Wonderful Westray Walks – Westray Heritage Centre, Noltland Links and Loop Walk, Noltland Castle, Noup Head Loop

It was another rainy morning in Kirkwall and I decided on taking an afternoon ferry instead of waking early for a morning boat. I enjoyed my cozy airbnb until check out time, and then I spent some time at the Orkney Library which was founded in 1683 and is one of the oldest public libraries in Scotland. I then shopped for groceries for my three day stay on Westray before heading to the ferry terminal for the 85 minute journey. Here is a photo looking back towards Kirkwall,

and here is a photo some time later as we passed by Egilsay (you can just make out the tower of St Magnus Church), with the heather-covered hills of the island of Rousay behind.

It was a fun crossing, with good conversations with fellow travellers and a nice rolling sea. A local bus service dropped me off at my accommodation, The Barn Hostel, which is located on the seafront at the edge of Westray’s main town of Pierowall. The town curves all along the edge of a large shallow bay. This is the view from opposite the hostel!

Rain was threatening, and I wanted to do the Noltland Links loop hike before it started so I headed out straight away after dropping off my backpack and groceries. I walked into town and made a brief stop at the Westray Heritage Centre. Outside, there was a skeleton of a sperm whale, and an example of a boat noust – a fence of stones arranged above the beaches to store and protect boats. There are examples of old nousts, some dating from Viking times, all over Westray and the other Orkney islands.

I spent a brief amount of time inside the small but informative centre, intending to visit again another day but sadly I never found the time. I did look at the Westray Wife, a tiny stone figurine, only 4cm high, carved over 5,000 years ago, which is the oldest known representation of the human form ever to be found in Scotland (unfortunately my photo is poorly lit). I also viewed the Westray Stone which was found at Pierowall village. The beautiful spiral and lozenge design is similar to that of carved stones found at Newgrange and other tombs in the Boyne valley in Ireland, suggesting interconnections between the two areas more than four thousand years ago.

Back outside, I walked along Pierowall’s waterfront road and stopped at the ruins of the Lady Kirk, a 13th century church with later modifications made in the 17th century.

I continued along, past the far end of Pierowall Bay and then took a road that cut northwest across the island. I was walking straight into the wind and of course rain started to fall. I pushed my way through the wind and the wet with the help of my umbrella and seriously considered turning around and returning to my warm hostel, but I carried on and was soon very glad that I did. The rain squall didn’t last long and it was over by the time I reached Rack Wick Bay, with its long curve of steep stony beach where islanders used to gather seaweed. Here is a view looking north, and I considered adding to my hike by walking to the far headland to visit Quoygrew, the remains of a 10th century Viking settlement that included a long house, dwelling houses, farm fields, and a fishing station.

Deciding against a longer walk, I turned south for this view, zoomed in, looking towards Noup Head in the far distance, its lighthouse just barely visible in the photo.

Just behind me, at the top of the steep beach there were examples of nousts, and to the southwest was a clear track leading across a lovely expanse of turf covered in small flowers including many buttercups and my first sighting of the very pretty little flower called eye bright.

The air was fresh and invigorating and I felt good as I walked along by the sea. The end of the bay was marked by sandstone rock formations lined with bright sea pinks. I had read that fossils can be found here.

After exploring the rocks, I continued along on the grassy machair and could see dunes in the distance as I approached the beaches at Grobust.

At the start of the dunes was a bench, well-placed for the view, but it was too cold and windy to sit! I continued along on the narrow trail that angled across the dune,

to the first of two beautiful white shell beaches and a turquoise sea.

Here is the second beach, looking back to the far headland,

and looking directly out to sea.

On one section of beach there were deep mounds of seaweed at the high tide line. Nearby there are a series of low drystone walls known as tangle dykes. Until recently, great amounts of kelp were harvested during the winters and left to dry on the walls before being sent away for processing.

