Wick: the last town before John o' Groats

In the far north of Scotland, Wick remains the departure point for John o' Groats, the village symbolizing the opposite extremity of Britain from Land's End.

A car remains useful for exploring the Caithness region.

The Castle of Old Wick, a Norman ruin on a cliff plunging into the sea, remains among Scotland's oldest coastal fortifications.

Just minutes away, the Wick Heritage Museum tells the history of the city as one of Europe's busiest herring fishing ports in the nineteenth century.

Moving northward you reach John o' Groats, the symbolic northernmost point of continental Great Britain, famous for journeys from Land's End.

In the evening, local whisky distilleries of Caithness offer tastings with views over the North Sea.

Wick was in the nineteenth century one of the world's busiest herring fishing ports, with hundreds of boats setting sail each season toward the North Sea fishing grounds.

The route between Land's End and John o' Groats, stretching over thirteen hundred kilometers, remains the United Kingdom's most celebrated travel challenge, walked, cycled, or driven by thousands of people each year.