The Old Man of Hoy.
At Thurso (which is Thor’s Town, another Norse landmark) we were in touch once more with the British railway and postal systems. The most prominent object on the mainland was the castle lately rebuilt by Sir J. G. Tollemache Sinclair—a cold-looking mansion, rendered more forbidding by the absence of trees. The town itself looked very picturesque, with its spires and chimneys breaking the coast-line, while the fields of golden grain that surrounded it bespoke fertility and prosperity. Other noteworthy features of the neighbourhood were Harold’s Tower, the Bishop’s Castle, and the bold bluffs of Dunnet Head, the most northerly point of the mainland. The northward view included the Orkney Islands, and Hoy Head, with the Old Man of Hoy at its base, which, at a later hour, and in the ‘witching time of night,’ stood out grandly in the moonlight.
‘The Old Man of Hoy
Looks out on the sea,
Where the tide runs strong, and the wave rides free:
He looks on the broad Atlantic sea,
And the Old Man of Hoy
Hath this great joy,
To hear the deep roar of the wide blue ocean,