I've been to three of the four most extreme points on Great Britain. There are places further out in the UK, what with this country being a series of islands where Great Britain is the biggest one, but I've never had a chance to visit them. I went to most of these places on holiday, unsurprisingly.
Most northerly: Dunnet Head
Dunnet Head is the most northerly point of Great Britain, specifically at Easter Head. When I went to Scotland on holiday with my family a few years back, we happened to stop at Dunnet Head along the way. There's a monument and all celebrating the area's unique position, with not much else.
 |
| Dunnet Head stone |
Dunnet Head is purely geographic, just a peninsula with a main road nearby, not entirely distant from Thurso, the most northerly town in Great Britain. There's a lighthouse, built in 1831 by Robert Stevenson, who was Treasure Island author Robert Louis Stevenson's grandfather, which stands here, though it's been fully automated since 1989. Otherwise, it's just nature and various puffins.
Most easterly: Ness Point
Lowestoft - not exactly the most appealing town to visit. But as me and my dad were on our way to see Millwall play Norwich, we stopped at Ness Point, the most easterly point and arguably the least appealing one too in the UK.
It's still rather industrial even here, with an isolated wind turbine that's been reviewed on Google Maps as a "total waste of tax money sitting there doing nothing for years on end"; various grimy warehouses which straddle the coast; Birds Eye have a factory nearby. When you visit on a gloomy Boxing Day, all cloudy with the odd rainfall, it won't sell the area well either way, though I'm not sure Ness Point is prettier all year round.
There is a nice round artpiece, denoting how far certain areas are from Lowestoft, looking almost like a helipad. This is the Euroscope, which was installed in the 1990s, and it's possibly the only reason to visit Lowestoft. Having also seen Great Yarmouth, Horsey, and Norwich en route to the match, Lowestoft isn't particularly high on my personal location ranking.
I've blogged about this one before; a delightful rocky location in the depths of Cornwall+, you can spot the odd seal if you're particularly lucky, and I'll leave the rest to that post.
That's unless you count the British Overseas Territories, which one may well do. If so, then I've been to Gibraltar, when I was very young, so I don't have any photos from the visit. I don't remember anything from that visit either, sorry.
Most westerly: It depends
The actual most westerly point on Great Britain is Corrachadh Mór amidst the Highlands, north of the Isle of Mull. I've never been there, though I have come relatively close. The best I can do for Great Britain is Lands End, which is delightful nearer the coastal craggy rocks, and not when you're in the village centre near the A30 and the Wallace and Gromit experience and the famous sign and the general sense that you're being ripped off. I know that there will always be money to be made from Lands End, as well as John O' Groats (where I've also been before), but the nature should always come first.
If we're talking the UK, then Portree is the winner. Located on the Isle of Skye, I had the pleasure to visit the location during the same camping trip as when I saw Dunnet Head, John O' Groats, and various other places. There was a bar where they loudly played New Year's Day by U2, which has since seared the song into my head, as well as a Co-op, obviously. Portree is, after all, a small, relatively isolated town home to 2,310 people as of 2020, sandwiched between the coast and a main road. The port is rather lovely, and Scotland itself is a beautiful country north of Glasgow, even if it can get blisteringly cold. And no, I don't have any photos, sorry - I asked my parents if they had any, indeed loads of the photos in this post are from them. They didn't, but I hope I painted a vivid enough image of Portree for you guys!
Comments
Post a Comment