Dunrobin Castle stands on the shore of the Moray Firth just north of Golspie, and it is one of the most surprising buildings in Scotland, a fairy-tale pile of turrets and pinnacles that looks more like a French château than a Highland fortress. The seat of the Earls and later Dukes of Sutherland, it began as a medieval keep and was rebuilt in the 1840s in the Scottish baronial style by Sir Charles Barry, the architect of the Houses of Parliament. There are around 189 rooms, formal gardens that descend toward the sea, and a falconry display in summer. The castle even has its own railway halt, though trains stop there only occasionally.
It is also a place with a darker history. The Sutherland family owned vast estates, and in the early nineteenth century they cleared thousands of tenants from the glens of the interior to make way for sheep, in one of the most notorious episodes of the Highland Clearances. People were moved to the coast or forced to emigrate, and the memory is bitter. On the hill above Golspie stands a tall monument to the first Duke, visible for miles, which has been the subject of repeated calls for its removal. It is worth knowing the story as you ride past.
As the end of a ride from Durness, along the north coast, it makes a good finish. The route comes down the east coast on the A9, a road of fast, flowing bends along the sea cliffs, with views over the North Sea, past Helmsdale and Brora, and the traffic can be heavy with caravans and lorries in summer. Golspie, a village of about fourteen hundred, has a few shops, a café and a few other services, but treat fuel as something to sort out in advance, and top up in Brora or Dornoch, or anywhere along the A9 when you see a pump.
The weather is changeable, with rain and sea mist at any time, though long summer evenings give wonderful light, and the sun does not set until late. Midges come out on still evenings. The castle opens from spring to autumn and closes in winter, so check the dates, and the gardens are a pleasant place for a quiet walk after a long day on the road.