Orkney Islands: Hoy

Tuesday 20 July 2010



We had to have an early start as we wanted to go into Kirkwall which is the capital of the Orkneys before catching our ferry to Hoy. It looked like another nice day & we found our way to Kirkwall with few problems – driving over lots of causeways and passing many WWII wrecks close by. We stocked up on picnic food for our lunch and we both spent money in the excellent bookstore. We were running a bit tight on time to get to the ferry on time (driving on single track roads is much slower than you think) & nearly got badly lost leaving town. Fortunately I was able to get very good directions to the ferry terminal & we made it there with time to spare. The ferry crossing was quite fast & after freezing on the deck & deciding that the window-less inside seating space was a recipe for seasickness (I called it a “barf bucket”) we retreated to the car and watched the view from there.

We had booked into a b&b for the night so we checked in there first (another really nice place) and after a compulsory cup of tea, headed out to the end of the island to walk to the headland to see the “Old Man of Hoy” - an impressive sea stack. As we drove out (on the single track road) we had great views of Mainland (the biggest of the Orkney islands) , but ominously, the cloud was very low over the mountains as we drove further north. We went past the track for the Dwarfie Stane but decided to visit it on the way back as we were worried about the 3 hour walk and the closing-in weather.

We got to the end of the road at Rackwick and we decided to have our lunch first before going on the long hike. There were terns nesting close to the car park & they dive-bombed anyone who got out of the cars. There were also lots of Great Skuas around although they weren't perturbed by the humans. Just as we were getting ready to start the walk, a man returned and he told us that the low cloud obscured any views of the “Old Man”, but ever optimists we decided that maybe the clouds would lift by the time we got there.

The walk was very pleasant at the start and we quickly found ourselves at the tops of the cliffs with many birds swooping along the cliff edges where we were walking. The cloud continued to lift and come down again and it wasn't too long before we were walking in quite thick low cloud. This lifted briefly when we went past an impressive waterfall but the cloud continued to close in as we left the cliff edge and walked across the moorland. We saw a Great Skua sitting close to the path – not particularly concerned by our presence. We eventually got to the viewpoint for the Old Man of Hoy but by this time visibility had dropped to about 3 metres at the most. It actually was slightly scary knowing we were at a cliff edge but we couldn't see over the side. The Old Man of Hoy was probably right in front of our noses, but we didn't see even a glimpse of it. We didn't delay long and started back through even thicker cloud than before. We surprised a hare (artic hares are in this area) but with visibility not improving until we'd almost got back to the car, our cameras stayed in our bags.

Once we were back to the car, quite invigorated by our walk despite not seeing anything at the end. The clouds around Rackwick lifted so the cliffs were visible, but we headed back to see the Dwarfie Stane while we had light. This is a 5000 year old chambered tomb carved out of a solid block of sandstone. The light was fantastic and the setting in a long glacial carved valley also very stunning, but the clouds were closing in fast – we'd arrived at the perfect time.

As we drove back along the island we left the clouds behind us, and discovered that the southern end of the island was still bathed in sunlight. We drove to Cantick Head to see the lighthouse and then went to the Stromabank Hotel for an excellent meal. We were totally exhausted by the time we got back to our b&b.