The Battle of Jutland – 100 years of memories
May 31st marks the 100th anniversary of The Battle of Jutland where the main fleets of the British and German navies fought …
Weeping Window
I prefer the story “The fabulously wealthy rob us of our rightful taxes and expect us to be grateful to them when they abuse shell charities to fund their own self-indulgent and self-aggrandising projects.” That’s not how the story of Lady Susie Sainsbury’s benevolence gets told.
Westray Connections 2015 – The Pierowall Hotel Sessions
Friday night at The Pierowall Hotel and the bar is rammed. We’ve been there for hours already eating the Orkney beef in …
Angelic Angelica
The Angelica is growing beautifully and wears a bright halo at the Ring of Brodgar.
A glimpse of Stromness
It’s Sunday and we have a whole day on the mainland before our evening ferry to Westray. There’s time for a glimpse …
Too good to recycle
I love the Orkney Brewery. It produces some wonderful beers. The bottles that their Dark Island Reserve comes in are also beautiful. …
Velvet Crab Boxes
My friend has a wonderful garden on mainland Orkney. It has trees. Yes, you heard me right; trees. In amongst them were …
The Ness of Brodgar Open Day
The Ness of Brodgar is a great name. I spent many holidays as a child in South Devon in a small village …
Orkney Brewery
I’ve loved the Orkney Brewery’s beers ever since my first adventure with Red MacGregor and my journey to the Dark Island. I’ve …
Cycling in shell sand
Cycling in soft shell sand is always exhilarating and exhausting and is always a mistake; eventually. The sharp shell fragments will always …
Broken Stones
“Like pebbles on a beachKicked around, displaced by feetOh, like broken stonesThey’re all trying to get home” Paul Weller – Broken Stones
Talking Italian
I’ve always refused to buy a set of weighing scales for the bathroom. I tell people that’s because I have a teenage …
Ferry Fare
I’m on the Westray-bound ferry and suffering from heavy teas.
Long shadows
Orkney’s Neolithic past casts long shadows over its current landscape; literally and metaphorically. Here’s one of the Standing Stones of Stenness and …
Untouchable and Indomitable
Aberdeen. The oil capital of Europe. A place of granite and liquid black gold. A place of millionaires, the biggest heliport in …
Dog Years
Meg remembers me even though it’s been two years since she’s seen me. That’s even longer in dog years.
Rust bucket
Rust peppers the sides of an abandoned ambulance at The Tomb of the Eagles.
The Tomb of the Eagles
It’s a stunning day on Mainland Orkney and there’s plenty of time for a trip to The Tomb of the Eagles. The …
First Nation
Orkney is alive with archaeology, with neolithic and bronze age sites scattered all around the Islands. It’s a fitting place for a …
“Where I, in leaving, leave a part of my heart”.
The Italian Chapel was made on Orkney from two Nissen huts and scraps by Italian prisoners of war: “All the materials for …
First glimpse of the Italian Chapel
The most visited attraction on Orkney is free to visit, was constructed from scrap and Nissen huts and built entirely by Italian …
Waxcaps
On Fitty Hill I’m surprised to find a wonderful collection of Waxcaps. These fungi are classic inhabitants of poor, unimproved grassland and …
Devil’s-Bit Scabious
The slopes of Fitty Hill are alive with flowers and the glorious lilac of Devil’s-Bit Scabious waves in the light breeze. There …
A hot cold bath
Little luxuries are important if you’re living in a ruin on a remote island. A hot Radox bath is one of those …
Sweeping up
Okay, okay, I know I’ve got to sweep the floor of the Hall, but there are so many other more exciting things …
The Puffins are here!
The Puffins are here! I thought that I would have just missed them, but tonight, there they were, like flying boats at …
North Isles
The ferry to Westray is due in less than an hour. There’s just time to admire the blue skies, the boats in …
Fancy a sweet?
I’m glad to see that the Orkney obsession with rhubarb continues unabated!
Get your bunting out
So what’s so special about blue, red and yellow bunting across the street in Kirkwall I hear you ask? Well, they are …