Island 118 - Flotta, Orkney

Flotta is never going to win any prizes in a beautiful island competition.  However it does have an interesting recent history, some very picturesque sea stacks and some unusual penguin sculptures.  Flotta is served by the same vehicle ferry that also calls at Lyness on Hoy and comes from Houton on Orkney Mainland.  Flotta is thought to be the only place on Orkney where you can see Kirkwall and Stromness at the same time.  In 2011 the population was 80, down from a peak of 425 in 1881.

I don't think Flotta gets many visitors compared to the other Orkney Islands, as there are only a couple of self-catering properties and no guesthouses on the island and when we arrived at the ferry terminal at Lyness the main selling the tickets asked us if we were sure we wanted to go to Flotta, as there wasn't much to do there!  We had 4 hours on Flotta, which was too long really on a sunny but cold and very windy day.  However there wasn't an earlier ferry back to Mainland Orkney.  The only shop on the island was shut, as was the Peerie Museum but we did have a look around the church.

Nothing much is recorded about Flotta's history until the 20th Century.  The first European to be buried in Australia is reputed to have been from Flotta.  Forbie Sutherland was a member of Captain Cook's Endeavour expedition.  The Flotta Stone, an 8th Century sculptured slab, which was found in the site of a ruin is now in the National Museum of Antiquities in Edinburgh. 

The island was heavily fortified during the First and Second World Wars to protect the entrance to Scapa Flow and ruins from this period can be seen all over the island, notably the Buchanan and NEB Batteries and the Signal Station at Stanger Head.  King George V visited Flotta to inspect the troops at Stanger Head in 1915.  We had a look round the Buchanan Battery and the Signal Station.  Also at Stanger Head is an old quarry.  Most of the stone used in the construction of the oil terminal came from here.

The main feature on the island today is the oil terminal, which became operational in 1976 when crude oil arrived from the Piper Platform.    However the rest of the island is quite tranquil.  We obtained permission from the terminal security to visit the north east peninsula, which is called Golta.  The road was very rough and potholed with large puddles in places, so we didn't drive that far but we did drive right passed the Flotta Flare Stack, which can be seen all over Orkney.

After 3 hours we ran out of things to do, so we drove back to the harbour to wait for the ferry.  This proved to be more interesting than it sounds, as there were dozens of seals hauled out on the beach next to the ferry jetty.    The other interesting things on the island were the sculptures of various things made by an islander out of recycled metal.
On the ferry back to Houton it was so windy that waves kept breaking over the boat and my car got a comprehensive seawater bath.

Three penguins but I'm not sure what the 4th object is supposed to be

They are located near Rotten Gutter, which wasn't as unpleasant as it sounds!

Tractor Sculpture

Stanger Head with the signal station in the background

The Cletts, Stanger Head

 Flotta from the Hoxa Battery on South Ronaldsay

Stanger Head is on the left of the photo and the oil terminal is on the right of the photo

Island 117 - Start Point, Orkney

This Start Point is not to be confused with Start Point in South Devon, which also has a lovely lighthouse but isn't an island.  Orkney's Start Point is an uninhabited tidal island off the north east coast of Sanday.  According to the guidebooks there is a causeway across to it at low tide.   However this is in very bad repair and there is about 40 metres in the middle, which is very very slippery seaweed.   I did question my sanity at one point but I was determined to get there. 

The first lighthouse on the island was an unlit masonry tower.  This was replaced in 1806 by The current light, which was built by Robert Stevenson.  The ball from the original tower was placed on the Old Light on North Ronaldsay.  The Start Point Lighthouse replaced the one on North Ronaldsay.  It was the first Scottish lighthouse to have a revolving light.  It was painted with vertical black and white stripes in 1915 and is the only Scottish lighthouse to be painted in this way.  Personally I prefer my lighthouses with wide horizontal stripes, preferably in red!  The light was automated in 1962 and is now powered by solar energy.  Until 1962 the lighthouse keeper, his assistant and their families lived at the lighthouse.  It is occasionally open to visitors.

