Durness and we found the Sango Sands Viewpoint, which juts out from the mainland and overlooks beaches eitherside. Absolutely stunning even in the lashing rain but at least there was a rainbow. 

The lounge bar was open next to the campsite site so we ran in to take shelter and grab a beer and spent a lovely half hour catching up with our cyclist friend.

Only 5 mins away was our next pod for the evening so we made our way there and unloaded our bags, although this one appeared tiny it was actually better set up than last night’s one and warmer!

We grabbed a takeaway dinner from the lounge bar (pizza was the only option from the only place open in Durness) and settled in for what seems to be a really gusty evening.

A quick fact about Durness apart from being the most north westerly town, it’s the least populated with only 2.4 people per square mile!