Durness
Durness Scottish Gaelic Diùranais |
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Entrance to Durness | ||
Coordinates | 58 ° 34 ′ N , 4 ° 45 ′ W | |
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Residents | 400 | |
administration | ||
Post town | LAIRG | |
ZIP code section | IV27 | |
prefix | 01971 | |
Part of the country | Scotland | |
Lieutenancy Area | Sutherland | |
Council area | Highland | |
British Parliament | Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross | |
Scottish Parliament | Caithness, Sutherland and Ross | |
Durness ( Scottish Gaelic : Diùranais ) is a village with about 400 inhabitants in the north-western Highlands of Scotland, just under 50 kilometers by road northwest of Tongue . It is located on the Kyle of Durness strait in the extremely sparsely populated former Scottish county of Sutherland in the Highland Council Area . The village can only be reached via the largely single-lane A838 . The main economic factors of the place are agriculture and tourism .
The main attractions in Durness are the Smoo Cave with its small river and an underground waterfall, as well as many pristine sandy beaches and cliffs , where numerous species of sea birds , seals and the occasional whale can be seen.
Durness offers tourists a spectacularly located campsite on the cliff above the beach, a youth hostel , several private accommodations and a hotel .
A larger colony of puffins can be seen and photographed in the large sand dunes on Faraid Head north of the village.
A few kilometers to the northwest is Cape Wrath - the most northwestern headland on the British mainland. In the absence of a road connection, it can only be reached on foot or in a combination of a small pedestrian ferry across the Kyle of Durness and a shuttle minibus. Cape Wrath has a lighthouse and a decommissioned military facility. A military firing range, which is only temporarily closed and used by the British Royal Air Force , the Royal Navy and the US Air Force , extends from Cape Wrath to the town limits of Durness . The resulting explosions did not prevent numerous sea birds from breeding on the Cape and its cliffs.
To the east of Durness is Loch Eriboll , known for its otters and minke whales . The bay, which extends around 16 kilometers deep into the country, can be used by ocean-going ships as an anchorage in stormy weather. Nearby lies Portnancon - basement .
An artisan village was built in Balnakeil, a hamlet one kilometer west of Durness . There is also a very old cemetery with the ruins of a chapel from 1619. In this chapel is buried the mugger and allegedly eighteen-time murderer Donald Macmurchow, who financed the building of the church after a change of heart - to be buried there. The Gaelic poet Rob Donn MacKay is also buried in the associated cemetery, which was already in use during the Crusader period .