Sutherland and Caithness

The two areas of Sutherland and Caithness form Scotland's northern wilderness and one of the wildest places in the British Isles. Their scenery varies from wild cliffs and tiny islands to lonely moorland and remote sandy beaches with superb panoramic mountain views, plus tree-lined twisting roads and foaming rivers.

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Dunnet Head Lighthouse - Caithness

Dunnet Head with Orkney in the background only 6.75 miles away across the Pentland Firth. At 58 degrees north, geographically it is the most northerly point on mainland Britain, 2.35 miles further north than John O Groats. Dunnet Head lighthouse is only 66 feet high, it is perched on a 280-foot sheer cliff face, which places the light almost 350 feet above sea level. The lighthouse was built in 1831 by Robert Stevenson, an esteemed lighthouse designer and grandfather of Kidnapped and Treasure Island author Robert Louis Stevenson. You can imagine how visits to remote lighthouses must have inspired these books! By the time Dunnet Head was built, Robert Stevenson had completed 10 other lighthouse projects around the Scottish coast – all remarkable feats of engineering which have withstood the test of time.

Scotland Caithness lighthouse coastline coastal sea headland landscape