Hunda Island and Hoxa Head

Tuesday 4th September 2018

Having done most of my walking in the Orkney Isles on the mainland, I thought I’d spend my last day in the southern islands of Burray and South Ronaldsay. Catching the bus south from Kirkwall I couldn’t resist stopping off at the popular tourist attraction of the Italian Chapel on the uninhabited island of Lamb Holm. This was built by Italian prisoners of war during the Second World War while they were constructing the causeways now known as the Churchill Barriers that link these southern islands with the mainland. The chapel is an amazing testament to the spirit of the POW's to prosper in adversity by adapting their makeshift homes to make living in this exposed location more agreeable. It must be really difficult to preserve these buildings as they were supposed to be temporary structures built with scrap metal and concrete. I visited the Italian Chapel in 2000 during my previous visit to Orkney, and it is interesting to see the efforts since then to preserve it and control access for the many tourists who visit the islands. It is an amazing place and well deserved of the popularity and the efforts to preserve it. I had only intended on a brief stopover between buses, but I spent so long looking around I had to wait for the next bus only for that to be ten minutes late.

Fortunately I was once again blessed with gorgeous sunshine, so as I waited for the bus I had great views out towards the Scapa Flow and back across Churchill Barrier Number One to the Orkney mainland. When the bus finally came I caught it as far as Burray Village on the island of Burray where I headed along a road west that soon turned into a track as I followed the directions from the walkhighlands.co.uk website. Turning off the track I headed to the coast climbing over a fence to reach a rough path that was not easy to follow and required more fence climbing, so it was with some relief when I finally reached the track at the start of the causeway that is marked on my map as Hunda Reef. Crossing this causeway brought me to the uninhabited island of Hunda where I started my clockwise circumnavigation of the coastline. This was a lovely little walk under bright blue skies with a clear path underfoot and I was accompanied by loads of wildlife particularly seabirds, and seals who poked their heads above the water just off the coast watching me with interest. Slowly I made my way round the southern tip of the island, Cairn Head, and as I turned north the views opened out across the Scapa Flow, the vast body of water that is enclosed by the Orkney Isles.

Eventually I reached the eastern tip of the island, East Ayre, where I turned south and headed back to the causeway. After crossing the causeway I didn’t want to retrace my steps back along the coast due to the roughness of the path, despite being recommended to do so by walkhighlands.co.uk, but I soon encountered the reason why. A locked gate barred access past the farm buildings of Littlequoy with a notice proclaiming: “Private Property. No Public Right of Way.” I thought the Scottish laws of access meant notices such as these were not enforceable, so I ignored the notice and climbed over the gate walking past the fortunately unoccupied farm buildings, over another locked gate and along a farm track to reach a third locked gate and finally reach the public road. I have two guidebooks that recommend taking this track through Littlequoy, but it appears that since the property was sold in 2015 there have been access problems, so I must have been very fortunate to escape without encountering anyone or any problems.

With the possibly of catching the one-thirty bus I tried to hurry along the road, but soon I decided that this was a waste of effort so I turned off onto a track that climbs the hillside through heather towards the highest point on Burray, however, I missed the turning to the trig point and passed to the north on a straight line that took me all the way back onto a road. The one-thirty bus actually passed just as I was descending towards the main road and made me wonder if I could have caught it if I’d hurried. With another hour’s wait for the next bus I slowly walked along the road back to Burray Village where I bought a delicious Orkney Ice Cream and continued along the road until I reached Churchill Barrier Number Four. This causeway is unlike the others in that the eastern side has silted up creating a stunning network of sand dunes and a beach that was a pleasure to walk along under the clear blue skies. Eventually I tore myself away and reaching the southern end of the causeway on the island of South Ronaldsay I was able to catch a bus to the small fishing village of St. Margaret’s Hope and the start of my next walk.

Heading west and then north along quiet roads I made my way around what is marked on maps as Lowertown, even though there are hardly any buildings, but with stunning views over Hunda Island and towards the Scapa Flow. Passing the quaint little bay of Dam of Hoxa I came upon the promontory of Uppertown where more road walking eventually took me to the road end car park where a footpath lead me down to the coast. This is a lovely walk that was rather spoilt for me by a covering of cloud that ruined the views, but as I made my way along the coast it wasn’t the views out to sea that were drawing my attention, but the old gun emplacements and lookout posts that line the coast. They were fascinating places as I tried to imagine what they would have been like during World War Two, though now the concrete structures are disintegrating so care if required. Once again I had a thought of hurrying to catch a bus so I didn’t linger too long and continued along the coast on an increasingly sketchy path on precipitously steep terrain. Eventually I came to my senses and climbed up away from the coast, and after negotiating several barbed-wire fences successfully returned to Hoxa Battery where I was now able to spend as long as I wanted looking around this fascinating site.

Eventually I took the correct route out of Hoxa Battery back onto the road, through Uppertown and down to the Sand of Wright where I aimed to follow the road back to St. Margaret’s Hope and catch a bus to Kirkwall. However, I didn’t get as far as the bus as I eventually caught a lift with some people who I'd met while exploring Hoxa Battery, but this was still a very disjointed day with a lot of different bus journeys, and a lot of waiting for the bus. Although the walks on this day were very sketchy with a lot of it on roads the sunshine, great coastal scenery and fascinating World War Two buildings made for some enjoyable walking. The weather throughout my holiday on Orkney was sensational and enabled me to make the most of these fabulous islands. It had taken me eighteen years to return to Orkney after my first visit in 2000, but now that I know there is so much more to see of Orkney I hope it will not be too long before I make a return visit.