Thur, May 16th 2019
Knowing that we will be spending a long time on Hoy, and because it is definitely cooler today, we have oatmeal for breakfast before heading off to catch the ferry at Houton. We’re on our way, and even before we dock in Lyness it is immediately clear that Hoy has a very different geology from the other islands. There are real hills here and the land lies differently. https://www.scottishgeology.com/best-places/hoy-orkney/
We start off widdershins around the coast stopping, of course, for coffee and scones at the first little restaurant we see. Disappointing it is, the coffee is weak and scones unremarkable. We continue on over the top of the island to the town of Rackwick, right on the bay at Rora Head, at the end of the divide between the two high hills of Hoy. The Old Man of Hoy, a sea stack, is nearby, but not nearby enough! so we walk south instead. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Man_of_Hoy
We first encounter a building which had been a shepherd’s bothy but is now a hostel where today a half dozen bright orange tents have been pitched. Boy scouts we’re told. We enter, there is a peat fire burning and a very rudimentary communal kitchen; overall it looks much like the farmhouse at Kirbister or Corrigall except for the intrusion of a number of well-worn mid century chairs.
Then we follow a sheep trail right along the beach side and look out on to the still-brown heather covered hillsides. It’s very windy. We are all bundled up and the trail is tight so we don’t walk very far and soon turn back first to see a bit more of the town and then to eat our lunch in the car. (We are repeatedly glad to have our boxy, roomy Tepec as it is far too windy to sit outside today.)
This is the Nature Week in Orkney and so on our drive back toward the east side of the island we stop where there is an eagle watch in progress. White eagles have been reintroduced and this pair, nesting high up on the hillside, have two chicks. We all look through the telescopes set up by the roadside but truthfully I can’t say that I have seen them. This is the same place where we walk up to the Dwarvie Stane. There is a small group with a tour guide so we informally join them to listen. Why it is there, how it got there and what it was used for or meant, even its age is mostly conjecture.
https://www.orkney.com/listings/dwarfie-stane
The afternoon is passing quickly. We come across a sad little gravestone with its story of a young unmarried woman who killed herself after becoming pregnant and being shunned by the villagers.
On our coastal drive we see a bay filled with fish farming sites.
We stop at another tea room cum gift shop, Emily’s, and indulge in more cappuccino. (Yeah, yeah, I know, it’s wrong to drink cappuccino after breakfast!) and this one was very much better. Then we try to find some of the WWII sites–Lyness was the home base of the Royal Navy–but the museum is closed. We do find the building that was the communications center (Wee Fae). I’m sorry to once again miss seeing some of this history. English TV shows like A Family at War and When the Boat Comes In with their references to Scapa Flow have always fascinated me.
But now it’s time to get back on the ferry and it’s home again. Lynn’s pork stew has been slow-cooking all day–its aroma hits us even before we open the door! It’s delicious and very welcome after a day of bruising winds. Later we watch the rest of RuPaul’s Drag Race to see who won.