Welcome to the Orkney Island special! The Orkney Isles are a group of isles just off the northeast coast of Scotland’s mainland. The foot passenger ferry from John O’Groats takes just 45 minutes and the car ferry from Scrabster takes just 90 minutes. The main island of Orkney is a small island. From the main town of Kirkwall you can reach pretty much anywhere on the island in a maximum of 40 minutes. The island is very green, has hardly any trees and so many cows and sheep!
When I arrived from the ferry I went straight to my accommodation and pretty much crashed out. I was sitting in bed, attempting to add photos to my previous blog post and noticed that it was 11pm and still daylight! Wow!
On Wednesday I headed out to explore. First up I went to the Standing Stones of Stenness. They used to be 12 stones in a ring and now only 6 left standing. Kind of like Stonehenge but much smaller.
Next up I continued on to Skara Brae, an underground village that has been excavated. Unfortunately I arrived just after a tour bus full of people so it took quite a while to visit as we had to maintain 2m distance at all times. It was really interesting, how everything is all interconnected, and they have rooms for everything.
Next I went to Kirkwall to have a look around the town. St Magnus Cathedral is the centrepoint of town, a huge old cathedral. I also saw some lovely old buildings.
After a quick stop to collect my telephoto lens from my room, I headed northwest to the Brough of Birsay. This is an island just off the coast that you can get to at low tide and is supposed to be home to some puffins. I thought I would check it out during the afternoon and if needed, go back at night during low tide to cross over.
On the way back to my accommodation, I stopped at the Ring of Brodgar. Another stone circle, this one with a huge diameter. A lap around and the thick sea fog started rolling back in so I headed back to my room.
I decided to go out for dinner to have some local food. I went to the Kirkwall Hotel and had some hand-picked local Orkney scallops, followed by some Orkney beef sirloin and veg. And a glass of Orkney Johnsmas gin to wash it down. Delicious!
Then I headed back to the Brough of Birsay to cross the water and try to find some puffins. It was so unbelievably windy! I made sure to stay a bit back from the edge as I was concerned I would be blown over, that’s how strong it was! Unfortunately I did not find any puffins so that was a bummer. My hosts at the guesthouse said I would have better luck in the Shetland Islands.
Oh and on the way back to my accommodation, I found some harry coos (Highland cows). They are so cute and fluffy!
This morning I started with a trip to Newark Beach. It is a lovely beach and the erosion of the cliffs has caused a medieval graveyard to become exposed. My guesthouse hosts told me you can see human bones so naturally I was curious!
Next I continued east to The Gloup. It is a collapsed sea cave and it is incredible. Huge, deep and dangerous. It was extremely foggy and windy so I didn’t stay long there.
Afterwards I decided it was time to head down to the bottom of the island via the Churchill Barriers. These big concrete barriers divide and protect the islands. There are some cool shipwrecks on the way too.
Then I continued to Skerries Bistro for lunch. They have local lobster on the menu so I had a lobster salad and Orkney fudge cheesecake. They were delicious! The lobster is caught just in the ocean in front of the restaurant!
After a stop in Kirkwall I headed to the north and went to Evie Beach to the Broch of Gurness. It is the ruins of a round tower and surrounding buildings.
Now I am sitting in Kirkwall by a park and beach, waiting to go to the ferry terminal. Tonight I am taking the ferry to the Shetland Islands. It is a long trip, about 8hrs (11.45pm-7.30am). I have selected to have an inner cabin so I will at least get a bed to sleep in. Looking forward to exploring the Shetlands for 2 days before I have to go back home to normal life. I’ll do a separate post for the Shetland Islands so keep an eye out early next week for that one!