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UpToWhere · Can you see it?

Can you see the Mull of Kintyre, Scotland from Torr Head, Northern Ireland?

Yes — you can

21.5 km line of sight toward the northeast (bearing 55°), computed on 30 m Copernicus terrain with Earth curvature and standard atmospheric refraction.

The narrowest gap between Ireland and Scotland is barely 20 km of sea. From Torr Head, Scotland isn't a distant rumour — it's the view from the parking spot.

3D terrain view from Torr Head, Northern Ireland toward the Mull of Kintyre, Scotland
Straight-line distance21.5 km
Direction55° northeast
Observer eye level63 m
Target elevation403 m
Curvature drop at the target31 m
Clearance margin+16 m

From Torr Head, Northern Ireland, at an eye level of 63 m, the sightline to the Mull of Kintyre, Scotland runs 21.5 km and clears every ridge in between. Over that distance Earth's curvature drops the target 31 m below a flat-earth line — but at 403 m, it still rises above the horizon. The view is geometrically real: whether you actually get it depends on haze, not terrain. The tightest squeeze is mid-path, where the sightline passes just 16 m above the terrain at km 21.4.

The line on the map

Satellite map with the sightline from Torr Head, Northern Ireland to the Mull of Kintyre, Scotland drawn in red
The 21.5 km sightline over satellite imagery, drawn as the great-circle path light would follow.

The terrain profile

-0 m200 m400 m sightlineTorr Headthe Mull of Kintyre 0 km21.5 km51015
Elevation profile from Torr Head, Northern Ireland to the Mull of Kintyre, Scotland. Like every elevation profile, the vertical axis is stretched (≈15× here) — but the geometry is real: mid-path, Earth's surface genuinely stands 9 m above the straight line between the two points (the dashed arc is sea level). Light bends only slightly around that bulge, so whatever it covers stays hidden.
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Frequently asked questions

Can you see the Mull of Kintyre, Scotland from Torr Head, Northern Ireland?

Yes. The terrain-limited line of sight is clear across 21.5 km, accounting for Earth's curvature and standard atmospheric refraction. Atmospheric haze is the only thing that can hide the view.

How far is the Mull of Kintyre, Scotland from Torr Head, Northern Ireland in a straight line?

21.5 km great-circle distance, on a bearing of 55° (northeast).

How much does Earth's curvature hide over 21.5 km?

At the target's distance the curvature drop is about 31 m: anything lower than that (relative to the observer's horizon plane) is hidden behind the bulge of the Earth. The Mull of Kintyre, Scotland is tall enough to rise above it.

How was this calculated?

UpToWhere walks the full terrain profile between the two points on 30 m-resolution Copernicus GLO-30 elevation data, applying Earth curvature and standard atmospheric refraction (k = 0.13) — the same physics surveyors use. You can run the same point-to-point check between any two places on Earth.

More famous sightlines

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