John O Groats Highland Tours, Scotland from Puffin Express

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JOHN O'GROATS TOUR
(ORKNEY) (Castle of Mey)
Nor'West Tours

Puffin and Seal images above courtesy of Michael Macgregor Photography

Short summary:

Highland wildlife, including puffin; deer; seals - see above - and dramatic domestic animals;

Dramatic coastal scenery;

Prehistoric sites;

Live commentary, small group, superior minicoach

Viking history, World War history, and much more;

Continue to Orkney with one of our our Orkney Adventure or Orkney Overnighter trips - you don't even need to book - take an overnight bag with you and decide even while you're on the JoG tour!

Days & dates of operation in 2010:

Thursdays 25 March through 28 October

Sundays 4 April and 2 May through 16 October

Available as a private tour any day of the year - please click here for further information

To check availability or book, click here; for detailed tour description click here

John O Groats Highland Tours, Scotland from Puffin Express

Click on thumbnail, above, for a more detailed map of this and other itineraries. The light blue line - JOG - is the John o'Groats itinerary

Main departure time & point: 0915 from Castle Wynd, Inverness; returns c. 2000hrs (8 pm)

Lunch is normally at a beautiful harbour on the south coast of Caithness where you may picnic or have a pub lunch.

Book APPLECROSS and JOHN O'GROATS trips at the same time for just £ 50 - a saving of £ 6! These two full-day tours visit contrasting areas and are complementary. On our JoG trip the striking scenery is coastal, with magnificent cliffs and coastal rock stacks. In Applecross and Wester Ross it's the soaring hills that draw one's eye.

*Bookings must be made in advance, through the web, to get discount*

PUFFIN seen from late April till late July/early August

SEALS seen on all trips

DEER seen on nearly all trips

Our telescopes pull the wildlife close to you

Two 1-hour periods walking or sitting by coast and cliffs and many shorter outings

STONE AGE antiquities - no admission fees

Wild moorland, mountain and coastal scenery

Learn about the Highland Clearances, Viking history, and much more

Do as a day trip OR combine with one of our Orkney trips

Route follows many roads not used by, or inaccessible to, the large coaches

Picture above shows cliff scenery near John o'Groats; near the horizon you can see Muckle Skerry, one of Orkney's uninhabited islands.
This is not an aerial shot - you can get the same photo!

on this John o'Groats tour that we can virtually guarantee you photo opportunities of these shaggy beasts.

On most Nor'West Tours we see Highland cattle but it's on this John o'Groats tour that we can virtually guarantee you photo opportunities of these shaggy beasts.
There's also a New Zealand site with pictures of the different types of Highlanders, black and pale examples as well as the better-known reddish-blonde ones.

Time spent outside the vehicle can be broken down approximately as follows:
- 10-30 minutes at seals;
- 10-20 minutes with deer;
- up to an hour at our harbour lunch stop, divided as you please between picnicking and exploring the rock scenery;
- 10-45 minutes at prehistoric sites (more time in March, April, August-October; a shorter stop May-July);
- an hour at our main cliff visit with some of the finest rock scenery in Europe - during May, June and July when we're looking for puffin we may increase this time to 75 minutes;
plus many shorter stops to look and, if so desired, to photograph - sometimes, for example, we run into our old friends Ellie and Jack, who enjoy a little variation in their diet - "An apple a day is better than hay" is an old equine proverb:

Photo courtesy of 2009 client Beowulf "Wulfie" Mayfield The tour....
We leave Inverness northwards by the A9. In the Cromarty Firth, depending on tide conditions, we may see our first seals. Beyond the Dornoch Firth we pass by the estate of Andrew Carnegie into Sutherland.
In one of the Sutherland coastal villages we stop for a drink, toilets.
On a hill above Golspie is an astonishing statue, 27m (90') high. This is of the First Duke of Sutherland, whose agents were involved in the most notorious of the Clearances in the Highlands in the 19th century. Another half-hour brings us to the wilds of southern Caithness. Here we'll be watching out for red deer, the "Monarch of the Glen". In the evenings these are sometimes close to the roadside, even in the morning we can usually find a few though they may be some hundreds of yards away.

Caithness grew rich with the development of the herring fishing in the 19th century. This resulted in the creation of many exceptionally beautiful harbours in the county and we stop at one of these for lunch. If the weather isn't suitable for a picnic, we stop at a harbour café or pub . Either way you have up to an hour to eat and explore some of the rocky coastline.

In May, June and July we spend more time at the cliffs. On all trips we visit at least one prehistoric site (and point out many more): either a broch; the Hill o' Many Stanes; Camster (below); or the stone 'circle' - actually more a horseshoe - of Achavanich. In the March/April and August-October periods we usually have more time to spend at prehistoric sites. Another picture here of the broch.
The guide usually picks whichever feature fits in best with the day's timing and other variables - eg weather! - but if there is a particular prehistoric feature you want to see, let us know when booking. March/April and August-October we usually spend time at a prehistoric site such as the GREY CAIRNS of CAMSTER

Built by stone-age man 5,000 years ago to honour his dead, the Grey Cairns of Camster are the most important passage graves on the mainland of Britain - only Newgrange in Ireland and Maeshowe in Orkney are more important, and Camster has the advantage of being a wild site with no habitations visible; also it's FREE! Three tunnels give access to three different burial chambers.
Photo by kind courtesy of client KAREN PATTON

Beyond Camster we pass the birthplace and memorial of Alexander Bain, inventor (in 1843) of the facsimile machine.
Between John o'Groats and Wick we stop at one of a number of cliffs. Here, from late April to late July, we nearly always find PUFFIN. This visit usually includes views of spectacular cliff and rock scenery, especially the STACKS OF DUNCANSBY.

If you prefer to forego the cliff visit you may visit the Castle of Mey instead
- click here for details of this optional outing.

Another look for seals near John o' Groats before turning south. At John o'Groats or nearby you leave the tour if continung to Orkney on one of our Orkney Adventure or Orkney Overnighter trips. (Passengers must do whole JoG trip to have most chance of seeing both deer & seals - though we do often see both on the north run.)

Part of the return route is usally different from the north trip. During this return journey, we tell you about a battle near Dornoch between Viking and Pict and the dead Pict's terrible revenge.

If time permits on the way back we leave the A9 and go by the wild isolation of Loch Buidhe, where, till late July, we can expect to see osprey.

In this itinerary, we mention only a few of the more obvious creatures observed. For a full list of birds & mammals observed, click here: CHECKLIST

This tour has strong links with 3 Commonwealth Prime Ministers: Sir John A Macdonald and John G Diefenbaker of Canada and Peter Fraser of New Zealand. Other more or less well-known people who have associations with this itinerary include the writers Neil Gunn, Robert Louis Stevenson and Harriet Beecher Stowe and the actress Aline Mowat - yes, you've probably seen her in something, even if you don't recognise the name!

One-way fares: We are sometimes asked, by people planning to spend some time in Caithness or continuing to Orkney, about the one-way fare to John o'Groats. We don't make any reduction for one-way journeys - nearly all the tour features are done on the way north and we have little chance of selling a one-way seat south - but, if you want a northward-only trip, we will pick you up, with your luggage, from accommodations in Inverness at no extra charge.

Fares; Availability; How to Book Fares:

Adult £ 31

Child aged 6-16 at time of trip - £ 10 in periods 22 March-5 June inclusive and all of October - click here for more information. (Sorry, no children 5 years or under.) To check availability or book, click on appropriate month below:

How far in advance should I book?
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