There’s now only one source of petrol and diesel on the Island – and this is it. We’re on bicycles for a month, so I’ve not had to use it, although I should really have got some for my petrol strimmer. I’ve been too busy enjoying Island life to use it.
This afternoon there was time to cycle to East Kirbest and walk to Inga Ness, skirting Skea Hill and to look out to sea with a posing cow for company.
Cycling to the Westside of Westray I can see the Netherhouse in silhouette. A series of dwellings built up the hill, the middle and lower were left in 1932, whilst the upper was finally only abandoned in the 1970s.
The most important archaeological find of last year was found on the remote Orkney island of Westray; or at least it was until someone unearthed a massive hoard of Anglo-Saxon gold treasure in Staffordshire. Now only a few archaeologists – and last night, watchers of BBC2′s Digging for Britain – know about the Orkney Venus [...]
Grobust is one of my favourite beaches on Westray. Here it is at sunset.
Grobust is a place I could (and do) go back to again and again. Being up before dawn and going to bed well after dusk, tracking the sun’s movement across the wide open skies and seeing the horizon everywhere I go is something I will miss when I leave.
For a grey, windy, desolate place of long winter nights Westray really knows how to do spectacular natural sights.
The end of a glorious day. Sunset at Grobust.
Orkney is a plural. It’s acceptable to say ‘the Islands of Orkney’. It’s fine to say ‘Orkney’. Saying ‘the Orkney Islands’ won’t raise an eyebrow from me either. However, say ‘the Orkneys’ and I will shudder. Orkney is a plural and refers to all of the islands here. You wouldn’t say ‘the sheeps’ would you? [...]
The ferry from Westray to Orkney takes over an hour to make the journey to the Mainland of Orkney. It’s easy for the visitor to get confused about places when talking to locals. ‘The Village’ means Pierowall. ‘The Island’ means Westray. ‘The Mainland’ doesn’t mean mainland Britain at all but the mainland of Orkney. Everywhere [...]