Travelled: 72 kilometres from Burwick to Stromness in the Orkneys.
Visited: The Orkney Heritage and Fossil Museum ยฃ3.20pp, the Italian Chapel ยฃ3pp
Stayed: Stromness port, long term car-park, free with toilet. N58.96712, W03.29482
We wake to bright sunshine and relatively clear sky. The wind is still blowing but perhaps not as strongly. There is a toilet and tap here, so we service the Hymer ready for a days exploration.
A few metres from our overnight parking spot, we see a sign providing details of a coastal walk. So we decide to give it ago.
Looks interesting and Pam, like all wives enjoys a cliff walk.
The path rises sharply onto the headland. How beautiful Orkney can be when the sun shines.
Pam loves a good handrail, so she can hang over the cliff looking for puffins.
The cotton grass provides a change in colour as we pass.
We walk along the narrow path between the fence and the cliff line for an hour, before calling time and starting the journey back.
Back from our walk we get the Hymer moving, but only for a few hundred metres. Burwick church and cemetery is just up the road so we stop and explore.
The church is closed and no longer in use by the look. The cemetery itself seem to date back around 300 years. It appears to be standing room only as the last grave we can see is more that 20 years old.
Telling it how it is…
Finally on our way driving north we cross from Ronaldsay to Burray. Many of the islands on the eastern side of the archipelago are now joined by a series of causeways.
Orkney KW17, UK
Across the first causeway we make our way to the Orkney Fossil and Heritage Centre.
There are some excellent fossils on display…
The upper level of the museum is mostly about the impact of both world wars on Scapa Flow, its naval base and the building of the causeways.
In the foreground a โBren Gunโ or light machine gun and tri-pod. This one made in Lithgow, Australia.
Crossing another causeway this time from Burray to Glims Holm. The remains of ships scuttled some 80 years ago to create a barrier against German U boats can still be seen.
Another causeway and more sunken ships as we cross from Glims Holm to Lamb Holm. The sunshine highlights the chrystal waters of Scapa Flow.
The next must stop attraction is the Italian Church on Lamb Holm.
As the story goes a POW camp for Italians was establish in 1942 on Lamb Holm. After some procrastination the Italians agreed to work on the causeways if they could establish there own Catholic Church.
Constructed within a โNissan Hutโ lined with plaster and completely covered in mosaics, its a bit of a mini masterpiece. It was repainted by the original artist some 25 years later. Itโs an interesting story.
Nothing to add…
From Lamb Holm we cross the final causeway onto the largest island named Mainland, which seems fitting.
We do a quick stop at Mine Howe, confirming that its closed as stated in our guide.
UK
Bonus photo… we drive into Kirkwall, the main town on Orkney. Every car-park we have stopped in during our travels in Scotland has an electric re-charge point. I am not talking about just towns, but isloated villages as well. Well guess what, today we saw a car actually plugged into one.
Anyway the day is almost done. We have found a laundromatte in Kirkwall, but its closed by the time we find it. So we continue on to Stromness, finding a free overnight spot in the port long stay car-park. An hour later we meet up with Ian and Jo. Like them, we are thinking of visiting Hoy tomorrow. This calls for night out at the Ferry Inn, to discuss our tactics for the Old Man.
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