THE SIX POINTS TOUR

The six-points tour covers the six key points of the mainland of Great Britain.

We visited all six of these in 2022 and 2023, three in each year.  In 2022 we visited John O'Groats, Dunnet Head and Ardnamurchan Point, while in 2023 we visited Ness Point, Land's End and Lizard Point.

 

• 
  John O'Groats 58.6373° N, 3.0689° W. This lies on Great Britain's northeastern tip, and is popular with tourists as one end of the longest distance between two inhabited points on the British mainland, with Land's End in Cornwall lying 876 miles southwest, but it is not the northernmost point of mainland Great Britain, which is the nearby Dunnet Head.  Although we visited in May, it was a great deal colder than we thought - we all wrapped up well! 
  
  We visited on 25th May 2022.  (Also see blog entry for Altnaharra.)
  

 

• 
  Land's End.  50.0657° N, 5.7132° W.  This is a headland and tourist and holiday complex in western Cornwall, England.  It is the most westerly point of mainland England, but not the westernmost point on mainland Great Britain.  That's Ardnamurchan Point in the Scottish Highlands. Land's End's claim to fame for us is that with John O'Groats it's at the other end of the longest distance between two inhabited places.  

We visited on 4th September 2023.
 
 

• 
  Furthest North, Dunnet Head.  58.669003° N, 3.371805° E.  Also known as Easter Head, is about 11 miles west-northwest of John o' Groats.  Although it is the northernmost point on the mainland, it's a long way south of the northernmost point of Scotland - see below.

We visited on 25th May 2022.    

(Also see blog entry for Altnaharra.)

 

 

• 
  Furthest West, Ardnamurchan Point.  56.7271° N, 6.2260° W  Well, strictly speaking the furthest West is Corrachadh Mòr (56.7157° N, 6.2271° W) but you can't get there with a greyhound so for us it doesn't count and anyway there's only a few metres in it!
  
  We visited on 24th September 2022. (Also see blog entry for Torlundy.)
  

• 
  Furthest East - Ness Point - Suffolk.  52.4833° N, 1.7639° E  Also known as Lowestoft
  Ness, is the most easterly point of England, Great Britain, the United Kingdom and the British Isles. It is located near Lowestoft, Suffolk.  This is the only one of our compass points that is not only furthest on the mainland, but is also furthest East in Great Britain and the United Kingdom.

We visited on 18th April 2023. (See also blog entry for Caster-on-Sea.)

 

• 
  Furthest South - Lizard Point.  49.9591°N 5.2151°W.  Lizard Point (from Cornish an Lysardh 'the high court') in Cornwall is at the southern tip of the Lizard Peninsula. It is situated half-a-mile south of Lizard village and about 11 miles southeast of Helston.  Lizard Point is the most southerly point on mainland Great Britain at 49° 57' 30" N. With the exception of parts of the Isles of Scilly, it is the southernmost part of England and the wider United Kingdom.  
  

We visited on 6th September 2023.

 

For completeness, here is the full list of the extremes of the UK: 

• Northernmost point – Out Stack, Shetland at 60°51′N 0°52′W
  
• Northernmost settlement – Skaw, Unst, Shetland Islands at 60°49′N 0°47′W (we've been there too, on 3rd September 2019, but not with a greyhound because we didn't have Tara then! Also see blog entry for Shetland 2019)
  
• Southernmost point – Pednathise Head, Western Rocks, Isles of Scilly at 49°51′N 6°24′W
• Southernmost settlement – St Agnes, Isles of Scilly at 49°53′N 6°20′W
• Westernmost point – Rockall at 57°35′N 13°41′W, which was only incorporated into Scotland in the 20th century. If Rockall is ignored, Soay, St Kilda, at 57.830°N 8.638°W is the westernmost point.
• Westernmost settlement – Belleek, County Fermanagh at 54°28′N 8°10′W. Until 1930, the westernmost settlement was Hirta, on the island of St Kilda, but it is now abandoned; the island now has a military base, staffed during the summer months.
• Easternmost point – Lowestoft Ness, Suffolk, at 52°29′N 1°46′E
• Easternmost settlement – Lowestoft, Suffolk, at 52°28′N 1°45′E