This place unites opposites: a visit to the ghost village of Balnakeil and, right next door, a thoroughly lively artists’ community …
So here lies the murderer Donald McMurdo, his grave fittingly marked with a skull. He’s said to have had 18 people on his conscience (the exact number of his victims isn’t entirely certain). While his victims met their end in the dark Smoo Cave, McMurdo has enjoyed a sea view here since 1623. That’s because Balnakeil cemetery borders directly onto a sweeping sandy beach.
Balnakeil is a ghost village. Weathered stone houses; a mill whose wheels stopped clattering long ago; a church with no roof and no bell. An eerily large manor house where clan chiefs once held court, before some of the condemned were hanged near nearby Loch Crispol. Today it’s home to sheep farmers.
Balnakeil’s residents? Emigrated. Or dead. It’s no accident that the cemetery now takes up most of the village. A deathly calm prevails.
Only occasionally does the silence get cut through by diesel engines. Large olive-green lorries then thunder off the small road straight onto the beach and soon disappear into the distance. Their destination is the military facility at the far end of the bay.
The lively side of Balnakeil is found a few hundred metres up the road. Instead of crumbling houses, flat 1950s barracks crouch here in the landscape. They once housed an early-warning station for nuclear attacks. Today a small artists’ community lives in them, forming the Balnakeil Crafts Village. Its roughly 20 residents, plus many occasional sellers, offer paintings, textiles or pottery for sale.
One of the little houses in the Crafts Village has become famous among regular Scotland travellers: it’s home to the Cocoa Mountain Cafe. Here visitors can treat themselves to the finest chocolate in various forms. A hot cocoa, for instance, is the perfect way to warm your bones after a long stretch in Balnakeil and on the beach.
Tip: The walk to Faraid Head
The military exclusion zone is only right at the tip of the headland that forms beyond Balnakeil. So you can take a longer walk along the sandy beach. It’s about four kilometres one-way to Faraid Head. The walk is well worth it, though, as it offers beautiful scenery.
Good to know: Balnakeil – a place full of history
Balnakeil is remarkably old: as early as the eighth century, it’s said, a first church here helped drive the conversion of the pagans – “Keil” comes from “Cille” and means a church. Balnakeil is then first mentioned in writing in the mid-13th century, and it’s even thought a monastery once stood here.
The “Tigh Mor” – the “great house” – also looks back on a long history. It has stood since the 16th century and was completed in its current form in 1744. It presumably replaced the monastery that had previously stood on this spot.
Personal note: Romping in the dunes
We didn’t walk the whole way to Faraid Head, but we did wander off to the side into the dunes with their spiky grass. You’ll find plenty of rabbit tracks and burrows here. And up on the dunes you get a wonderful view of the beach and the church.
Getting there:
For your sat nav: Entering “IV27 4PT” will guide you all the way to the Balnakeil Crafts Village. From there you can continue along the road to the old village.
Without sat nav: The only major road nearby is the A838. It runs through Durness whether you’re coming from the west or the east. Coming from Thurso, you’ll first pass a Spar shop and a small petrol station before the road bends. At this bend a road branches off to the right, and Balnakeil is already signposted here.
Coming from Ullapool and the Kyle of Durness, a house marked “MacKays Rooms” appears on the right shortly before the bend in the road. Balnakeil is signposted here too, and you turn left.
Follow the road all the way to the end and you’ll reach the cemetery, where you can park.
