Durness

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Durness
Scottish Gaelic Diùranais
Entrance to Durness
Entrance to Durness
Coordinates 58 ° 34 ′  N , 4 ° 45 ′  W Coordinates: 58 ° 34 ′  N , 4 ° 45 ′  W
Durness (Scotland)
Durness
Durness
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 .

Web links

Commons : Durness  - collection of images, videos and audio files
Wikivoyage: Durness  - Travel Guide