Dean and Gillian's Scottish Adventures: March 2013

Gillian and love the islands around Scotland. We have spent many happy trips to both the Inner and Outer Hebrides, but we have never managed to reach the Northern Isles of Orkney and Shetland. We decided to rectify this and visit the Orkney Islands for the Easter break.

Getting to the Orkney's involves driving to Aberdeen and getting a 6 hour ferry trip north to the main town of Kirkwall. The best way (we think) of exploring islands is by bike, you can cover reasonable distances in a day and you get a great feel for the environment you are travelling through which you just don't get from sitting in car. We broke our trip into 6 stages where we would cycle and carry all our belongings to our next destination, sounded like a great adventure.

Boarding the ferry to Kirkwall.

Stage 1. Kirkwall to South Ronaldsay. Cycle Route.

Clear, bright but chilly start to stage 1.

St Magnus Cathedral, Kirkwall.

Inside St Magnus.

The open road !!!.

The Italian Chapel. Built by Italian POW from WW2. They converted an old Nissen hut into this beautiful chapel.

Inside the chapel.

Some sunken block ships in Scapa Flow. Block ships were deliberately sunk on the approaches to the Flow to make it difficult for German U boats to enter during WW2.

Gillian enjoying the great weather.

Exploring the Tomb of the Otters, a neolithic burial chamber.

Stage 2. Kirkwall to Rousay. Cycle Route.

Stage 2 started with a wee warm up dram at the Highland Park Distillery in Kirkwall. We then cycled north up the east coast of mainland Orkney to the pier at Tingwall and caught a ferry across to the Island on Rousay. Rousay is littered with Neolithic sites and is known as the "Egypt of the North". We then cycled the 13 miles round the Island (climbing a killer hill - Who said Orkney is flat?!) to take in a few of the sites. We spent the night on the island staying in a wee cottage at Trumland Farm.

Delayed start !!!

A cheesy photo of Gillian.

Heading down to the Tingwall ferry.

Waiting for the Ferry in Betty's reading room.

Enjoying a calm crossing to Rousay.

Views from Rousay

Midhowe Broch, Rousay.

A tough climb

Queen of the Mountains !!!!

Stage 3. Rousay to Birsay. Cycle Route.

We missed the morning ferry back to Tingwall, so we spent the morning on Rousay visiting some more sites, then rather than wait around another hour, we took the ferry man up on the offer of a cruise round the nearby islands of Egilsay and Wyre on route back to Tingwall. From there we cycled up to the northern most point of mainland Orkney - Birsay.

Some seals on Rousay.

Leaving our farm cottage.

TIngwall - Rousay ferry.

Wyre Island.

Made it to the Birsay hostel.

Birsay bay beach.

Stage 4. Rousay to Stromness. Cycle Route.

After a comfortable nights rest in the Birsay outdoor centre (we were the only people staying there apart from an American student), we had a big day ahead cycling south to Stromness. We had a lot to see today - Skara Brae, The Ring of Brodgar, Stones of Steness and of course a wee stop in the Orkney Brewery !!!!!

The oldest village in Europe Skara Brae dated from around 5000 BC.

Skara Brae.

A very old living room !!!!

Skara Brae.

Today's lunch stop.

A welcome refreshment !!!

Ring of Brodgar.

Steness stones.

Stromness.

Not our hostel

Stage 5. Stromness to the Old Man of Hoy. Cycle Route.

After a nice meal and a few beers, we caught another ferry from Stromness across to the island of Hoy. Hoy is a much hillier Island and has some fantastic sea cliffs and the iconic Old man of Hoy.

The only 2 guests in the Hostel tonight.

Enjoying some downhill

Rackwick Bay.

The old man and Gillian.

The Old Man of Hoy.

The real old man of Hoy.

Inside an old cottage in Rackwick bay.

Rackwick Bay.

Gillian's accommodation for the night !!!!! (The Dwarfie stone).

Stage 6. Hoy to Kirkwall. Cycle Route.

The final stage of our tour was a lovely run south through the Island of Hoy, to the old Naval base at Lyness. The base was home to 30,000 of the Home fleet throughout the 2 world wars. There is a really interesting museum about the history of the Naval base and Scapa Flow,including a cinema in a huge oil tank. From there it was our final ferry back to mainland Orkney for the last ride back to Kirkwall. The sun was shining for a fantastic final days cycling.