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vampyresheep
We went on a beach holiday by mistake ............................. ;-)
A rather relaxing day, with another forecast of fantastically sunny weather! After a relaxed breakfast, chatting to the German couple who were staying in the other room, we strolled down to Smoo Cave.
Durness is littered with cold war relics, as it had been the base for a Nuclear Early Warning Station in the 50's, rather surreal to see things like this amidst the little cottages and fields:
To our surprise, the German couple had somehow got there before us! They had just booked a cave tour with the "ferryman" so we were able to tag along with them. Donning hard hats, we were led through the walkway into the first cave and then helped down a scary ladder to get into the tiny inflatable boat! We then had an amusing experience of having to crouch down as low as possible into the boat so it could manoeveur under the walkway and into the main cave, where we got a proper view of the waterfall plunging through the ceiling.
Next we had to crouch into the boat again (all very familiar friends by now!) so go under a very low stone archway into the second cave – the neccessity of the hard hats becoming all too apparent!
Here we had to clamber out of the boat and follow the ferryman through a low tunnel, using all manner of stepping stones, planks and ramps to keep out of the stream flowing beneath our feet.
In the third cave was a creepy "sinkhole" and pool, they believe this hole should lead to another cave underneath, even bigger but it would take years to dig out all the silt that had built up to make this exploration possible. It was fascinating listening to our guide, who was an enthusiastic caver and amateur archeaologist.
Back through the tunnels and into the boat, again crouching to get under obstacles (I can't imagine what this would be like after a wet-weather spell when the water level would be higher still!) to get back to the entrance.
Said our goodbyes, then Rob and I wandered up the longer flight of stairs and out onto the cliff, where we could get a true idea of the natural ravine from which this cave had been created.
on the way up we spotted lots of "pebble graffiti" :-)
view from the top of the stairs
and then from further along the cliff
in a rare moment of my animal photography attempts, these two kindly posed for a photo:
Durness village from the cliff and some more cold war remnants
and a view of some of that "pebble graffiti"
Strolled back to the B&B to collect our belongings for an afternoon at the beach! 
(the youth hostel, down the road from us, housed in ex-MOD accommodation)
Drove to Balnakeil, an area to the west of Durness, stopping off at the craft village on the way.
In the 1950's, Durness was taken over by the MOD who set up a Nuclear Early Warning station, it is fascinating to see the remants of the Cold War architecture scattered all over the hillside. The Craft Village was no exception – this was originally the main centre of the MOD base, until it was abandoned and taken over by hippies in the 1960's who made it their own. The result is an eclectic mix of austere concrete buildings, painted with murals and mosaics, pretty landscaping all around and a number of craft studios and cafes. 
Our main intention was Cocoa Mountain, allegedly home of the worlds best hot chocolate! However, somehow Rob didn't order this but I had the Coffee Taster menu, for which I received a choice of 4 of their truffles. Mmmm, were they gorgeous; although we had to polish them off pretty quickly before they melted in the intense sun. 
After sitting watching a group of bikers order hot chocolate however, Rob caved in and we decided to get one between us (they were a bit pricey, turns out for good reason). My god was it worth the visit! A bowl of the richest hot chocolate, lavishly drizzled with white, milk and dark melted chocolate on top, so much of which that it poured all down the sides of the bowl creating a delicious chocolatey mess!
Indulgence over, we headed for the beach, for which we'd packed a small picnic of fruit offered by our B&B, to redeem ourselves from our chocolate lunch. Arrived at a beautiful sweeping sandy bay with turquoise waters and an old ruined church and graveyard at the end. What could be better! 
We both donned our "swimwear", along with some rather ungainly Crocs that we were forced to buy in Ullapool (didn't consider bringing sandals to scotland!) and posed for silly photos;much to the amusement of onlookers. Totally unaware of the family picnicing on the cliff above us until we received a round of applause!
Then went into the sea. After 18 years of knowing Rob, this is the first time I've ever seen him go in the sea! I only wish I had a waterproof camera, so i could have caught the moment of him screaming like a girl when the waves hit. ;-)
(please note that we DID actually go out deeper than this but the beach was rather shallow, and we had to go out a lot further than I wanted to take my camera for a proper paddle)
Given that this was the Atlantic Ocean, at the very north of Britain, the water wasn't actually that cold - albeit considerably colder than the beaches along the western coastline - and we paddled for about an hour before going back to our towels to sit in the sun and dry off. 
Turns out there must have been jellyfish in the water, as it looks like Rob got stung but fortunately nothing too bad and the rash went after a few hours.
Sadly the day went on and it was time to go back to our B&B to shower and get food.
fortunately Rob didn't get to shock our hosts family, driving back to the B&B like this! ;-)
After sitting out on the patio decking for a while, we headed back to the Smoo Cave Inn for another delicious meal.
Having missed the sunset the night before, we decided to head back to Balnakeil and walk across the beach to Faraid Head for the sunset. It was probably about a mile across the beach, looking beautiful in the low sunlight and at the end was a path leading into massive sand dunes. 
We followed this for a while until the path became less distinct and decided it might be risky to continue to Faraid Head (and the puffins!). Instead we explored the dunes a while until we found the herd of cows that were known to spend time here, quite a surreal sight!
Went back across the beach to the churchyard to watch the sun finally disappear into the sea, quite spectacular!
What an ending to a beautiful, relaxed day. We both really liked Durness, more than expected, however realising that we were lucky to catch it on on of its very rare sunny days! It was going to be tough leaving this the next day, to start our journey back south.
Despite having not travelled on this day, I still managed to take more photos than on any other invividual day! The whole set have been uploaded here
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Date: 9 Jun 2012 17:42 (UTC)no subject
Date: 9 Jun 2012 17:45 (UTC)And as for the caves, that was quite an experience. So glad we did it.
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Date: 10 Jun 2012 08:33 (UTC)Bill and I were talking awhile ago about how we needed to visit caves as it's something we've done before and both really liked.One of the few things you can't do in London ;)
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Date: 10 Jun 2012 11:02 (UTC)no subject
Date: 10 Jun 2012 15:32 (UTC)no subject
Date: 10 Jun 2012 22:00 (UTC)