Ardnamurchan Point – A Coast Walk to the Lighthouse

The walk

Park in the small car park at Portuairk, at the end of its own side road off the B8007 beyond Kilchoan. Walkhighlands gives the round by Bay MacNeil and Ardnamurchan Point as 9.5 km with 185 metres of climbing, and allows three to three and a half hours. The lighthouse is reached along its own road and back. The going is croft tracks, rough coast, sand and some tarmac, so wear boots. The lighthouse is a 36-metre tower of granite, built in 1849 by Alan Stevenson, with its lantern 55 metres above the sea.

The old stable block beside it is the visitor centre, with a café, a shop and exhibitions on lighthouses, the rocks of the peninsula and its wildlife. From October, ring 01972 510210 before you count on the café, the tower or the exhibition being open, and carry food and water in any case. The true most westerly point of the mainland is Corrachadh Mor, a little over a kilometre south of the lighthouse. The headland is bare rock that drops to the sea, so hold on to children there. Sheep graze the crofts: keep dogs on a lead.

If you only want the Point, the lighthouse has a car park of its own at the end of the road, past the traffic lights at a narrow gateway. The B8007 is single-track and slow. The Corran Ferry is the short way to this side of Loch Linnhe when it's running, and its main boat is due a refit from November, so look at the Highland Council's Corran Ferry page first. The A861 comes round by road in any case, from the A830 at Lochailort or at the head of Loch Eil. From November to January, set off by 11.30am.