GOING TO EXTREMES

The outermost tips and farthest corners of mainland Britain.

N Dunnet Head

Our northlands end in a flourish of sandstone cliffs (also known as Easter Head). On fogfree days, the Orkney island of Hoy looms across the Pentland Firth, eight miles nearer the Arctic.

NE Duncansby Head*

A mile-and-a-half beyond the gift shops at John o’ Groats, there’s just a small car park and a dinky lighthouse. Mosey south to behold huge, tusk-like sea stacks worthy of Thailand’s Phang Nga Bay.

E Lowestoft Ness

Mere yards from a car park behind Lowestoft’s old gas works, it’s easily the least exacting and sensational of Britain’s extreme points. The salmon sky sunrises from the ‘Euroscope’ aren’t bad though.

SE South Foreland*

Flaunting a dazzling face to sea, the North Downs culminate here: the White Cliffs of Dover. At the fore in more ways than one, it boasts the first electric lighthouse and saw pioneering radio experiments.

S Lizard Point*

It’s so far south, even the name sounds tropically-inclined, though Cornish speakers will tell you it has nothing to do with reptiles. Look out for basking sharks trawling the treacherous reefs offshore in summer.

SW Gwennap Head*

You’ll find no tawdry theme park here, as there is up the coast at Land’s End; just a humble Coastwatch lookout and a clifftop vista that stretches uninterrupted, far out into the Atlantic Ocean.

W Corrachadh Mòr*

Down the knotted shore from the Egyptian-style lighthouse on Ardnamurchan Point, this unshowy headland pips its scene-stealing neighbour to the longitudinal accolade by a whisker.

NW Cape Wrath

The Ozone Café awaits you in the lighthouse at the wild far edge of Britain. But getting there involves a ferry and a 10-mile trek (or minibus ride) through a military firing range (see visitcape wrath.com for details).

WALK THERE: Download full route guides for extreme points marked with an asterisk at walk1000miles.co.uk/bonusroutes