Scenic Scotland

My Great Escape: Our reader Mary Tappenden explores rugged Orkney

My husband, son, one of my daughters and I set off for a holiday in Scotland one promising May morning. I had booked us into a holiday cottage on the southern side of Loch Ness, at a place called Torness. We learned later that the road that took us there was built by General Wade in 1732 to assist soldiers sent there to help to control the clans.

Our cottage was not a disappointment, with white walls and lovely wooden latched doors. Discussing our plans, we all decided it would be a great adventure to drive to John O’groats to catch a ferry to the Orkney Islands. Getting up at about 4.30am we had our breakfast and set off. We arrived in good time to catch our boat at 9am. We sat on the top deck to soak in the fresh, salty air, and all felt very excited. On arrival at the first island, we were met by a coach which drove us across the Churchill Barriers that link all the islands. These barriers were built by Italian prisoners of war in the Second World War, who resided on a small uninhabited island.

On arrival at the capital, Kirkwall, we had lunch and visited the Cathedral of St Magnus, built in

1137 by the Viking Earl Rognwald in

honour of his uncle, who had been martyred on Orkney. This cathedral is the most northerly in Britain. We then went on to Skara Brae, a wonderful Neolithic Settlement on the Bay of Skaill. The sand had been eroded over many years, and uncovered this gem, which was uncannily well-preserved. It was hard to realise that as long ago as that, they had what we would recognise as a dressing table (made of stone slabs) complete with jewellery. We spent a long time there, soaking in the wonder of it. There was more to come though, as we arrived at another Neolithic structure of the Rings of Brodgar which is thought to have been constructed in the third millennium BC. Our last ancient structure was the wonderful Maeshowe—a huge grass mound covering a burial chambered cairn, estimated to be erected around 2800BC, amazingly.

On way to catch our return ferry, we stopped off at the Italian Chapel, a Roman Catholic place of worship that the Italian prisoners built on their then uninhabited island. We were the only people to stay on the top deck on our return journey, braving the cold winds, as we wanted to keep the magic with us as long as we could. It was a day none of us will ever forget.

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