John o Groats,Duncansby head and Dunnet head
Tuesday 5th July we left our base in Dornoch and drove north up the A9 .Toilet stop in Wick then on to John o Groats . Short walk on to Duncansby head to see the famous stacks.
Back into the car and on to the most northernly point in the UK Dunnet head .
John o' Groats is popular with tourists because it is usually regarded as the most northerly settlement of mainland Great Britain, although this is not a claim made by the inhabitants. It is, though, one end of the longest distance between two inhabited points on the British mainland, Land's End being the other. The actual most northerly point is nearby Dunnet Head.
The town takes its name from Jan de Groot, a Dutchman who obtained a grant for the ferry from the Scottish mainland to Orkney, recently acquired from Norway, from King James IV in 1496. The lower case and second space in "John o' Groats" are regarded by many as correct, as the "o'" means "of" and thus is not cognate with Irish names that begin with O', even though that usage also denoted "of"; but the name can be found with the capital and/or without the space. People from John o' Groats are known as "Groatsers". Local legend has the name John o' Groats termed to reflect the dutch ferryman's charge of one groat payment for the ride to the islands.
The famous "Journey's End" signpost at John o' Groats is privately owned and operated by the same Penzance-based photography company which operates its counterpart at Land's End, with a fee payable for having pictures taken next to the signpost.
The signs, including the 'John o' Groats' roundel at the top, are removed after the photographer's booth closes for the evening – so travellers arriving in the late evening or early morning may be disappointed in their quest for photographs at the signpost. It used to be left in place until someone threw it in the sea. A free plastic signpost is situated on the wall next to the First and Last souvenir shop and the harbour.
Duncansby Stacks, rock pinnacles to the immediate south of Duncansby Head. As you can see it`s a bit windy but well worth the walk from John o Groats . Great places for spotting seabirds. Great watching the puffins fighting the wind .
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Dunnet Head is a peninsula in Caithness, on the north coast of Scotland, that includes the most northerly point of the mainland of Great Britain. The point, known as Easter Head, is at about 18 km (11 miles) westnorthwest of John o' Groats and about 20 km (12 miles) from Duncansby Head. Dunnet Head can be seen also as the western limit of the Pentland Firth on the firth's southern, or Caithness, side (Duncansby Head is the eastern limit).
To get there you must drive on the most northernly road in Great Britain.
Dunnet headland projects westward and northward into the Atlantic Ocean and the Pentland Firth .a
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A lighthouse stands on the 300-ft (90-m) cliff top of Easter Head. Dunnet Head Lighthouse is 345 ft. (105 m) tall and was built in 1831 by Robert Stevenson, grandfather of Robert Louis Stevenson.
Near the lighthouse are minor fortifications built during World War II to protect the naval base at Scapa Flow, including a Chain Home Low radar station and a bunker used by the Royal Observer Corps during the Cold War. Burifa Hill on Dunnet Head was the site of the master station and a monitoring station of the northern GEE chain of radio navigation stations during World War II. There was also an artillery range on Dunnet Head during WWII. shelters the more southerly waters of Dunnet Bay.
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Here`s some more photographs from our day at the very north.
If you are up at John o Groats please take the time to visit the other great parts of the area.