Aug 1, 2012 - Orkney and beyond

I feel like I am moving from strength to strengh...with Orkney delivering everything that was promised plus more. North Scotland has an aura which unfortunately I can't explain for those who haven't experienced it. It's like I am in awe of the majestic landscape around me and it connects with something deep inside me. Orkney is made up of 70 small islands with only 15 being inhabited (they call anything that can sustain a sheep an island). I based myself in Kirkwall and had been warned that it could possibly get cold and wet so I finally...

Mar 27, 2012 - Orkney a'Hoy

Our last full day in Orkney was mostly spent on the island of Hoy. Tuesday was another early start, we got some nice photos as the sun came up over Kirkwall. We drive twenty minutes to Houton to take the 8am ferry to Lyness on the island of Hoy (from the Norse word Haey, meaning High Island), via the island of Flotta. Cost of a return fare - £49 for the three of us, and the car. Flotta was a naval base in both world wars, and is now home to a large oil terminal for receiving North Sea oil. The trip took just under an hour. No café on board...

Mar 25, 2012 - Orkney with Margaret

More photos on Facebook - anyone can look at them by copy/paste this link https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151438787380707.824712.746395706&type=1&l=44138621a2 Sunday March 25th Daylight savings has kicked in. Just as well we had been told, otherwise we would have missed the bus to Inverness, and perhaps the ferry too. We had allowed plenty of time in Inverness in case the bus was late, and as it turned out it was just as well we did. Good prices for the tickets, £7 each. The trip normally takes 3½ hours, but when we changed at...

Jun 15, 2011 - Orkney Islands

Up early, breakfast and then a 15 minute drive to Scrabster where we catch the ferry to Stromness to Orkney Island. The ferry sticks very close to the other islands we pass on the way – particularly the island of Hoy with a coastline of cliffs and the single standing ‘old man of Hoy’. We berth and head off on a day drive around the island. We are most surprised. Expected the island to have a more dramatic coastline but what get is some of the most productive and lush farmland we have yet seen. The crops of silage are heavy and just ripe for...

Sep 24, 2006 - Day 2: Carbisdale Castle - Orkney

We travel north through the sparsely populated wilderness of Sutherland and Caithness, via glens left deserted as a result of the Highland Clearances, and on to John 'O' Groats, Britain's most north easterly point. We then catch the ferry to the Orkney Islands, home to more archaeological ruins in one area than anywhere else in Europe! We spend the night in the island's capital, Kirkwall. The Orkneys have only been a part of Scotland since 1490 and the islands still retain a very distinctive Scandinavian influence.