Dun Aird viewed from the cliffs to its north.
Beyond rises the sea stack, Stac Lachlainn, and behind it, across the blue waters of Kilmaluig Bay, are the mountains of Trotternish (Sgurr Mor on the right and the pointy Sron Vourlinn).
The gate that leads to Dun Aird.
Dun Aird imaged from just inside the gate in the clifftop fence.
The crag bearing Dun Aird seen from the clifftops.
The remains of the entrance passage up into Dun Aird.
The outer wall facing at Dun Aird.
This grassed over remnant of the walling course at Dun Aird is virtually all that now remains of its structure.
This is the view north from Dun Aird, over the northern part of Kilmaluig Bay.
This composite photograph illustrates the grassy, saucer-shaped interior of Dun Aird.
This is the view to the south from Dun Aird.
The sea stack, Stac Lachlainn dominates the foreground, with the Trotternish mountains beyond, across Kilmaluig Bay.
View from the south, featuring the splendid Stac Lachlainn. Dun Aird stands on the summit of the rise beyond the sea stack, at the left of the photograph.
Visited: April 29, 2018
Near the farthest northeast point of Skye’s Trotternish peninsula lies Kilmaluig Bay with its mighty Stac Lachlainn, a sea stac of truly immense proportions that towers above the clifftops. And immediately adjacent to the stac, to its northwest, is a small promontory on which stand the ruins of Skye’s northernmost fort, Dun Aird.
Like many if its ilk, little of the structure of Dun Aird has survived to the present day other than an obvious grassed bank to the west that is all that remains of its walls and a hint of facing stones on the approach to the crag from the gate in the fence. The interior is generally level and grassed over, sloping noticeably down towards the sea.
As with such eyries, the main pay-off comes with the views the dun affords, specially on a sunny day, when the shallow coastal waters of Kilmaluig Bay glisten with myriad hues. To the north the sea stretches off towards the North Pole, but the finest views are southward, towards Stac Lachlainn and the mountainous spine of the peninsula.
Access to the dun seems fraught by fences from all directions. There is certainly a coastal path skirting the bay, and though it is clearly well worn, it still requires the negotiation of at least three stout, gateless barbed wire fences. The other option is to take the metalled road up from the bay for a few hundred metres and then branch to the right past Aird House. This road ends at a gate that leads on to the moor. From here the dun and stac are due east, but again there are fences to negotiate (but no definite path to take – unless I missed it). Finally you arrive at the fence cordoning off the clifftops, which does, thankfully, offer an access gate immediately above the dun.
For the motorist, there is a car-park at Kilmaluig Bay.
