Travel writing about the north coast tends towards the sublime. This piece is about lavatories, because the single most common enquiry received by information points along the route is not about restaurants, castles or whisky. It is this. And the gap between what visitors need and what exists is precisely the gap that ends up in the dunes.
Provision has thinned considerably. Councils have closed blocks or handed them to community trusts, opening hours are shorter than they were, and several are seasonal. Nearly all now charge — typically 40p, by card at the newer ones, which is worth knowing before you arrive with nothing but a phone and optimism.
Check locally before relying on any of these. Seasonal closures move. The list below reflects the position at the end of this summer.
The nine
- Durness — village centre, near the shops. Open year round. Charge. The best-maintained on this list by a distance, and the community trust that runs it deserves the mention.
- Balnakeil — at the craft village. Seasonal, roughly Easter to October. Free. Small.
- Bettyhill — beside the visitor centre. Open year round, reduced hours in winter.
- Tongue — near the causeway car park. Seasonal. Charge. Baby change.
- Melvich — at the layby. Seasonal, and the one most often found locked when it should not be.
- Thurso — riverside and town centre. Open year round. Charge. Also the last large supermarket for a considerable distance in one direction.
- John o’ Groats — at the harbour development. Open year round. Charge. Busiest on the list, and it shows by four in the afternoon.
- Wick — riverside car park. Open year round.
- Helmsdale — beside the bridge. Seasonal. Free, and there is a working hand dryer, which by the standards of this article is a spa.
Gaps worth planning around
- Durness to Ullapool via the west coast: long stretches with nothing. Go before you leave.
- Applecross and the Bealach na Bà: facilities at the far end, none on the pass.
- Overnight: laybys are not campsites. Chemical waste points exist at proper sites and are cheap.
- Card only at several of the newer blocks. Keep coins anyway.
Why this is a travel article
Because the fastest-growing segment of visitors to this coast arrives in a van, stays outside the paid network and, in a meaningful number of cases, leaves behind exactly what you would expect when nine facilities serve a route of several hundred miles in peak season.
Community groups have asked for a modest levy to fund more blocks and more emptying. It has been recommended in reports. The reports are in a queue.
“People are not being disgusting on purpose. Most of them are being desperate. Nine is not enough and everybody in this council knows it is not enough.”
A community council secretary in north Sutherland
Until that changes, plan the route around this list. It is not a glamorous way to see the north coast, but it is the difference between being a visitor and being the reason somebody puts up another sign.
