Cape Wrath

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Cape Wrath (58°37′36″N, 04°59′54″W) is a cape in Sutherland, Highland, in northern Scotland. It is the most northwesterly point on the island of Great Britain.

The name Cape Wrath, though perhaps apt when taken in context of its remote and forbidding landscape, is actually derived from the Old Norse for "turning point". Vikings would often turn their ships for home at Cape Wrath.

The Cape can be reached only on foot from the south, or by taking a passenger ferry from Keoldale near Durness across the Kyle of Durness, and then walking, cycling or taking a minibus. The journey of around 11 miles to the lighthouse takes the visitor through a desolate and virtually uninhabited region. The area is used as a military bombardment range; hence travel to the Cape is restricted at certain times of year. There is a lighthouse at the cape, built in 1828 by Robert Stevenson, which was manned until 1998. Overlooking the Cape are the ruins of the Lloyd's signal station which was used to monitor shipping.

Four miles east of the cape lie the Clò Mór cliffs, the highest sea cliffs on the British mainland.

Cape Wrath is one of only two places prefixed with the name "Cape" in Great Britain, the other being Cape Cornwall in south-western England.

[edit] See also

• Extreme points of the United Kingdom

[edit] External links

• http://www.nlb.org.uk/ourlights/history/capewrath.htm History of Cape Wrath Lighthouse