Start Point Lighthouse in the distance

Island 116 - Sanday, Orkney

I thought Sanday was going to be one of my favourite islands and it probably would have been had it not poured with rain almost continuously for the 24 hours we spent on the island in 2010. I returned for a 2nd visit in June 2015, as I wanted to visit the twin tidal islands the Inner and Outer Holms of Ire.  It didn't rain but was very overcast, cold and windy for my second visit, so I still haven't seen Sanday at its best.

 

The name Sanday comes from the Old Norse for "sandy island".  It is aptly named, as it is low lying and has lots of lovely sandy beaches.    In 2011 the population was 494.

 

Sanday can be accessed by air or roll-on roll-off ferry from Kirkwall.  The ferry docks at Loth at the southern end of the island. The journey time varies from 1 hour 25 minutes to 1 hour 45 minutes depending on whether or not the ferry visits neighbouring Eday on the way. 

 

Like most Orkney Islands Sanday has its fair share of historic sites – there are impressive chambered tombs at Quoyness and Tresness.  The wreck of a German destroyer, which ran aground in 1919 at Lopness is still visible at low tide.  A Viking boat burial was exposed at Scar by storms in 1991 and there is a deserted village at Ortie. 

 

We stayed at the Ayres Rock Hostel, which independent but is affiliated to the Scottish Youth Hostels Association.  The owners also run a fish and chip shop several evenings a week, so guess what we had for tea?  

We visited Orkney Angora and had a chat to the friendly owner and late in the afternoon we discovered the Heritage Centre, which was very interesting.  The man on duty was very friendly and knowledgeable and best of all they had 2011 Northern Lighhouse Board calendars on sale.  It's lovely with large glossy photos of Scottish lighthouses!

 

One tearoom had closed down and the other one was shut, which was a shame as it really wasn’t a good day for being outside for very long.  We had coffee in the Belsair Bar in Kettletoft and lunch at the Kettletoft Hotel waiting for it to stop raining, which it never did.

 

Crime is rare on small islands but Sanday has had more than its fair share in the last few years.  In 2009 there was a murder and soon after our visit there was an arson attack on 3 business premises in Kettletoft.  While we were sitting in the bar at the Belsair my friend glanced out of the window and noticed a police car.  She remarked on this and 3 ladies nearby suddenly became rather agitated, so I’m not sure what they had been up to!

 

 One of Sanday's wind turbines

 - there was certainly plenty of wind to keep it turning on the day I visited in 2015

 

 Stove

 Ruined buildings of a 19th century industrialised 'model farm' with steam engine house, red brick chimney and boiler house

 

 Looking south down Elsness towards Quoyness

 Quoyness Chambered Cairn

 Quoyness Chambered Cairn

You can crawl down a narrow passageway into the Quoyness Chambered Cairn.  It was a peaceful respite from the gale blowing outside.  I thought it was as quiet as the grave in fact, then I remembered that it was actually someone's grave!

 Lady Kirk

Lady Kirk

These are supposed to be scratch marks made by the Devil's fingers.

 War Memorial
 

 Brickie Hut - disused control room for a wartime dummy airfield.

 Sanday Golf Course Clubhouse

 Second World War Radar Station at Lettan in the north east of the island

 Burnt mound at Meur - recently uncovered by the sea following a storm and excavated

 Bay of Lopness.  

You can just see part of the First World War German Destroyer B98, which went ashore here in 1919.  This photo was taken a couple of hours after a high spring tide.  The remains can be seen much more clearly at low tide.

 

 Cairn at Whale Point on the north west tip of Sanday

 

 Rhubarb on the beach at Roos Wick

 Remain of a windmill at Scar

 Stone O'Scar or Saville Stone beyond the churchyard wall

It is a glacial erratic.  It was moved from its original location a mile away c1879.  The aim was to take it to the mansion at Scar to be a landscape feature.  However it was too heavy for the cart, which was carrying it and the cart broke under the load. 

