Island hopping in Scotland

Today is going to be a long day.

Up early doors to get in the car and drive up to John O’Groats at the north-eastern tip of the UK mainland. This was a three hour drive from where we are staying. Once we were north of Inverness the drive became pretty interesting as we followed the coast up around the Cromarty and Dornoch Firths and the North Sea. These roads are typical Scottish roads, only 1 and a half lanes, exposed to wind and tracking up and down mountains. Good fun. We did come across an Otter crossing and a few Deer crossings, but sadly no wildlife was

spotted.

Once in John O’Groats, funnily named after a Dutchman who ran the ferry to the Orkney Islands in the 1500’s, we refuelled on coffee and jumped on the ferry to Burwick. Burwick is literally a wharf with a church. We found the correct bus and started our tour of the Islands.

The Orkney Islands comprise 70 islands, 21 of which are inhabited. They were part of Norway until about 1420 when they were given to Scotland. They are home to 22,000 people, 80,000 cows and 120,000 sheep. There are also no trees on the islands as it is too windy. There are gale force winds, over 70 miles an hour, on average once every 13 days! All of the islands were independent of one another until the 1940’s when Winston Churchill ordered causeways built to help the Army, Navy and Airforce get around the islands and to also stop German U Boats getting into Scapa Flow, the harbour that was the UK’s Naval base.

Our first stop was Kirkwall, the capital. This is on mainland Orkney, home to about 10,000 people and has the UK’s northern most distillery, Highland Park. After wandering around the main street and visiting St Magnus Cathedral (which had a lot of graves with a skull and cross bones on them) it was back on the bus. We drove around Scapa Flow, the second largest natural harbour in the world after

Sydney, to Skara Brae, a stone-built Neolithic settlement from 3,100 BC, and Skaill House, the first mansion in the Orkneys. Skara Brae is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and was uncovered when a massive storm decimated the sand dunes in 1850. After a quick trip around both it was back on the bus and off to the Standing Stones of Stenness. Think Stonehenge, but a little shitter……it is about 1,000 years older though.

Back on the bus and we drove past an active archaeological dig in someone’s back yard and some more standing stones before arriving back in Kirkwall where we were told a story about why there are no longer any chickens on the Orkneys. After WWII there was a huge chicken farming operation helping to feed the UK public during rationing. However one night during a storm, 250,000 chickens were blown out to sea, some as far away as Norway. As such, no more chickens on the Islands. After our last stop at the Italian Chapel, built by WWII prisoners of war, it was back to Burwick to get the ferry.

The Pentland Firth separates Scotland and the Orkney Islands. This is in-between the North Sea and the Atlantic. As such, the water can move at a rate of up to 12 miles an hour when the tide is changing. The tide was changing on the way back and along with the wind that had been blowing all day, it made for a very entertaining 50 minute crossing with a lot of green faced passengers. It was a lot of fun!

After stopping for fish and chips for dinner in Golspie, we made our way back to Nairn and to bed for the night.