Loch Eriboll & Durness

The far north-west NC500 stretch where the A838 detours deep around the fjord-like Loch Eriboll, between the limestone country of Durness and the sands of Tongue.

East of Durness the A838 abandons any pretence of a direct line and loops some ten miles south to wrap around Loch Eriboll, a deep sea loch so fjord-like that the wartime Navy sheltered the fleet here. The single-track road clings to the shore past Ard Neackie's lime kilns and the hanging slopes of Beinn Spionnaidh, then climbs over open moor before dropping toward the Kyle of Tongue. It is mostly single track with passing places, lightly engineered and often empty, the surface patchy in places. The scenery is among the most remote and dramatic in Britain, all bare rock, peat and big northern light. Mind oncoming traffic on blind single-track passing-place sections, unfenced sheep and deer throughout, and exposed crosswinds with no shelter on the high moor.