The Orkneys 

                                                                May 31^st – June 9^th

 South Ronaldsway, Burray, Glimpsholm, Lambsholm and South Mainland. 

We left Wednesday evening after looking after the grandchildren. It had been a lovely day and fortunately they were able to play outside leaving not so much to tidy in their aftermath. We stayed the first night near to Glasgow. Then it was all day driving with the tandem snug in the Corsa, till we reached Gills Bay near John o Groats. Our ferry on Friday was leaving at 9.30 so we wanted to stay as close as we could. It seemed a lovely B and B until other guests arrived near to 10pm when we were just shutting down for the night. The thin walls meant that we heard a constant muttering with occasional crescendos and despite our banging on the partition in frustration the noise was unrelenting for most of the night. This was not a good way to start a cycling holiday!

We built the tandem at the ferry terminal while watching seals in the rain. There is a warm waiting room with café and toilets. We were let on first and the tandem tied at the bottom of the stairs. It was a small ferry and cars were tightly fitted down the sides with container lorries down the middle. For only 9.30 in the morning it was surprisingly busy. There is a self -service drinks and snacks point.

The crossing was good with only a little bounce as we sailed over the cross currents in the Pentland Firth. We saw plenty of puffins and guillimots flying low over the water. We sailed by Stroma, the closest island to John o Groats. From an overcast sky we could see breaks of blue and then as we disembarked an hour later at St Margaret’s Hope, for the first time the sun came out.

 

If we had left from John o Groats we would have arrived at the bottom of South Ronaldsay but we were at the top so we decided to ride to the bottom and back so as we didn’t have to miss it out. The Lonely Planet tells its reader that Orkney is flat. There were hills and they were long! We were on the A road straight down the middle and it didn’t seem busy. We passed pastureland with many cows and an abundance of nesting birds- larks, oystercatchers, gulls, curlews (so many pairs of these) lapwings and many small birds less distinct for identification. Without hedges it was easier to see the fields and the calls, as the birds did their various diversion techniques to hide their nests, were quite a clamour as we struggled up yet another hill against the wind. There are plenty of wild flowers- small pockets of bluebells, purple orchids, birds foot trefoil and kingcups.

The road seemed interminable and the thought that we would have to ride back and on to Kirkwall after reaching the bottom of South Ronaldsway, we decided to turn around at the summit viewpoint. It was more than half way down anyway.

At the sign for Wheems Campsite we turned right onto a single track road. Up and down a few more hills, stopping to let cars pass, we came to Churchill Barrier no. 4.

These were built during the war to stop u boats creeping up undetected between the islands. Now there is a road across the islands of S Ronaldsway, Burray, Glimps Holm and Lambs Holm. They had tried blocking the sea route with scuppered ships but this didn’t work and the battleship, Royal Oak sank with over 800 lives lost. The barriers were formed from massive stone and concrete blocks linking the islands, sometimes the foundations stretching down to a depth of 59 feet and angled and creviced at the top to prevent the tide sweeping over the carriageway. This led to our first complete island- Burray.

 

There are wrecks of ships all around the islands and we learnt their significance as we progressed through them.

Looking down over the causeway the sea was clear, shallow on one side with sand dunes on the other. Once across it was about a mile to Burray village and the Sands Hotel where we had lunch. Bob is getting a taste for Orkney beer already.

Out of the village we passed a school where at playtime we counted 12 children- it sounded like more! A mile after the hotel we came to the Fossil Museum which has access to it from the back while from the road it looked closed. We are glad we gave it more than a cursory glance as it was very interesting. There was a beautiful gift shop and thriving café. There was an entrance fee £3.50 for us each. A local builder found fossils at Cruaday quarry on W. Mainland and his interest led him to restoring the 19^th century farm buildings that now house the museum of his, and now other’s, various artefacts. Recently modernised fossils, rocks and the like are cleverly presented. There is a lot of wartime memorabilia to go with info on the Churchill Barriers.

It took a mere 4 minutes to cross Glimpsholm via Barriers No 3 and 2 and then at Lambsholm we found the Italian Chapel after passing the Orkney Wine company. We didn’t see any grape vines anywhere on our travels but it seems they use wild berries like sloes, elderberries and blueberries.

The Italian Chapel is a marvel. Built by Italian prisoners of war who transformed their cheerless huts with paths and flowers and a statue of St George, built from cement over a framework of barbed wire stood in the “square”. This was made by an artist prisoner Chioccetti. The idea of a chapel came from the from a need, a sympathetic commandant and expertise of Chioccetti and some of the other prisoners. They only had the simplest of material to use, mostly 2^nd hand or scrap.

They hid the corrugated iron domed hut under plasterboard and the altar was moulded in concrete. Chiocchetti painted the interior to resemble brickwork with a dado like carved stone- clever to make something flat look 3 dimensional. Stained glass windows above the altar with a fresco behind and wooden carvings and ironwork have given beautiful detail to the chapel. It is humbling to see what they did with so little.

Leaving the Chapel and crossing the last, or rather 1st Barrier, we noticed far more cars. They were driven at speed down the straight road going down the East side of the mainland. We seemed to go up a lot without the benefit of long downs. We had to stop a few times for cars to pass. We were surprised that this is designated as a cycle route!

 At last we passed the airport down near the sea and not up as expected. Several jets stood on the tarmac at least one with propellers. Not long after we saw Kirkwall though we didn’t need to go into town for our B and B which was 1 ½ miles out at Quoyberstone. We had cycled 26 miles.

There was a view of the harbour from our bedroom window and it was a comfortable place to be. We cycled into town to find somewhere to eat and were amazed to see cars driving down a narrow seemingly pedestrianised road- albeit one way. It seems cars rule here to me as we had to step into shop doorways to get out of their path.

We found somewhere, St Ola, that became our favourite place to eat because of the friendly atmosphere. It was usually busy and when we arrived all the tables were reserved but we were told if we could finish eating within an hour we’d be fine. Other people were sent away so we were lucky. There was plenty of meat in our pie with fresh vegetables and the largest onion rings I have ever seen. We found a Tescos and Lidl for fruit and yoghurt. After riding around a bit to get our bearings we went back to the B and B for a good night’s sleep- it was quiet!

 

 view from our window!