 

 Westove Estate House at Scar

Sanday Airport

White Mill Bay with some temporary sculptures

Ayres Rock Youth Hostel

no red sandstone monolith in sight!

Whale skull at Roo Farm

If this is just the skull, how large was the whole whale?

Island 115 - Eday, Orkney

Eday has been inhabited for at least 5,000 years.   We didn’t see the island at its best as it rained for most of the day.  We were glad to have the car to shelter in.  We spent several hours in the Heritage and Visitor Centre, which is housed in the old Baptist Chapel.  This does have a café but it wasn’t open on the day we were there. However DIY tea and coffee was available for a donation.    We didn’t stay on Eday but there is a youth hostel, several B&Bs and some self-catering properties available

The most famous landmark on the island is the Stone of Setter, which at 4.5 metres high is the largest standing stone in Orkney.   There is a Heritage Walk on Eday, which takes in the main historic and prehistoric sites on the island.  It stopped raining long enough for us to complete part of it, which took in the Stone of Setter, 3 chambered tombs, the small lighthouse built in 1909 by David Stevenson and Carrick House, which is the largest house on the island and was built in 1633 by John Stewart.  The pirate John Gow was held there for a while in 1725 before he was taken to London to be hanged.  More information about his life and exploits can be found here: http://www.orkneyjar.com/history/historicalfigures/pirategow/

The north end of the island at Red Head is a good place to see a variety of seabirds.  Mill Loch near the Stone of Setter has one of the densest concentrations of breeding red-throated divers in the UK.    A hide has been provided for you to observe them from, although we didn’t see any.

We visited on a day when most things seemed to be closed, including the shop and the museum in the Old North School Classroom.  The tearoom at the Red House Croft was open and we enjoyed a lunch of homemade soup and a chat with the owner.

Eday can be accessed by roll-on roll-off ferry from Kirkwall to Backaland at the south end of the island.    Alternatively there is an airport, known as London Airport, as it is located at the Bay of London.  However there is no similarity with Heathrow or Gatwick – the terminal is a 2 room building just like the one on Papa Westray.

Quarrying was once an important industry on Eday.  Much of the stone used to build St Magnus Cathedral in Kirkwall was quarried at Fersness.

Stone of Setter

 

Backaland Pier, Eday

Island 114 - Stronsay, Orkney

I really liked Stronsay.  It had been on my ‘to do’ list for 10 years since my last visit to Orkney and it didn’t disappoint.  The weather on the day we visited was the best of our whole holiday – at last the wind had died down and it was warm and sunny.   

The name Stronsay comes from the Norse Strjonsey meaning "good fishing or farming island" and it is one of the most fertile of the Orkney Islands.  The island is known as being all arms and legs due to its unusual shape.  It is relatively flat and the highest point is Burgh Hill at 46 metres. 

The roll on-roll off ferry lands at Whitehall, which is the main settlement and has a few shops, a hotel and the Fish Mart, which contains a hostel, café and museum.    We had lunch at the café, which was good value for money.  The Fish Mart was built in 1910.   The name Whitehall is taken from a house built there in the 1670s by Patrick Fea.

Whitehall was once one of the major herring ports in Scotland.  In its heyday up to 300 boats were based here for a few months of each year, as they followed the herring shoals down the coast.   By 1939 the herring had moved elsewhere and the start of the Second World War brought the trade to an end.

In the 18^th Century kelp production was a major industry.

Whitehall

Boat recycled as a shed!

East coast near the Vat of Kirbuster

Vat of Kirbuster

This is a gloup spanned by the finest natural arch in Orkney.

Rothiesholm Beach

 This is one of several great beaches on the island.  It is pronounced Rousam.

The only church on the island is the Moncur Memorial Church, which was built in 1955 and was designed by the Edinburgh architect Leslie Graham MacDougall.

