It was a long time in the planning as there was to be a lot of driving, ferries and places to visit and stay to add into what would be a very busy itinerary. We started with a drive to Inverness for an overnight stay in a wonderful B&B before heading to Scrabster for the ferry to Stromness on Orkney mainland.
Due to the amount of sites and the large number of pictures and videos taken (of which I will only be posting a tiny amount), I will split the details over two posts to make reading and uploading easier. This post will feature the first few days of our visit.
The first item on the agenda was The Old Man of Hoy. This is just a geological artifact - a sea stack - but fascinating none-the-less. Luckily, rather than having to spend half a day and a fortune hiring a boat to get to it, the ferry ran right past it on the way to Orkney. Result! The day of the sail-by was very overcast with a lot of sea mist (the way back wasn't much better either), so photo and video quality turned out to be quite poor unfortunately. But, I have seen it now - twice!
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| The Old Man of Hoy |
Upon arrival in Orkney, we decided to split our adventuring days between sites that were less well known (no need to book) and those that are more well known (need booking in advance). First up on the archaeological tour was a site at Isbister on the southern-most island of South Ronaldsay. It was a bit of a drive from our base on the outskirts of Kirkwall, but most of the islands around Scapa Flow were barricaded with causeways by Churchill during the war, which meant that the roads built atop them allowed travel to the most remote of places within the archipelago.
There are actually a few things to do here at Isbister; there is the Visitor Centre with a small museum, a Bronze Age building and the Neolithic stalled tomb. After paying a small fee to go see the sites, we had a longish walk (about one mile - 1.6 km) along very wet and boggy pathways to the Liddle Burnt Mound and Bronze Age building. As with all of these entries I will not go into too much detail, just conversational level, as more accurately recorded materials can be found online or in books from your local library. It is assumed that the mound is made up of thousands of burnt stones (once burnt they discolour and contaminate the water they are submersed in so are replaced quite often) that were used to heat the water in the large tank. It is assumed that the building is a ritual site, but other theories suggest it may have been a steam/sauna house or feasting hall.
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| The Bronze Age building and mound (just visible to the left) |
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| The 1000+ litre water tank |
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| The building from atop the burnt stone mound |
The second site at this location is called The Tomb of the Eagles. This Neolithic burial chamber, situated just a short distance from the Liddle Burnt mound, is so called because of the number of sea eagle remains found within it when it was first discovered. There is another chambered tomb not far up the coast named Tomb of the Otters, but that was closed for this season (2026). From the names, it seems like there may have been some totemic symbolism involved - different families or tribes? Again, like with most things ancient, it is all open to conjecture.
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| Tomb of the Eagles |
The entrance to the tomb is a very low tunnel around ten feet long (3m), but the site owners handily supplied a small wheeled cart to lie down upon to pull oneself into and out of the tomb. It is not for those with any difficulties with motility or claustrophobia, but once inside the tomb opens up and can be stood up in. It is quite large and the roof is vaulted in modern concrete to allow for the safety of visitors, but it does not detract from the awe that the tomb inspires. Clear plastic holes in the roof let in ample light, even on dull days like the one we had when we visited.
We took the alternative cliff top route back to the visitor centre in the hope of spotting some wildlife - sea otters, dolphins and whales apparently, but we saw none of those - however we were pleasantly rewarded by watching a sea eagle (that has only recently been reintroduced to the area) majestically fly by.
The museum is very basic, but there are a few artifacts from each site available to see. The staff are very enthusiastic and will talk to you about the sites and their history. There is also a nice little guide book that can be purchased for a smallish fee (£5 at the time of this visit) with lots of details.
As mentioned above, we tried to go to the Tomb of the Otters but it had been closed. So, we looked around for something else to see before we lost the light as the weather encroached. Luckily, the Castle of Burwick, an Iron Age promontory hill fort was located nearby. Unfortunately, it is situated along a steep cliff path which makes it difficult again for those with motility or vertigo issues, and there is not a lot of it visible to the casual observer when you get there. The only way it can be positively identified is by the hammer-head shaped promontory it was built upon.
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| Iron Age Castle of Burwick promontory |
The second day in Orkney was spent closer to our base in Kirkwall. I started the day with a run at the local parkrun in town and then after breakfast and a shower we headed into town to visit the museum. It is a small museum but it contains a lot of material dating from the early Mesolithic period right through to the modern day. My main areas of interest were in the first few rooms - Stone, Bronze and Iron Ages, as well as the Viking period. I also had a pleasant surprise in the 20th Century room with a small tribute to Jim Baikie of 2000AD fame. The visit took us about three hours to get around everything.
A visit to the very nice Deerness gin distillery to sample and buy a couple of bottles rounded out the day for us.
See next post for details of some of the more well-known Orkney sites.
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