We Survived Friendly Fire

Von booked us into a WAR ZONE Thursday night. We arrived in Durness, after another stunningly beautiful trip from the north east coast to the far north west coast, to jets screaming overhead, naval vessels firing at the headland and army vehicles roaring through the village. NATO were holding their annual get together. The subject of their combined efforts was a small island just off shore. But a charming "Miss Marple", owner of our afternoon tea stop, had said with a smile, "Sometimes, they miss."

After a comfortable night at Hillside B&B, we explored Smoo Cave, which some describe as Britain's largest cave. Due to heavy rain in the night, the tour of the inner cave was cancelled, but we were able to get into the first two caverns.

Smoo Cave is one of the few things we have found open. Most tourists sites closed Sept 30th. We stopped in Cawdor to see the Castle mentioned in "MacBeth". Not only had the Castle closed on the 30th but the signs to the Castle had been taken down and we couldn't find hide nor hair of the place. We had encountered this in P.E.I. when we were there on our echange year. The Island shut down in September. Now we know why. The people who settled P.E.I. came from Durness during the infamous Highland Clearances.

Leaving Durness, we set off for Dunnet Head, the most northerly point of mainland UK. This took us through two distinct types of countryside. The first was hilly and rocky, like Harris. We chased rainbows along the way. As we neared Dunnet Head, the country was more farmland and flater.

In the tiny village of Mey, we found the Mey Castle. This was the summer home of the late Queen mother. We think that it belongs to Chales now. It closed Sept 30th of course.

It was interesting to us that the lighthouse on Dunnet Head was built by Robert Louie Stevenson"s Grandfather, the same as in Butt Of Lewis earlier in the trip.