Clifftop Castles - Noss Head, Castle Sinclair Girnigoe and Ackergill

The distinctive headland of Noss Head is topped by a whitewashed lighthouse designed by Alan Stevenson (father of Robert Louis Stevenson). Nearby, puffins nest in burrows along the old red sandstone cliffs, while cliff tops are carpeted with wild flowers including alpine and marine scurvy grass, thrift, and the rare Primula scotica. A short track leads to Sandy Geo, a secluded crescent of golden sand.

On a rocky promontory high above Sinclair Bay stand Castle Sinclair and Castle Girnigoe, built in the late 15th century by William Sinclair, 2nd Earl of Caithness. The castles hold dark legends, including the imprisonment and starvation of John, Master of Caithness, in the bleak sea-facing dungeon.

Westwards from the castles, the path leads to Ackergill, a small village renowned for its seafaring pilots. Here stands Ackergill Tower, a gaunt 15th/16th-century tower house nearly 70 feet high with 10-foot-thick walls, used as headquarters by Oliver Cromwell's officers and reputed to be haunted by the ghost of Helen Gunn.

Acknowledgment: Text derived from the Out and Out Series; Discovering the Countryside on Foot. Pictures courtesy of Wikipedia.