Island 113 - Hunda, Orkney

Hunda has been linked by a concrete and stone barrier to Burray since 1941.  It is the 5^th and least known of the Churchill Barriers.  The island is uninhabited but there is a ruined farmhouse near to where the causeway comes ashore.  It is still used for grazing animals.

The day I visited it was freezing cold, blowing a gale and intermittently raining horizontally, so I didn’t explore it properly!  My friend chose to remain in the car and read a book, I can’t think why! You have to ask permission to access the island at Littlequoy Farm, whose yard you have to walk through to get to the causeway but this wasn't a problem.   

The causeway is above high tide level but there was some seaweed on top of it at the Hunda end, so presumably in stormy conditions waves break over it. 

Hunda from the Causeway

Hunda from Littlequoy

Island 112 - Wyre, Orkney

Wyre is accessible by the same vehicle ferry, which serves Rousay and Egilsay and runs from Tingwall on Orkney Mainland.  However it is not really worth taking your car, as it is only 2.5 miles long by 1.5 miles wide and there is only 2 miles of road.  There is no shop or café on the island, which is only home to 29 people (2011 Census). The highest point on the island is 32 metres above sea level.  A friend and I visited the island for an afternoon in September 2010.

The main places of historical interest are Cubbie Row/Roo’s Castle, which was built around 1145 by the Norseman Kolbein Hruga (the current name is thought to be a corruption of his name) and St Mary’s Chapel, which was founded by Hruga’s son Bjarni and built in a Romanesque style.   The castle is one of the earliest surviving stone castles in Scotland and is the oldest square keep castle in Scotland.

Neolithic Village with Camera Obscura in the background

By chance the day we chose to go to Wyre was also the public open day for the Neolithic village archaeological dig at Ha’Breck that has been going on for a few years.  We were welcomed and given a guided tour of the site and the chance to sit in a camera obscura in a packing case!  The site comprises Neolithic timber and stone houses, working areas and a domestic quarry.  The finds from the site were on display in the Wyre Heritage Centre and tea and biscuits were also provided.  The finds were very interesting and recognisable, even to someone who knows little about archaeology, as axe heads, arrowheads etc.  The Heritage Centre also has a permanent exhibition of photos and information about the history of the island.

We also had a chat to a friendly farmer, who we met while on our way to visit the dig and watched seals off the south coast.

South Coast - seals in the bay

Island 111 - Egilsay, Orkney

Egilsay is accessible by the same vehicle ferry that serves Rousay and Wyre and runs from Tingwall on Mainland Orkney.  However it isn’t really worth taking your car, as there are only 2 short roads on the island and it is small enough to explore on foot.  Egilsay is only home to about 26 people (2011 Census) but, apart from a couple of people who were waving someone off on the ferry we arrived on, we didn’t see anyone at all for the 4 hours we spent on the island. 

St Magnus's Kirk

The main building of interest on the island is St Magnus’s Kirk, which is one of only 2 remaining examples of round towered churches built by the Vikings.  The church was built in honour of Earl Magnus, who was murdered on Egilsay in around 1117 by an axe blow to the head.  It is probably built on the site of an earlier church. 

In the early 12th century Orkney was ruled by  2 Norse earls, who were cousins - Haakon Paulson and Magnus Erlendson.  They quarrelled but a peace conference was arranged on Egilsay on Easter Monday 1117.  Magnus spent the night in the church and the next day Haakon was persuaded by his counsellors to kill Magnus.  He ordered Ofeig, his standard bearer to kill him but he refused, so he ordered his cook Lifolf to do the deed, which he did.  Magnus's body was at first buried at Birsay but after miracles of healing occurred it was moved to the cathedral in Kirkwall, which is dedicated to him.  A centotaph was erected on Egilsay in 1938 on the spot where he was murdered.  
 

The Onziebust RSPB Reserve on the island is in 3 sections.  Wading birds and corncrakes can be seen.  The Loch of the Graand at the southern tip of the island is a good place to watch waders and seals.

