Island 279 - North Ronaldsay, Orkney

North Ronaldsay is the remotest and most exposed inhabited island in Orkney.  It is located to the north of Sanday.  It is low lying with the highest point only 20 metres above sea level and is 4 miles from north to south by 2 miles from east to west at its widest point. At the time of the 2011 Census North Ronaldsay had a population of 72 but I understand that this figure has fallen since.

I'm not quite sure why it took me until my 6th visit to Orkney in 2015, which was 36 years after my first one, to get round to visiting North Ronaldsay.  I think I thought it would be too complicated to arrange a visit, as it is only rarely (on some summer Sundays) possible to visit by ferry for the day.  The ferry calls only twice a week - currently on Tuesdays and Fridays - and the journey time is 2 hours and 40 minutes.  However arranging a day trip by air was remarkably simple and the flying time is only 18 minutes from Kirkwall.  I think I saved the best island until last, as I enjoyed every minute of my 9 and a half hour visit.  It was raining when I arrived but within 20 minutes the rain had stopped and a short while later the sun came out.  It was the calmest day of my whole holiday on Orkney and a very pleasant walking temperature.  Sometimes you immediately bond with an island and for me this was the case with North Ronaldsay.  I will be coming back for another visit in a few years time.

I walked a total of 15 miles up, down and around the island.  In the end I ran out of energy rather than time and spent a while sitting in the Old Kirkyard with the former residents of the island, about 90% of whom had one of 5 surnames - Tulloch, Swanney, Scott, Cutt or Thomson.  

North Ronaldsay's most famous inhabitants are its ancient and primitive rare breed of seaweed eating sheep.  The sheep are small, naturally have short tails and can be a range of colours from white, through grey to brown and black.  A 13 mile long dry stone Sheep Dyke runs round the coast of the whole island.  Its purpose is to keep the sheep on the outside.  In some places they have some grass to eat but their diet consists mainly of seaweed.  The ewes are brought in to the inland fields at lambing time and for a few months afterwards.  At certain times of the year the sheep are herded into stone punds to be sheared, dipped or separated out for sale.  

The Sheep Dyke may be designed to keep the sheep out but at certain points around the island I found that it was keeping me out too, as there aren't that many breaks in it.  

There is a Bird Observatory on North Ronaldsay because its exposed location makes it an ideal staging post for migrating birds in spring and autumn.  I visited in early summer, so the bird numbers weren't as great but I saw black guillemots, lapwings, terns, curlews, oystercatchers, eider ducks, fulmars, skylarks, swans and greylag gees.  The Bird Observatory provides hostel accommodation and has a café.  However it was shut for the afternoon when I visited at 3pm.  This was a shame because I could have done with a cup of tea.  They also sell Orkney Ice cream and I was very tempted to take one and leave the money for it on the counter but there was no price on the freezer and I had no change. 



New Kirk - doubles as a Heritage Centre

Crue at Dennis Ness

These were used to raise cabbage plants in a sheltered place and where the sheep couldn't eat them. Their location by the seashore was also a place where the frosts were less severe.  Once the plants matured they were transplanted into the inland fields.

Sheep Dyke at Linklet Bay

Although there are working parties to keep the Sheep Dyke in good repair there are times when coastal erosion destroys part of it.

The famous seaweed eating sheep.  

Sadly they were all very camera shy, so I couldn't get a close up photo of them.

Memorial to Derek Taylor and Garry Leaburn.  

They were both Prince's Trust volunteers from Dundee, who were helping on a project to repair the Sheep Dyke. On 6th August 1997 they were helping to repair a section of the sea wall near Westness when a 5 tonne concrete slab fell on to them and they were both killed.  The Prince's Trust was fined £10,000 for breaching the Health and Safety at Work Act.

New Lighthouse

Well, it might be new in comparison to the Old Beacon but it was erected in 1854 and at 109 feet it is the tallest land based lighthouse in the British Isles.  It was automated in 1998 and is open to the public for guided tours at certain times but not on the day I visited.  There is however an excellent café in the building at the foot of the lighthouse, staffed by a very chatty and friendly man.  The chocolate orange cake I had was delicious.  Like many people on small islands he had about a dozen part time jobs, one of which was fireman at the airport, so he was the first person I spoke to when I arrived.  In addition to the café there is an exhibition about the history of the lighthouse in an adjacent room and a small gift shop.

