I must have sailed past Duart Castle a hundred times, maybe even two hundred, before I first anchored by the small stone jetty under the cliff. It is worth a stop, not for the tearoom or the shop which are a bit dull, but for the view from what is known as the Sea Room which Fitzroy Maclean built on to the side of the keep after he bought the castle as a ruin in 1910, and then restored it. Sit on cushions covering a wide window-seat and look north up Loch Linnhe to a great panorama of mountains, including Ben Nevis. The foreground stretches from Morvern to Lismore.
In 1549 the castle was described by Dean Monro as 'A strenthey place, bigged on a craige at the sea syde' (A Description of the Western Isles of Scotland called Hybrides. Sir Donald Monro who travelled through many of them in 1549, first published 1774, Birlinn, Edinburgh, 1994). The restored castle, which is still owned by the MacLeans, although like so many castles round here was built by the MacDougalls in the 13th century, is certainly domestic in feel if a bit run down in the public areas, even though it was clearly once a substantial fortress. The photographs of what it was like before the restoration make one wonder whether similar ruins could today be made to look as good, or would the preservationists prefer ivy-covered crumbling walls like Aros castle? Whatever, Duart is a great success as it stands on its point, Saltire flying in the wind, well known to all west coast sailors as they take the tide in or out of the Sound of Mull. It is particularly wonderful on a dark and stormy night with a single lighted window. One can imagine vampire bats flying in and out, perhaps Dracula himself.
