Aodann – Clifftops, an Ancient Fort and Balnakeil Church
About 3.5 miles on foot.
The Aodann is the headland of fields and sea cliffs between Durness and Balnakeil Bay, crossed by old farm tracks.
This circuit from the village goes over it past the grassy ramparts of Seanachaisteal, an ancient fort on the cliff edge, and comes down to the roofless church at Balnakeil. A meal at a hotel bar on the east side of Durness follows.
- Time
- About two hours: the Path Network's Aodann route, about four kilometres from the Balnakeil road over the headland past Seanachaisteal to Balnakeil church, then back by the road.
- The path
- Farm tracks and grassy clifftop through fields with gates, then a minor road.
- Where to start
- The car park beside the public toilets in the middle of Durness, on the A838.
- Set off
- Allow about two hours for the walk.
- When to go
- A walk of about two hours, then a meal at a hotel bar.
- Toilets
- Public toilets beside the car park in Durness, where the walk starts and ends.
- Before you set out
- Farm tracks and grassy clifftop, with no signs to rely on: the Path Network leaflet has the map.
The walk
Park beside the public toilets in the middle of Durness. The Path Network's route over the Aodann is about four kilometres to Balnakeil, then back by the road: allow about two hours. It is on farm tracks and grassy clifftop, with no signs to rely on: the Path Network leaflet has the map.
It leaves the Balnakeil road at the edge of the village and crosses the fields to the top of the Aodann, where two flat-roofed buildings from the early 1950s once held a radar mast. On the cliff edge beyond is Seanachaisteal, a promontory fort probably of the Iron Age, its grassy rampart and ditches still cut across the neck of the headland. The route comes down to the roofless church of 1619 at Balnakeil, where the Gaelic poet Rob Donn has his monument.
Keep children back from the edges, and dogs on a short lead among grazing animals.
If it rains
On a wet day the hotel bar is under cover, and the walkway into Smoo Cave, nearby, is sheltered under the rock.
On the way
- The John Lennon Memorial Garden
John Lennon spent boyhood summer holidays in Durness with his cousins, and the village's gardeners made this small garden by the hall in his memory in 2002. Its three standing stones carry lines from In My Life, a song the village is said to have helped inspire. It sits right beside the road to the hotel.
Afterwards
5 min by car
Smoo Cave Hotel
Late lunch
It's 5 minutes' drive east to the Smoo Cave Hotel at Lerin, just off the A838, with its own car park. It's a small family-run hotel open all year to visitors as well as residents, with a menu that runs from hot and cold snacks to full meals. Tables are first come, first served, as it takes no bookings, and dogs on leads are welcome in the bar.
Before you go
Book accommodation nearby
If you are staying over: here are ours nearest where the day starts and ends.
Where to eat
Cocoa Mountain Balnakeil, a café in Durness.
For further reading, before you go.
Photographs by Matthias Müller and Alex Morgan via Google