New Lighthouse

I do love stripey lighthouses, so here is another photo of it

And another

Foghorn at the New Lighthouse - installed in 1932 but no longer in use

New Lighthouse from one of the sheep punds at Dennis Ness

Seal Skerry from the north end of the island

Don't go too near a fulmar - if you do they will vomit foul smelling yellow liquid at you. Thankfully on this occasion it missed me!

Yes, it's another photo of the New Lighthouse

New Lighthouse and Cafe

Old Beacon 

This was undergoing repair when I visited in June 2015. The beacon was needed because of the large number of shipwrecks in the area.  It was designed by engineer Thomas Smith and his son-in-law Robert Stevenson and was first lit on 10th October 1789 and had a fixed light.  It was built of local stone and is 70 feet high.  However it was not successful in preventing shipwrecks, so in 1806 the reflectors were shipped to Start Point off Sanday and to Eilean Glas and Kinnaird Head.  The masonry cap with its distinctive stone ball was brought from Sanday.  The ruins next to the Old Beacon are the remains of the lighthouse keeper's cottage.

Old Beacon

Fish House at Bewan - this building was once used for curing fish

Is this a fossil? - I found it on the beach at Linklet Bay

Linklet Bay looking north east towards the Old Beacon

Is this art or junk?

Looking south down Linklet Bay

War Memorial

Memorial Hall.  

It commemorates those men from the island who died during the First World War.

North Ronaldsay School

Old Mill at Nesstoun.  

This engine driven mill was built in 1907 by the laird Mr Traill and was used to grind corn and oats.  The pillar to the right of it is the remains of a small windmill.

Holland House

This is the grandest house on the island and was built by the Traill Family, who bought the island in 1727.  It is still owned by the same family.  Their garden contains the only sizeable collection of trees and shrubs on North Ronaldsay.

Old Kirk
 

Standing Stone

This is located between Holland House and Loch Gretchen.  It is 13 feet high and has a hole through it. It may have been a marker stone for a stone circle that once stood on Tor Ness at the north west corner of the island.

A circular walk is waymarked from the road leading past this standing stone and on to the bird hide at Loch Gretchen.  However once I got to the coast I couldn't work out how to get to the bird hide without either getting wet feet at Loch Gretchen or climbing over a makeshift fence.  I went for climbing over the fence.  I then found the hide (but saw no birds).  However I then found I was stranded on the outside of the Sheep Dyke.  I found a newly built rock stile in the Sheep Dyke eventually and climbed over that but then lost the way again (more waymarking would be good if anyone from North Ronaldsay ever reads this)  and ended up walking through someone's garden.   

No idea what this is - presumably it is a purely decorative feature?

The leaning tower of North Ronaldsay  overlooking Loch Gretchen

Bird hide at Loch Gretchen

Looking north up the west coast

Sheep Dyke and what looks to me like a Heligoland Bird Trap, Twinyess on the south west coast

West coast at the south end of the island

Pier at Nouster.  

This is where the twice weekly ferry from Kirkwall docks.

South Coast at Nouster

South Bay from Nouster

Trig Point behind the Old Kirk - only 20 metres above sea level

Bistort in flower 

- I wish my bistort at home flowered this well

Island 278 - Graemsay, Orkney

Graemsay is located in Scapa Flow to the south of Stromness on Orkney Mainland and to the north of Hoy.  The island is approximately 2 miles from east to west and one mile from north to south.  The highest point on the island is 62 metres above sea level.  The centre of the island is rough grass and heather moorland but the rest of the island is divided into fields, which are grazed by very inquisitive cows and very shy sheep.  When I visited in June 2015 there were lots of wild flowers in bloom - primroses, northern marsh orchids, thrift, red campion, bird's foot trefoil, marsh lousewort, cotton grass, cow parsley, red campion, buttercups, daisies, purple vetch, violets and tormentil to name a few.  I'm not great at identifying birds but I did see lapwings, curlews, oystercatchers and skylarks.

