The Broch of Gurness and the Brough of Birsay

Wednesday 29th August 2018

When I arrived in the Orkney Isles it was rather late in the evening, so on the following morning I was still settling in, getting myself organised, and that dictated the walk that I did on this day. Therefore I found myself catching the later 9.37 bus rather than the earlier 9.15 buses to elsewhere on the island. This bus dropped me off in the scattered community of Evie on the north coast of the mainland of Orkney where I set off along a quiet road with good views out to the coast and the island of Rousay beyond. Despite strong, cold winds the weather was good with lovely sunshine as I walked past Aikerness Farm and along a track to the top of the low hill on Aiker Ness. On the far side of the hill I could see the remains of the Broch of Gurness to my left and a clear view across Eynhallow Sound to Rousay. Coming down the hill I turned left when I reached the coast and made my way through rough vegetation to the wall that surrounds the site of the Broch of Gurness easily crossing the wall on a stile to gain entry to the Iron Age ruins of a broch, a building style that is unique to Scotland.

After a good look around the site I went to the entrance where I found that I was supposed to have paid to enter, which I hadn’t done by walking across the fields to the back of the site. I had had a similar experience when I was in Orkney eighteen years earlier and didn't discover that I was supposed to have paid until after looking around the Earl’s Palace in Kirkwall. To prevent any further such problems on this holiday I promptly paid not only for entry to this site but to all Historic Scotland sites on Orkney by purchasing an Orkney Explorer Pass. Having now paid for entry I felt compelled to look around the Broch of Gurness again before finally leaving and heading west along the coast soon reaching the beautiful Sands of Evie. It was lovely walking beside the sea along the beach in the bright sunshine with no haste slowly enjoyed every step. Eventually I ran out of beach and came up to a small car park where on a signpost I found a tiny symbol of a cross with a wavy line underneath, which marks the route of the St Magnus Way. This is a newly introduced long distance trail across the mainland of Orkney that starts in Evie going all the way to Kirkwall, but I had no intention of following the whole route, however the first stage served my purpose along the coast so would be my route for the day.

After resuming my walk along the beach for a while I climbed back up onto the edge of fields following a fence. The St Magnus Way website describes this as being some of the roughest walking on the entire route and eventually I came to a point where it looked like I could proceed no further even though the official route does continue along the coast for some way beyond. A barbed wire fence seemed to block my route so I made my way inland through several fields to eventually reach the road, which I followed passing after a while the path that comes up from the shore, but I don’t know how I could have reached that point. While continuing along the road for what seemed like ages a heavy rain shower fell that drenched me despite being short-lived so that by the time I reached the point where the trail returns to the shore I was soaked. Once I was back on the coast I stopped to eat my lunch and dry off while enjoying the stunning scenery, and under the clear blue skies I soon dried off. When I resumed my trek along the rocky shore I had a truly satisfying time as I hopped from rock to rock along the shoreline.

Eventually I came to a point where I could no longer keep to the shore and I had to climb up to the field edges where a narrow path follows the cliff-edge above a steep drop down to the sea below until I finally reached the point where the St Magnus Way turns inland once again to climb back up to the road. A short walk along this road brought me to a track that climbs up to the trig point at the top of Costa Hill where there are also some concrete ruins that are probably Ernie Tower as marked on the O.S. map, though what they are seems to be vague with an internet search suggesting they had been radio station and/or an early wind turbine. From this point the St Magnus Way is marked by low wooden points with the familiar symbol and I was reminded of the way the Hebridean Way is signposted across the pathless moorland of the Outer Hebrides, though once these had brought me down from the top of Costa Hill to the coast they seemed to abandon me. Rather than keep going in the direction the posts had been leading me I turned left and followed the cliff-edge continuing to descend the slopes of Costa Hill to the sea inlet of Ramma Geo. Not far from there is a sea stack called Standard Rock, which some people have been known to climb, but I had difficulty just viewing it from the top of the tall, steep cliffs in the strong winds.

Continuing along the now well-marked St Magnus Way, I made good progress in the gorgeous weather along the top of the cliffs beside the stunning coast with the tidal island of the Brough of Birsay now clearly in view. The deep inlet of Whitaloo Point required some tricky and steep walking and after more satisfying walking around Skipi Geo I finally reached the Point of Buckquoy with the Brough of Birsay before me. Fortunately the tide was out and I was able to walk across the causeway to reach the remains of a medieval monastery and a Viking settlement. There is an entry fee to this site but since it was late in the afternoon the nearby building was not open to take your money. I’m sure if the tide had been out in the middle of the day then the site would have been manned but since high tide was six o’clock there was no one there, despite loads of people looking around the ruins, however my entry fee was covered by the Explorer ticket. After a look around I headed up to the lighthouse at the highest point on the island and then followed the coast around to return to the ruins and finally back across to the mainland. Since I had a bit of time left until my bus I took a look around the sixteenth century Earl’s Palace in Birsay, but it wasn’t particularly interesting. However, this walk was fantastic with the sunshine helping, but the scenery along the coast was amazing and made me eager for more days in Orkney.