Orkney

Orkney lies just over six miles beyond the north coast of mainland Scotland, across the fast, unpredictable water of the Pentland Firth. It is an archipelago of roughly seventy islands, around twenty of them inhabited, and the first thing most visitors notice is how little of it looks like the Highlands they have just driven through. There are almost no trees. The land rolls in low green curves of grazing and barley, split by drystone dykes and edged, quite suddenly, by cliffs. The sky takes up most of the view. On a clear day the light off the water is extraordinarily bright, and on a grey one the whole archipelago turns the colour of pewter.

What sets Orkney apart from every other part of the British Isles is the depth of its human record. People have farmed here continuously for more than five thousand years, and because there was so little timber they built in stone, which is why so much survives. The Heart of Neolithic Orkney is a UNESCO World Heritage Site covering four monuments on the West Mainland, and they are not fenced-off curiosities but working parts of the landscape, with sheep grazing up to the stones. Layered on top of that is a Norse period that lasted six centuries and still shapes the place names, the dialect and the sagas, and on top of that again a twentieth-century military history centred on the great natural anchorage of Scapa Flow.

Orkney is also emphatically a lived-in, working place rather than a museum. Kirkwall, the capital, has around nine thousand residents, a busy harbour and a red sandstone cathedral at its centre. Stromness, the second town, is a single flagstone street winding along the waterfront with lanes running down to private piers. Farming, fishing, whisky, renewable energy and the ferries keep the islands going. Visitors who arrive expecting remoteness and hardship tend to be surprised by how comfortable, well fed and well connected they are.

Getting to Orkney

There is no bridge, so every journey involves a boat or a plane. From London the usual rail approach is to Edinburgh or Inverness first; London to Inverness takes around eight hours by day or overnight on the Caledonian Sleeper, and the Far North Line then runs from Inverness to Thurso in roughly three and a half to four hours through some genuinely empty country. Thurso is a short bus or taxi ride from Scrabster harbour.

From Scrabster, NorthLink Ferries sail to Stromness in about ninety minutes, passing beneath the Hoy cliffs and the Old Man on the way in. Pentland Ferries run from Gills Bay, near John o' Groats, to St Margaret's Hope on South Ronaldsay in around an hour, and this is often the cheaper crossing for cars. NorthLink also operates a longer overnight route from Aberdeen to Kirkwall, taking roughly six hours, which suits anyone who would rather sleep than drive north. In summer a foot-passenger service from John o' Groats adds another option.

By road, Inverness to Scrabster is about 110 miles on the A9 and A99 or A836, allowing two and a half to three hours without stops. Bringing a car is worth doing if you plan to explore the Mainland properly, though book ferry vehicle space well in advance for June to August. Both ferry terminals have parking if you prefer to travel as a foot passenger and hire locally. Kirkwall Airport, a few miles from town, has Loganair flights from Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Inverness and Shetland, and inter-island flights connect the smaller isles, including the famously brief hop between Westray and Papa Westray.

Best time to visit Orkney

Spring is when Orkney begins to feel generous. From April the seabird colonies fill up, wildflowers appear on the cliff tops and the days lengthen quickly. May is often the driest month of the year and the Orkney Folk Festival brings Stromness alive at the end of it. Puffins are generally around the cliffs from late April to early August.

Summer brings the long light Orcadians call the simmer dim, when it barely gets properly dark in June and you can walk a beach at eleven at night. The St Magnus International Festival takes over Kirkwall in June, and July and August are the warmest months, though warm here means highs of about fifteen or sixteen degrees. This is peak season for ferries and accommodation, so book months ahead.

Autumn thins the crowds without losing much. September still has decent light and settled spells, the archaeology sites are quieter, and by late October the first aurora displays, known locally as the Merry Dancers, become possible. Winter is dark, windy and genuinely dramatic. Some attractions close or cut their hours and ferries occasionally cancel in heavy weather, but the storm watching is superb and Kirkwall's Ba' game, a mass street football contest played on Christmas Day and New Year's Day, is unlike anything else in Britain.