Rooms with a view: Family opens most remote bunkhouse on British mainland
● North Coast 500 stopover opens at Cape Wrath
The most remote bunkhouse on mainland Britain has opened – more than 300 feet above the sea and at a bombing range.
The rooms with a view at Cape Wrath, the most northwesterly point on mainland UK, has been constructed by the peninsula’s only two residents.
John Ure and his daughter Angela have converted the old machine room near Cape Wrath Lighthouse into a bunkhouse capable of taking eight people. They hope to expand it to take another two people later.
And already scores of backpackers have taken advantage of the £5-a-night facility.
The family has spent £12,000 on the development since November.
Mr Ure, 64, runs the remotest cafe in the country right next to the lighthouse and usually serves around 6,000 people a year – concentrated in the main season – when the area is not being used as a bombing range by the Ministry of Defence.
But getting to the Sutherland lighthouse, four miles from the 900-feet highest vertical cliffs on mainland Britain, is not easy.
It involves a seasonal ferry journey across the narrow Kyle of Durness and an 11-mile trip up a bumpy road. The only other route is a strenuous 11-mile walk from near Kinlochbervie over rough, unmarked, but stunning, terrain.
Despite the lighthouse’s relative inaccessibility, a few thousand walkers and tourists head to the cape each year.
Mr Ure said: “The bunkhouse is open and booming. We have had scores already.
“It is a badly needed facility in the area and we plan to open all year round.
“I am also be offering evening meals and breakfast, a grocery shop in the cafe for the walkers – as well as among the best views on the planet.
“So far the season has been hectic. We are getting a lot of people off the North Coast 500.”
Earlier this year the North Coast 500 was named as among the world’s best value tourist experiences by Travel Magazine. Known as Scotland’s answer to Route 66, the famous driving route from Chicago to America’s west coast, the North Coast 500 has become increasingly popular since it was launched in 2015.
The magazine said: “When it comes to the crucial ‘stop-and-get-out-scenery-per-kilometre’ ratio, Scotland’s circuitous route of its Highland coastline proves you don’t need a pricey trip to the States to get your road trip fix.
“Go in spring for sparkling lochs, valleys puff-balled with blossom, and views of the mineral-blue sea lapping spotless, strawberry-blonde beaches.
“Cosy B&BS line the route, such as the converted Auld Post Office, set among rolling farmland in Caithness near John O’groats.”
The 516-mile route has proven to be hugely popular since its creation by Prince Charles’s North Highland Initiative (NHI), and it has achieved its aim of boosting tourism and generating economic opportunities in the Northern Highlands.
According to a study by The University of Glasgow, the North Coast 500 has attracted around 29,000 visitors and generated an additional spend of £9m in its first year.
The Ministry of Defence last year increased its use of Cape Wrath with the installation of three new major gun battery sites.
DIVINE WRATH “I am also offering evening meals and breakfast – as well as among the best view on the planet. So far, the season has been quite hectic” BUNKHOUSE OWNER JOHN URE