Travel Tips

Travel to the Orkney Islands, Scotland by taking a virtual Orkney Tour with me, by picture:

So, you would like to take a virtual tour of the Orkney Islands, in the north of Scotland, UK? Lets look at what Orkney is like and some off the beaten path places that few others get to see. I have chosen these pictures and places to show you a richer and more varied tour of Orkney. These places are all free to enter, and not easy to find, hence so quiet. Orkney is also special for its clean air and light, whether the Aurora Borealis or the summer solstice, or just a beautiful stormy seascape.

If you like what you see, feel free to write to me for free travel advice, best places to stay on Orkney, how to get about and how much it costs to get to the Orkney Islands. This Orkney Travelogue is just a hint of what you can find here - there are also many artists and crafts people, who you can visit in their workshop or home. The bar at night is a great place to meet folk, sample the Orkney Beer and Highland Park Malt Whisky , and delight in the talent of local musicians.

I am also happy to advise on travel itineraries for Scotland, what you can see on the way north, in the Highlands of Scotland, and what can be avoided. Many have asked for my advice, and I am pleased to be able to help. Advice is honest and local, and I think can save money, allowing visitors to spend more wisely - so in the end you get more out of the vacation.

We visited Orkney many times before settling here to live, so hopefully we have the perspective of local and visitor combined. As we have discovered, Orkney is much more than just they popular archaelogical tourist attractions like Skara Brae (stone age village, older than the pyramids and stonehenge, complete with stone furniture) and Maes Howe (tomb or temple, or what, the mystery thickens but the Vikings were here thousands of years after it was built, leaving Runic inscriptions or graffiti)

In this picture you get a good feel of the landscape of central Orkney, at the Ring of Brodgar, in the midst of the World Heritage Site (includes Maes Howe, Stones of Stenness and Skara Brae).

The Ring of Brodgar is unusual for actually being a proper geometrical circle, originally with 60 standing stones. You can see how large they are as we walk past. Some have names scratched into the stone, not all recent - there are Viking Runes there too!

it is a giant ring which is very special. At present you can still visit the stones for free, and walk in and touch them. But this is unlikely to last, as visitor numbers increase (and being now a World Heritage Site it is getting better protection). If you should visit in reality, please be careful and respect the delicate local flora.

So, if you were disappointed by Stonehenge (which incidently is not as old as the Ring of Brodgar) because it is fenced off, very busy and a horrid tourist trap - come to Orkney and the stone circles of Brodgar and nearby Stenness. For now, 2005, you can still walk by the stones and touch them, and soak up the atmosphere of this unique site, the sky and surrounding lochs, without the intrusion of a visitor centre or fences. But hurry.

Kirbuster Farm Museum, Orkney Islands Heritage, is free and quite amazing. This farm is restored, to show the way of life has little changed over the centuries. It is really fascinating and the highlight for me is the real peat fire that is always burning - so you can just sit there on a straw Orkney Chair (local craft speciality) and dream of old times, fire side tales and tall stories.

The smoke from the fire escapes through a hole in the roof, beneath which the smaler animals were kept indoors.

There is lots to see here, and at the similar Corrigal Farm Museum nearby. Good to find places like this.

Outside Cuween Hill Tomb, Orkney Islands, Scotland, with candle light and a prehistoric drum - all the better to appreciate the acoustics, corbelled walls and wonderful stillness - just as it could have been 5000 years ago, back in the Stone Age (Neolithic) when this was built and served a local community.

Inside were found 24 dogs skulls, so maybe this tribes totem was mans best friend?

Cuween Hill Tomb is also open to the public, free, and off the beaten track.

Fire Making Using Ancient Skills, Orkney Islands, Scotland.

This is Malcolm blowing on a nest of tinder (dried grass and thistle down - locally gathered) to make a flame.

Notice the sky and sea behind, so all the elements!

All the necessary plants for tinder and woods (friction fire lighting) are easily available and give visitors a great insight into the natural environment, life back in the Stone Age, and how it has changed as man farmed and cleared.

If you can do this you don't even have to buy a match!

Stromness is the second town on Orkney, after Kirkwall, the capital. It is however the more charming, because of its narrow street and numerous allyways, old fashioned shops, delightful harbour and lots of folk music, bars and lastly, a fantastic view across Scapa Flow (natural harbour used for thousands of years) to the hills of Hoy.

In a storm the winds reach here in force, so the houses huddle together for shelter (most are from the 1700's) and boats anchor here, safe in Hamnavoe. The horizon west is all water, with nothing between here and the Americas. This is where the Hudson Bay Company recruited many sailors and stocked up with supplies before sailing to Canada. Many settled there.

I thought I better include a picture with flame, just to show better how you can light a fire in your hands, the ancient way, without a match or modern gadget.

Much of this skill is common with the native American Indians, and share their beliefs and attitude to the environment. In that way, exploring on vacation becomes a very different experience - one we must embrace if the planet is to cope with carbon dioxide and global warming.

These sandstone cliffs are the highest in Britain. This is beside the Old Man of Hoy, a great big Sea Stack (pillar) said to be the highest in Europe and a real challenge for climbers, partly because the Fulmars that nest on its sides will, if disturbed, vomit a foul, oily, fishy mess onto the climber!

The walk to the cliff tops, here on Hoy (the second largest of the Orkney Islands) is quite easy, from Rackwick, which is accessed from Moaness Pier - there being a number of boat sailings across to Stromness, every day.

The local RSPB (Bird Charity) Warden leads guided walks but you can explore alone. Don't miss the Dwarfie Stane (large boulder) with a chamber cut inside said to be 5000 years old (ie, humans cut this room out of the boulder, back in the Stone Age, using only stone, wood and antler tools) and with amazing acoustics (bass notes).

There is free camping at the beach and a bothy to shelter in if you have no tent or want a sheltered fire (who doesn't?!).

More details in the Orkney Tips.