Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
NORTH & WEST COAST
Quintessential Highland country such as this, marked by single-track roads, breathtaking
emptiness and a wild, fragile beauty, is a rarity on the modern, crowded, highly urbanised
island of Britain. You could get lost up here for weeks - and that still wouldn't be enough
time.
Thurso to Durness
It's 80 winding - and utterly spectacular - coastal miles from Thurso to Durness.
DOUNREAY & MELVICH
Ten miles west of Thurso is the
Dounreay nuclear power station
, which was the first in
the world to supply mains electricity and is currently being decommissioned. The cleanup
is planned to be finished by 2023; it's still a major employment source for the region.
Just beyond Dounreay,
Reay
has a shop and an interesting little harbour dating from
1830.
Melvich
overlooks a fine beach and there are great views from
Strathy Point
(a
2-mile drive from the coast road, then a 15-minute walk).
DETOUR - FORSINARD & STRATHNAVER
Tough though it is to tear yourself away from the coast, we recommend plunging down the A897 just east of Melvich.
After 14 miles you reach the railway at Forsinard. On the platform is the
Forsinard Flows Visitor Centre
(
www.rspb.org.uk
; admission free; 9am-5.15pm Apr-Oct)
, a small free nature exhibition. There's a 1-mile trail
here introducing you to the Flows peatland; 4 miles north of here is a 4-mile trail crossing golden plover and dunlin
nesting grounds.
Once past the centre, you soon start to cross epic, lonely, peaty moorscapes that stir the heart with their desolate
beauty. Take a right turn at the village of Kinbrace onto the B871, which covers more jaw-dropping scenery before
bringing you to the village of Syre. Turn right up here to follow the Strathnaver valley back to the coast near Betty-
hill. Strathnaver is famous for having been the site of some of the worst of the Clearances, and the Strathnaver Trail is
a series of numbered points of interest along the valley relating to both this and several prehistoric sites.
Accommodation options on this lonely detour include
Cornmill Bunkhouse
(
01641-571219;
www.achumore.co.uk
; dm £15;
)
, a comfortable modern hostel occupying a picturesque old mill on a working
