Scotland, May - June 2017 - North Coast. John O'Groats, Dunnet Bay and Durness.

John O'Groats isn't a particularly interesting place but we did enjoy the views of Stroma from the campsite, our visit to Dunstanby Head and the day trip to The Orkneys (see separate page).

Sunset over Stroma from the campsite.

We spent a day at Duncansby Head. We were lucky with the weather as it was mostly sunny with not much wind. We walked along the cliffs and saw thousands of nesting seabirds - gulls, kittiwakes, fulmars, guillemots, razor bills and a couple of puffins. If we hadn't already paid for the campsite at John O'Groats we would have spent a couple of night here.

Just a few of the thousands of guillemots perched on ledges on the cliffs.

A pair of Razor-bills.

We spent 4 nights at Dunnet Bay over a busy end of May bank holiday (the campsite was fully booked). We had a couple of cycle rides and visited the nature reserve at John's Pool.

Dunnet Bay at low tide.

Nice quiet lanes for cycling along.

Castletown harbour.

Our first sighting of highland cattle.

We saw these seals basking on a secluded beach.

St John's Pool is a nature reserve with a bird hide overlooking a pool. The main hide is free and In May there were lots of nesting birds.

Black-headed gulls with a couple of chicks.

This oyster catcher brought back some food for the 2 chicks.

Between Dunnet Bay and Durness the main road is mostly a single track with plenty of passing places. On the whole we found that drivers were considerate of others. We often pulled in to allow vehicles behind us to pass so that we could travel slowly and enjoy the view.

We spent a night parked up on the bridge across the Kyle of Tongue.

Loch Eriboll is the deepest sea loch in the UK.

Rispond beach. There's a car park beside the main road and then it's a short walk down to the beach.

We walked over the headland towards Loch Eriboll and had a lovely view across to the far side of the Loch.

We had some lovely weather while we were at Durness and got a great pitch overlooking the bay.

Our site at Sango Sands Campsite.

The beach below our site.

SE Scotland. Edinburgh, Dundee, Falkirk Wheel and North Berwick.

NE Scotland. Fort Augustus (Loch Ness),Culloden, Fort George, NE Coast.

North Coast. John O'Groats, Dunnet Bay and Durness.

Orkney Islands. One day coach tour.

NW Coast. Scourie, Handa Island, Inverewe Gardens and Gairloch.

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The entrance to Smoo Cave. We just went inside the huge first cave. There are tours you can take to explore more of the cave system.