Manse Bay

 

We spent most of our time on the island sitting at Manse Bay on the east coast, as it was sheltered from a cold and strong wind and it is a delightful spot.    There is no other shelter on the island for visitors apart from the charmless ferry waiting room.   There is no shop on the island.

Island 110 - Papa Westray, Orkney

Papa Westray (or Papay as it is known by the locals) can be reached by passenger boat from Pierowall on Westray or vehicle ferry from Kirkwall twice a week.  Alternatively you can take the shortest scheduled flight in the world from Westray to Papay.  It takes 2 minutes, so is comprised entirely of take off and landing.  We chose this way to arrive and for someone who has only flown once before in a fixed wing aircraft, it was quite scary.  The plane is very noisy.  It only takes 8 passengers and you can see the pilot.  At one point during the 2 minute flight the pilot looked down at his paperwork, which concerned me slightly!  We flew from Kirkwall to Westray first, so there were 2 take offs and landings for the journey.  It took ages to get to Westray, as we were flying into a very strong headwind of above 35 miles an hour.  The return journey was much quicker with the wind behind us.   

 

There is a small museum, which is free to look round at Holland Farm, which was the home to the Traill family, who were lairds of the island for 3 centuries.  This was one of the few places on the island to shelter on a showery and very windy day.

There is no café on the island but the shop is very well stocked and we were allowed to go in the hostel, which is next to the shop and help ourselves to tea and coffee for a donation and sit in the hostel’s dining room.  The hostel seemed very well equipped.

St Boniface Kirk on the west coast is one of the oldest Christian sites in Northern Scotland.  Other historical sites on the island include a water mill, St Tredwell’s Chapel and smaller sites from the Iron and Bronze Ages.

The northern end of the island is a Nature Reserve and the rare Primula Scotica can be seen here. 

Loganair Plane at Papa Westray Airport

 

Papay Airport - on a very windy day

 

The markings for the airport approach have been painted directly on to the dry stone wall

 Looking towards Holm of Papa Westray 

 

The east coast of Papay 
 

Knap of Howar

 

My main reason for visiting Papay was to visit the Knap of Howar, which is the oldest standing house in Northern Europe.  It was first occupied 5,000 years ago.  You can walk into it, although you need to stoop to get through the low entrance corridor. 

Knap of Howar

Island 109 - St Mary's, Northumberland

St Mary’s Island is situated a couple of hundred metres offshore between Whitley Bay and Seaton Sluice in Northumberland.  At low tide it is linked to the mainland by a causeway.    The island was originally called Bates or Bait from the Bates family, who lived at nearby Milbourn Hall. 

The island was used by smugglers until 1896-8 when the lighthouse was built by Miller of Tynemouth.  The lighthouse was decommissioned in 1984 and was bought by North Tyneside Council in 1986.  It is open to the public today.

The island is made of sandstone.  There was once a chapel on it, which was associated with Tynemouth Priory and was dedicated to St Helen but no trace of it remains today.   Drowned sailors who washed ashore were buried in the cemetery.  The sanctuary light, which was kept lit as a navigation light for sailors was referred to as Our Lady’s or St Mary’s light, which is how the island got its present name.

There is one house on the island, in addition to the lighthouse and its associated buildings.

St Mary's Island at low tide

 

Approaching St Mary's Island

 

Lighthouse

 

Lighthouse and associated buildings

 

Looking up the stairs inside the lighthouse

 

Lens

 

View looking south from the top of the lighthouse

 

Purpose built cupboard

 

Looking east towards where the seals haul out at low tide

 

Lighthouse - in need of a paint?

 

Lighthouse garden

 

Looking north from St Mary's Island

 

No public access beyond this point

 

Seats and picnic tables outside the lighthouse

 

Shed

 

Lighthouse

 

The only house on the island

 

The owners of the house value their privacy

 

St Mary's Island