Thursday 30th August 2018
It started raining as soon as I left the Kirkwall Youth Hostel at the start of this day, so by the time I reached the bus station the short, heavy shower had left me quite wet, but fortunately the rain was short-lived and the weather gradually improved throughout the rest of the day to produce an amazing afternoon of walking along some truly sensational coastal terrain. The bus took me to Stromness, the second largest town on Orkney and the main ferry terminal from the Scottish mainland, but I wasn’t taking the ferry anywhere. Instead I walked through the narrow streets out to the point of Ness where I had views across the Sound of Hoy to the island of Hoy where the biggest hills in all of Orkney beckoned me over and teased me for not making the crossing. Continuing along the coast I passed some World War Two gun emplacements, Links Battery, while further along the coast and up the hill is a much larger and better preserved complex of gun emplacements and barracks, Ness Battery. Unfortunately access is only available with a guided tour and the tour for that day was at four o’clock. If I’d known this in advance I could have done the walk in the opposite direction and ended at Ness Battery, but instead I continued along the coast while the morning cloud-cover slowly began to clear.
The path slowly deteriorated as I passed Warebeth beach until eventually I reached a sign declaring that the coastal path to Skara Brae headed inland at this point. I had wanted to keep to the coast so was rather annoyed, but since there was barley in the next field I felt I couldn’t proceed further, though I suppose I could have tried walking along the stony beach. However, I didn’t consider this option at the time, so I turned inland heading up the hill until I reached a farmer’s track where I could see no indication whether I should turn left or right. In order to keep following the coast I turned left and soon came into a grassy field, but rather than turning around I crossed to the far corner of the field, climbed over the wire fence and kept going like that until eventually I dropped down onto the beach. When I ran out of beach I had to continue trying to cross the various barbed wire and electrified fences, until eventually after a lot of difficulty I reached some very modern looking buildings that is the wave test site for the European Marine Energy Centre. From there a faint path between the fields and the shore provided me with a more reliable route towards the imposing cliffs of Black Craig.
As the terrain steepened I decided to branch away from the clifftop path in order to reach the structure that sits at the top of Black Craig, which I found to be an old lookout station now used by EMEC for their wave energy research. There I sheltered from the ever-present Orkney wind and had my lunch before setting off along a now clear path onto open moorland north along the coast. Restored to the correct route along the coast after my earlier transgressions I now made rapid progress and after one last, brief, shower the skies cleared so that I was able to enjoy the lovely sunshine under bright blue skies beside increasingly dramatic coastal scenery. After passing the spectacular sea stack of the Castle of North Gaulton, the terrain became exceptional with awesome cliffs below a craggy shoreline washed clear of soil by the tremendous power of the waves surmounting the cliffs. The coastline near Yesnasby is utterly awe-inspiring and I had great weather in which to enjoy it as I hopped from rock to rock keeping to the edge of the complex coastline passing the two-legged sea stack of Yesnasby Castle.
I couldn’t believe how awesome was this landscape that reminded me of being at the top of a high mountain in the Lake District, such was the abundance of rock. After exploring the Point of Qui Ayre, within sight of the Castle, I made my way along the coast and up to the cairn at the top of the Brough of Bigging before coming back down and around the stunning inlet of the Noust of Bigging. I was having so much fun I didn’t want this to end, but the sensational terrain could not last forever as further north the coast deteriorated from the excellence of Yesnasby. Although the terrain is less dramatic I still had a lot of bare rock to enjoy walking on as I continued along the coast passing the ruins of the Broch of Borwick and the deep inlet of Ramna Geo slowly making my way all the way up the coast to Ward Hill. After passing the natural arch of Hole O’ Row, I slowly descended into the Bay of Skaill where I explored the rocky shoreline before finally reaching the sandy beach not far from the remains of the Neolithic village of Skara Brae.
I didn’t have time to visit the village so I slowly wandered along the beach for a time enjoying the sunshine before heading back to the visitor centre at Skara Brae where I caught the bus back to Kirkwall. This was a stunning walk that was almost ruined by going the wrong way across the fields just outside Stromness, but once I reached the top of Black Craig the walk quickly improved with the weather until I reached the truly stunning coastal scenery of Yesnasby in warm, afternoon sunshine. I thoroughly enjoyed myself there and was one of those moments that you wish could never end. With hindsight I wish I’d stayed at Yesnasby, spending more time exploring the fabulous coastline, but life moves on and I moved on along the coast so I just have accept that. You can’t stay in one place, you have to move on.
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