Knots landing at the Peedie Sea
I’m wandering the shore at Kirkwall Harbour for an hour before the ferry takes me to Westray. I’m loving the complex singing …
I’m wandering the shore at Kirkwall Harbour for an hour before the ferry takes me to Westray. I’m loving the complex singing …
I’ve just woken up in a Viking city. A city which is only part of the UK, and not Norway, because King …
When I first arrived in Orkney 11 years ago I hated it. I had high expectations of an interesting and historic place …
There’s a huge tide of seaweed washed up in the bay at North Haven on Westray. We check for seals on the …
It’s blustery at the top of the 60 metre-high cliffs on Westray’s Noup Head. We’re surrounded by Gannets flying past us when …
It only takes an hour and a half to cross the Pentland Firth from Scrabster to Stromness on the Northlink ferry. Standing …
The brown waters of the River Tiber in Rome never seem to be able to reflect the intense blue of the sky …
The Puffin is a little bird with a funny face, and a big beak striped like pyjamas.
The Chiff Chaff – 60 years ago and now.
The Northlink Ferry from Scrabster on the Scotland mainland to Stromness on the Orkney Mainland is always entertaining, thankfully in a good …
The Links of Notland is such an amazing place for archaeology. It has a huge neolithic settlement, site of the discovery of …
Westray is a small island but it’s big enough to have a school and a care home, a doctors and a hotel. …
Looking out across the Bay of Tuquoy we can see a mirage. It might be an island. The shape is constantly changing …
I’ve been in and around Orkney for ten years and never been to some of the outer islands. Being in Westray means …
Nothing can fully prepare you for coming to Orkney for the first time but I’m going to try. You probably already know …
Orkney had a substantial Italian Prisoner of War population in the Second World War. They were specially commandeered for building work to …
Someone in Orkney could make a fortune making picnic benches and seats like this one in the grounds of this house in …
I knew Ola Gorie’s jewellery before I knew Orkney. Ola is a really important figure to me and to countless others as …
The woodcarver who made this pair of birds in St Magnus Cathedral had a smile on their face. They look like lovebirds to me.
I love these ornate hinges on the doors to St Magnus Cathedral in Kirkwall.
I love the Orkney Museum in the centre of Kirkwall, opposite St Magnus Cathedral. One of the mind-blowing exhibits is a carved …
I love the Orkney Museum. Every time I go there I see something else that I’d bypassed on all previous visits. Here’s …
In life Saint Olaf was a violent and brutal warlord; a killer Viking who lived 1,000 years ago. Yet he’s a Christian …
I love sunsets at the Bay of Tafts. The sun is getting lower and there’s a warm glow in the sky.
One end of the Brough of Birsay in Orkney is very different from the other.
Hearing an Eider Duck call is something you won’t forget. It’s hard to describe to someone without the same cultural references. It’s …
Here’s a magnificent Viking longship in stained glass in St Magnus Cathedral. Viking longships were ships of war and built for raiding. …