Graemsay is served by a passenger ferry from Stromness.  The same ferry also goes to Moaness on Hoy.  The ferry isn't all that well signposted in Stromness. I did eventually find its normal berth on the quay opposite the Stromness Hotel and stood waiting with another passenger and then a few minutes later a helpful postlady pointed out that they weren't using the normal boat and that it was departing from the other side of the quay.  However no one from Orkney Ferries had thought to put a notice up about these changes.  

Graemsay is probably one of the least visited of the Orkney Islands that are served by Orkney Ferries - the man who sold me my ticket on the boat expressed surprise when I said I wanted to go to Graemsay rather than Hoy and said that he didn't sell tickets to Graemsay very often.  There is no shop or café on the island and no heritage centre, so there isn't much for visitors to do apart from walk and look at the Second World War battery at the Point of Oxan.  

There are plenty of picnic benches located at various points around the island but the day I visited I was the only visitor.  The visitors' book in the ferry waiting room was started in 2007 but is still only half full.  There are waymarked paths around some parts of the coast.  However many of the paths on the northern side of the island pass through fields of extremely inquisitive cows.  I walked along part of the south coast, which was cow free and a very pleasant and easy walk.  In many places it is possible to walk along the foreshore too.

In the 1840s there were over 200 people living on Graemsay.  They worked on the 35 crofts or away on fishing or whaling boats.  Some of them worked for the Hudson's Bay Company in the Canadian Arctic. The current population of Graemsay is around 20, with one working farm and 6 crofts.   I am sure I saw more than 20 vehicles on the island, mainly at the ferry jetty and Hoy High Lighthouse.  However I only saw 3 people - 2 passed me in tractors and the 3rd was the islander who helps the ferry to berth.  As I was leaving he asked me how I had got to the island.  I had to stop myself saying that I had walked up the gangway right past him that morning but that he was too busy chatting to his friends on the ferry to notice me.  Most of the other 17 residents arrived back on the afternoon ferry.

Hoy Sound High and Low Lighthouses were built as leading lights: if the lights are kept in line, it ensures a safe passage through Hoy Sound.  They were both designed by Alan Stevenson, a third generation member of the famous family of lighthouse builders, and were completed in 1851.  At this time Graemsay had no pier.  A granite slipway had to be constructed at the Bay of Sandside.  The towers were built with stone quarried in the North Isles.  It was shipped to Stromness, where it was cut and shaped and then shipped across to Graemsay from the Point of Ness.

Hoy Sound High lighthouse is located at the north east end of the island. 115 feet tall. It was automated in 1978. Hoy Sound Low Lighthouse is located at the Point of Oxan on the north west tip of the island and is only 40 feet tall.  It was automated in 1966.  Neither lighthouse is open to the public.

On New Year's Day 1866 the sailing ship Albion was wrecked off the Point of Oxan.  She was on her way from Liverpool to New York with a mixed cargo. There were 43 passengers on board and 24 staff.  11 people drowned but the rest were rescued, many by people on Graemsay.  One Graemsay man - Joseph Mowat was drowned during the rescue.  Pottery from the ship can still sometimes be found on the beach at Oxan.

During the Second World War the Graemsay Battery was built to augment the defences at Stromness and on Hoy.  All three of them were built to defend the western entrance to the deep water anchorage of Scapa Flow.  It was only operational from 1943 to 1945 and was finally closed in 1950.

 Graemsay Ferry Waiting Room and Toilets

 Sandside

 HoySound High Lighthouse

 Telephone and postboxes - a couple of the very few amenities on the island

 Bay of Sandside looking north towards Hoy Sound High Lighthouse

 Looking north towards Graemsay Battery at Point of Oxan

 Point of Oxan - World War Two Battery

 Hoy Low Lighthouse and Second World War battery

 Interesting rock formation on the west coast

 This rock looks a bit like a giant table 

The Old School - no longer in use

 Kirk on the south coast

 Bay of Sandside

 Ferry jetty at low tide