Orkney — Lisa's (& Steve's) Travels

Before we headed north to the Orkney Islands, we wandered along the NE coast and first visited Castle Sinclair Girnigoe -

… which was first built between 1476 - 1496, and later added to in the 1600’s.

We really liked both the red stone highlights, as well as how it was built up/into the rocky headland.

Continuing along the coast, we passed some unknown (to us) castles…

… until we reached Duncansby Head …

… with its lighthouse…

… and imposing sea stacks -

Always moving on… we next visited Dunnet Head Lighthouse, where you can see the Orkney Islands in the distance -

The far northern coast area is pretty bleak, but it was amazing how many people were pulled off and wild camping there.

Then, just a little further on, there are gorgeous sand beaches…

… with towering sand dunes -

We headed to Scrabster to board the ferry to Orkney -

This was a new method of travel for us, a ferry ride both for us and our car.

As we left the mainland of Scotland behind…

… we quickly approached the Orkney Islands -

… and The Old Man of Hoy…

… a sea stack off of Hoy Island -

The colors along the cliffs of Hoy were stunning -

When we arrived to Stromness, on “Mainland” Island of Orkney, the weather wasn’t very welcoming -

We were amazed at the large expanses of farmland.

However, on reviewing info on the islands for writing this post, it was noted that the climate is generally mild and agriculture is the most important sector of the economy. We had headed here for the Neolithic sites all over the island, and the fact that it was situated north of the Scottish mainland.

Our first stop was to the Brough of Birsay, an uninhabited tidal island off the NW coast of Mainland. We happened to arrive during low tide, so we could cross over the rocks and causeway to explore the island -