Another glorious sunny day, we have certainly struck lucky with the weather.

We have spent the first four days traveling up the East Coast from Inverness to John O’Groats. The highlands remind us of New Zealand. Everywhere you travel, there is stunning scenery; from what we have heard, the West Coast is even more beautiful.

Today, we started traveling along the northern part of the highlands. Our first stop was Dunnet Head, the northernmost point of mainland Britain. It was windy, but the views were stunning.

We then travelled to Strathy Bay, where we found the most stunning beach we have ever seen. If you are in this area, it’s a must-see location. Unfortunately, it’s not the easiest beach to find. You will not get to it if you try to use Sat Nav. Looking on Google Maps does not help either.

Directions to find it: Approach on the A836 heading towards Strathy from Melvich. After the ‘Welcome to Strathy’ sign on your left, you go over a cattle grid. Immediately look over the other side of the road. See what looks like a dirt track, which takes you up past the side of the North Coast Parish Church of Scotland, Strathy. Follow this single-track road, which twists and turns for a mile or so until you see a cemetery on your right. Turn into the beach car park immediately after this.

On our way to Durness we saw another stunning beach at Coldbackie but we could not see how to get to it from the road.

We then traveled on to Ard Neackie Lime Kilns. We parked in the lay-by that people recommend, but it was a long walk to the kilns. We would have had to walk on the road for quite a distance before making our way across a sand causeway. We decided it was not worth it.

The road from the Kilns to Durness takes you nineteen miles around Loch Eriboll with fantastic views of the loch, islands in the loch, and the hills around it. The challenge was that the road was single-lane, which I was very nervous about. My reversing skills are not good, so the thought of meeting another car or camper van and returning along the road filled me with dread. But there were lots of pull-in points and so it worked well and I did not have to practice my reversing skills.

We are staying overnight at the Wild Orchard Guest House, Durness. It’s not a guest house but a small hotel with eight identical bedrooms. It is spotless, well-equipped, and maintained, and we received a very warm welcome from Hanna, the owner. They have a small, award-winning restaurant that seats 12 people. Jack, Hanna’s partner, does the cooking. We had dinner, which was superb. It was like eating at a five-star high-end restaurant. The downside was that the bedroom was small, with little space to move around or put luggage. It had a small double bed and a tiny shower, which made it challenging to have a shower.