Also nearby are the hidden remains of the Links of Noltland, a very well-preserved Neolithic farming settlement dating from 3300 BC to 800 BC. Excavations here revealed at least a dozen dwellings and many artefacts including the Westray Wife. Orkney’s largest Bronze Age settlement has also been discovered here. The excavations have been halted for several years, and the sites reburied in sand for protection, but they are set to resume soon as the ancient settlements are threatened by coastal erosion, as are many important archaeological sites in Orkney.

I continued around to the end of the bay to locate the Knowe of Queen o’ Howe broch which was a rather nondescript grassy mound topped with fallen stones, but the walk there was lovely with swathes of bright yellow birds foot trefoil, tiny daisies, and white clover in the grass.

Then it was up a long farm track, and then down a road toward Noltland Castle, with views of fields, low hills, and a loch. There were many blackbirds and sparrows on the fences, and nesting curlews and oyster catchers in the fields. And, I was very lucky to see a pair of lapwings!

Noltland Castle is huge and imposing with walls more than two metres thick, 71 gun holes, and few windows. It was built between 1560 and 1574 for Gilbert Balfour but never fully completed.

I was the only one there in the rather dark and gloomy castle, though some areas including the magnificent spiral stairscase were lit by motion detector lights. It was a bit of a creepy castle to be honest with sudden and unexpected rustlings, flappings, and noisy complaints as I disturbed pigeons and crows from their nests.

Perhaps my feelings regarding the castle were coloured by the character of the man who had it built. Disliked by the local population, Gilbert Balfour, Sheriff of Orkney and Master of the Household for Mary Queen of Scots, was implicated in the murder of Mary’s husband, Henry Lord Darnley and in an earlier murder of a Cardinal at St. Andrews. He was eventually executed in Stockholm for participating in a plot against King John III of Sweden!

The second story of the castle, open to the sky, with its Great Hall and various chambers was less spooky, though my heart did beat a little fast again when I climbed a thin, narrow, and very much eroded sandstone staircase to the fourth floor to look way down into the Lord’s Chamber and out to the surrounding countryside.

Back at the hostel I relaxed in their large and comfortable lounge and retired early, ready for the next day’s walk of about thirteen kilometres of walking from town and then on the Noup Head Loop. The first three kilometres led me back past the castle and on single lane roads past farms to the trailhead here, where the path led straight to the sea.

Looking south, the coastal trail follows the cliff tops for about five kilometres to East Kirbest,

but I was headed north towards Noup Head with its cliffs, seabird colonies, and lighthouse.

I passed the first of several small sea stacks,

and then a second, seen when looking back.

Fulmars were the first nesting birds that I encountered,

and each time I neared any nesting area fulmars sailed close past me as a warning to stay away.

It was wonderful coastal walking, with calmer winds today and just sprinkles of rain. I was blissfully all alone except for the company of some sheep, some very timid hop-away fast rabbits, and one Arctic tern who flew directly above me to chase me away from a nearby nest.

But the real draw on this walk were the nesting seabirds on the cliffs,

and the beautiful gannets soaring over the sea below me, their long wings outstretched.

The guillemots, black and white, were aligned on narrow shelves with their backs to the wind to protect their precious eggs.

These gannets were busy preening while sitting on nests made of seaweed and guana,

while this gannet flew in with more material for its nest.

I loved watching the gannets soar – the one on the left below is a youngster whose plumage has not quite finished turning white.

Sadly, my zoom lens is not a very powerful one but I am quite happy with this photo of a large black backed gull who soared past rather nonchalantly!

I watched the birds for a long time and then finally made my way to the lighthouse. From there it was an easy walk along a track that led me back to the roads and on to Pierowall.

The reward for my efforts was of course the walk itself and the glorious birds, but my day ended with a few more pleasures – the sighting of a seal on the beach in front of the hostel, a fish and chip dinner, and then this sunset at around nine p.m.,

that went on and on and eventually morphed into this blazing sky by about eleven p.m.!

It was definitely wonderful walking on Westray!