[2][3][4] Cape Wrath was once the home of a series of small crofting communities, although by 1845 the only families remaining on the Parph were those of shepherds.

[3] A Lloyd's of London signal station was built close to the lighthouse at the end of the 19th century to track shipping around the Cape.

[12] On 27 September 1915, while sailing for Scapa Flow, HMS Caribbean, known as RMS Dunottar Castle before being requisitioned for wartime service, foundered off Cape Wrath in bad weather.

[14] The wreck was found in 2004, 35 mi (56 km; 30 nmi)[14] off Cape Wrath, in 96 metres (315 ft; 52 fathoms) of water and undisturbed except for fishing nets.

[4] Because its landscape is largely untouched by man, Cape Wrath has a wide diversity of wildlife, including red deer, hooded crow, rock pipit, golden eagle, cormorant and gannet.

[16] The cliffs around the cape are an internationally important nesting site for over 50000 seabirds, including colonies of puffin Fratercula arctica, razorbill Alca torda, guillemot Uria aalge, kittiwake Rissa tridactyla and fulmar Fulmarus glacialis.

[18] The cliff-top vegetation at sites such as Clò Mòr includes common scurvygrass Cochlearia officinalis and a wide range of habitats are present.

[19] Just offshore is Stac Clò Kearvaig, also known as "The Cathedral" due to the appearance of two spires and a natural window created by erosion.

Inland the landscape is primarily covered in peat and is often boggy with difficult terrain and a number of lochans, the largest of which, Loch Airigh na Beinne, is around 0.6 square kilometres (1⁄4 sq mi) in area.

[3] A complex of buildings close to the lighthouse were built by Lloyd's of London between 1894 and 1903 as a signal station to track shipping around the Cape.

[25][34] The cape was used for training exercises from the early years of the 20th century,[35] with the first by-laws established in 1933 to allow use of the area as a firing range.

[39] It is the only place in the Northern Hemisphere where NATO forces combine land, air and sea capabilities in assault mode for training manoeuvres, deploying ordnance up to 1,000-pound (450 kg) bombs.

[47] The plans were opposed by the Durness Development Group which cited concerns that historic buildings might be destroyed and that visitors may be unable to access cliff top paths.

[25] The group registered an interest in the land using community right to buy legislation and a petition opposing the sale attracted thousands of signatures.

[25][48] The cape is visited by between 2,000 and 6,000 tourists a year, attracted by the lack of settlements, plants, animals, cliffs, mountain backdrop and lighthouse.

The final 4 mi (6.5 km) leg of the race is run from the mainland side from the ferry dock and finishes at Durness Community Centre.

A rough road of around 11 mi (18 km) links the lighthouse with the Kyle of Durness which is crossed by a passenger ferry service operating between May and September.

[2] The road was built as part of the lighthouse construction in 1828 and, in places, uses a series of rock causeways to cross peat bogs and revetments to maintain a route along steep slopes.

[52] The road is marked with milestones and crosses the Allt na Guaille and Kearvaig River on contemporary arched bridges.

[52][53][54] The original slipway on the Kyle of Durness was built north of Daill with an associated storehouse similar to that at Clais Charnach.

[55][56] The road, the U70, passes the hamlet of Achiemore where a Ministry of Defence check-point blocks access to the cape during live firing exercises.