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Driving west along the A838 from Tongue towards Durness there is a hill and a series of bends up through the moorland from Hope. After the top of the hill the road begins its descent towards Loch Eriboll and the view up the loch opens out in spectacular fashion. Down the hill there is a perfectly situated layby from which to take it all in and this is among the finest viewpoints on a main road in the Highlands. In the foreground is the peninsula of Ard Neakie joined to the mainland by a thin isthmus of cobbles and boulders, with its old ferry house, pier and lime kilns. Beyond, the loch stretches south east for around 5km. It's flanked to the west by the corbetts of Beinn Spionnaidh and Cranstackie, here capped with a touch of cloud. 

The great ridges of Foinaven rise above the low foreground hills to dominate the southern end of the loch (though there will be many days when the passer by will be unaware of the hills very presence as it does tend to attract the cloud). Along the east side the road makes its tortuous path southwards with many ups, downs and bends before it reaches the head of the loch and returns all the way back north through Laid towards Durness. Incidentally Ard Neakie and the ferry house apeared on an episode of the BBC's Sea of Souls a few years ago so might just be familiar even if you haven't ventured this way. According to Undiscovered Scotland  the Heilam ferry crossed Loch Eriboll from Portnancon in the west to Ard Neakie in the east until the road round the Loch was completed in the 1890's. 

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