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Home , Auskerry, Burray, Copinsay, Deerness, Finstown, Gairsay

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Orkney & Islands

Why Go? ISLANDS ....405 Up here at Britain’s top end it can feel more Scandinavian ...... 406 than Scottish, and no wonder. For the , the jaunt across the from Norway was as easy as a stroll ...... 414 down to the local mead hall and they soon controlled these ...... 417 windswept, treeless archipelagos, laying down longhouses Northern Islands ...... 418 alongside stony remains of ancient prehistoric settlements. SHETLAND Though they are not as scenically splendid as Skye, ISLANDS ...... 424 say, an ancient magic hovers in the air above the Orkney ...... 424 and Shetland Islands, endowing them with an allure that lodges fi rmly in the soul. It’s in the misty seas, where seals, South Mainland ...... 431 whales and porpoises patrol lonely coastlines; it’s in the ...... 433 air, where squadrons of seabirds wheel above huge nest- North Mainland ...... 433 ing colonies; and it’s on land, where standing stones catch The North Isles ...... 435 late summer sunsets and strains of folk music disperse in the air before the wind gusts shut the pub door. Make the journey; open that door. Best Places to Stay » W e s t M a n s e ( p 4 2 2 ) W h e n t o G o » Woodwick House (p414 ) Lerwick » Links House (p 414 ) °C/°F Temp Rainfall Inches/mm 40/104 10/250 » Busta House Hotel (p434 ) 30/86 8/200 » cottages (p429 ) 20/68 6/150 » Almara B&B (p434 ) 10/50 4/100 » St Magnus Bay Hotel 0/32 2/50 (p435 ) -10/14 0 J FDNOSAJJMAM

Best Places to Eat: January The Shet- June Orkney July Take advan- » The Creel (p412 ) lands’ rocks to the St tage of the sum- festival, for horned Magnus Festival: mer sunlight and » Hamnavoe Restaurant helmets and burn- book accommo- Britain’s longest (p416 ) ing Viking ships on dation ahead. daylight hours. » Monty’s Bistro (p 428 ) the beach. Mull North Head Ronaldsay –# 404 St Boniface Church #Ü Papa North Linklet

3°W Ronaldsay Bay –# #ä Knap of Hower \# Papa Beltane The \# Sound North #6 Westray Sound \# Northwall Midbea \# Northern Islands 020kmRapness \# Red Head Sound e# 010miles –# Sanday \# #äQuoyness Stone of Setter #ä Kettletoft Chambered

Faray To Shetland

Westray Tomb Islands Firth Rapness ‚ \# Loth Sound –# Spurness Costa St Magnus Sanday Kirk Eday Sound Hill #Ü Brough R Backaland \# –# Papa of Head #ä Sound \# \# Earl's Gurness Linga Palace Whitehall ä# Wyre Evie \# Marwick Mid Hill R Stronsay Stronsay Head \# Sound Firth Tingwall Gairsay The Marwick /·A967 Galt Bay /·A966 A986 ORKNEY & ISLANDS SHETLAND /· Skaill Mainland #ä1 #â House Loch of Maes #V Wide Balfour #2 Howe Firth Castle #ä #ä \# Shapinsay 59°N 59°N Loch of #äStanding /·A965 Sound Mull Stones of Kirkwall \# Stromness #5 Kirkwall Head \# # Stenness Hoy 4 –# Stromness Deer #æ Sound Ward Hill /·A964 /·A961 #ä Sound Gloup R Mine \# \# Howe St John's \# Moaness A960 Head \# /· R Bring #5 Cuilags Deeps #7 Lamb Holm Cava Glims Knap of R Holm Trowiegien #â Orkney Fossil & Hoy Vintage Centre #3 Fara ORKNEY ISLANDS \# St Margaret's Hoy \# Hope /·A961 Longhope \# South Ronaldsay North Halcro Sea Head \# Burwick Stroma 3 ° Dunnet W To

Head ‚

Orkney Islands Highlights 1 Shaking your head in 3 Exploring the scenic and the much humbler Italian astonishment at extraordinary majesty of Hoy (p 417 ) and – Chapel at Lamb Holm (p 410 ) Skara Brae (p 413 ), a village for serious rock climbers – 6 Island-hopping the magical of prehistoric perfection that scaling the Old Man there Northern Islands (p418 ), pre-dates the pyramids 4 Pacing the stone-fl agged where crystal azure waters lap 2 Plunging down the main street of Stromness against glittering white-sand passageway into spooky Maes (p 414 ), as salty a fi shing town beaches Howe (p 412 ), an enormous as you’ll ever fi nd 7 Diving the sunken warships Stone Age tomb livened up by 5 Admiring the magnifi cent of Scapa Flow (p416 ) some bawdy Viking graffi ti cathedral at Kirkwall (p 406 )