Spectacular Old Man of Hoy

THE Old Man of Hoy, in Orkney, is a spectacular sight. This vertical pillar, rising from the sea, 60m out from a sheer cliff-face, is 137 metres high and about 30m thick.

Its size is hard to take in. Dublin’s Millennium Spire, for comparison, rises to 121m and Cork’s Elysian tower reaches 71m. Layered and fissured, with great cracks opening here and there, the Old Man is anchored to a watery plinth of black basalt, the product of a primeval volcanic eruption. He is topped by a grassy patch in which puffins nest, although on a recent visit, I didn’t see any.

’Old man’ may be a synonym for ‘phallus’, as with the ‘Rude man of Cerne’ in Dorset.