Torr Head is the closest the Irish mainland comes to Scotland: on a clear day the Mull of Kintyre sits just across the Straits of Moyle, close enough to make out fields. The headland itself is a low, blunt promontory, about 67 metres up, crowned by the roofless stone shell of a 19th-century coastguard station and ringed by big sea views, with Rathlin Island offshore, the Antrim coast running south, and Scotland dead ahead.
The catch is the road. Getting there is half the point and half the problem.
The drive, and the warning
The Torr Head Scenic Route is a 21.7 km (12.5 mile) loop off the main Causeway Coastal Route, and it’s narrow, steep and full of blind bends. Coaches, caravans and most campervans have no business on it. Start from either Ballycastle or Cushendun and follow the brown ‘Torr Head Scenic Route’ signs; allow about an hour and a half if you’re stopping at the headland itself. Sea mist can drop visibility to nothing, so check the forecast before you commit, and take the bends slowly. The reward is some of the best coastal driving in the north.
At the headland
The summit car park is free but tiny, a dozen cars or so, and it fills on any sunny weekend, so come early or off-season. From there a short path drops to the viewpoint and the ruins; it’s steep and uneven, so wear something sturdier than trainers. On a good day the effort is repaid the moment the Scottish coast comes into view.
History
Torr Head has watched the sea traffic of the North Channel for a long time. Lloyd’s of London put a signal station on the summit in 1822 to log passing transatlantic ships and relay word of their arrival; the coastguard quarters whose circular ruins still stand came later, and were burned out after a raid in 1920.
The headland also has a foot in the history of radio. In the summer of 1898, Guglielmo Marconi and his assistant George Kemp were working this corner of Antrim, sending wireless signals between Ballycastle and Rathlin Island in some of the earliest practical demonstrations that radio could carry across open water.
Further back, there are traces of a sixth-century ringfort, Dún Bharraigh, which local tradition ties to Barach of the Deirdre saga.
The landscape
The cliffs here cut through metamorphosed limestone and older Dalradian rock, laid down in a shallow sea some 600 million years ago and later shot through with volcanic basalt, the same broad geology that links this coast to Scotland’s. The cliffs are busy with seabirds, gulls loudest among them.
Practical information
- Getting there: a car is essential; there’s no public transport to the headland. Turn off onto the signed scenic route and park at the summit.
- Facilities: none on site, so no toilets and no café. Bring what you need and use Ballycastle before or after.
- Underfoot: the path to the viewpoint is steep and uneven, with no wheelchair-accessible route.
- Dogs: welcome under close control, especially in spring and summer when seabirds are nesting on the cliffs.
Making a day of it
Torr Head sits naturally on a loop with Murlough Bay and the flat-topped cliffs of Fair Head, both on the same web of small roads. Walkers can pick up the Ulster Way, which passes about 1 km south-west of the headland. For photographs, early morning or late afternoon gives the low light that models the cliffs and the sea foam, and a clear evening is your best shot at picking out Kintyre across the water.