Sunday 15 June - Durness to Kearvaig

Woke early.  The high wind from the previous day had dropped which was good but there were a few midges about.  The local black-headed gulls continued to show great interest in us as a source of food.  They'd cleared the remains of Alfie's dinner and were now after breakfast and I think would be tame enough to take it from our hand.

We left the campsite and walked out of the village down the single track road with the hills on our left and sheep grazing all around.  We got to the kyle and here faced a choice; whether to try to hack around it or to take the ferry across.  The tide was out but the river running into the sea meant that we could not have tried to cross directly on foot.

Having decided on the ferry, we passed by a mound at Keoldale Green said to date from the Iron Age, with a more modern standing stone erected to mark the spot.

We had time for a brew whilst waiting for the first boat of the day and it was a journey of mere minutes before we landed on the coast that would lead to Cape Wrath.

The birdlife was varied.  The gulls yes, but to hear a cuckoo this far north!  We saw a lapwing (just one), oystercatchers, heard a curlew and there was a suspicion of eider ducks at Durness.  Over the moors were skylarks, a nearly constant companion.  The vegetation was small; few or no trees, some shrubs but a lot of tiny alpines and also the insect-eating sundews, which apparently eat midges - live long and prosper, say I.

The loveliest was the pyramidal orchid.  Having read about this since, it seems this flower can be found throughout the UK "but is scarce in Scotland" - though I've never seen one growing anywhere but in Scotland...

We had lunch by a bridge near a stream in the sun and saw a pair of cyclists go past.  I'd have been interested to see how they managed bikes on the little boat as I'd wanted to visit Cape Wrath on my Land's End to John O'Groats cycle ride in 2010.  As circumstances panned out I wouldn't have been able to; occasionally they shut the boat service down for the RAF to practice bombing raids here - more on that later.  

The sea-mist started rolling in and followed us as we walked a gradual uphill on the rough road over the moor.  It's gentle walking, considering, with some vast moors and hills to look at, as well as the useful mile markers - this one was particularly cute.

After several hours, we took a right turn away from the road the minibuses use to take visitors to the lighthouse.

The bothy by the beach 

This went steeply downhill down a very rough stony path towards the most delightful little bothy near a beach.  This is Kearvaig.

As we had tents we didn't need to try to make ourselves comfortable there (which can be difficult) but took the opportunity to sit at a table to cook and eat and enjoy the warmth of a heather fire.  The bothy was in two parts and one half occupied by three men and a dog - another border terrier - also called Alfie!

Sunset - the only one I ever saw