Wideford Hill

Sunday 2nd September 2018

My original reason for coming to the Orkney Isles was to visit the Highland Park Distillery where I had previously paid a fleeting visit when I went to Orkney in 2000. The sample of their whisky that I tasted that day was the first whisky that I ever tasted and since then I have loved their delicious, peaty cup of golden joy that also introduced me to many other gorgeous scotch whiskies and prompted me to visit so many other distilleries. Now I would finally be returning to where my love affair with the water of life began, to the standard that all other whiskies have been compared, and very few have been able to stand against. On my previous visit, as part of a highlights tour of Orkney, I did not have time to take the full tour of the distillery so I decided that Sunday would be the day of my holiday in Orkney when I would fulfil my long held desire. Therefore under gorgeous blue skies I set off around the edge of Kirkwall to reach the Highland Park Distillery in time for the opening and the first tour.

I wasn’t disappointed, and it was great to see where the whisky drams that I have enjoyed for many years were born. It was interesting seeing the emphasis on traditional techniques even down to malting all the barley themselves, which is something that hardly any other distillery does now with Laphroaig being the only other place where I’ve see it done. After depositing my purchases back at the youth hostel I headed into the centre of Kirkwall where I had a look around the ruins of the medieval Bishop’s Palace and the adjacent Earl’s Palace before heading over to St Magnus Cathedral. These were fascinating places and I enjoyed looking around them in the warm sunshine, and then when I had finished doing that I returned to the youth hostel and watched the Italian Grand Prix. By the time I emerged from the youth hostel again it was quarter to four and since walking is supposed to be the point of this blog I had better start describing a walk. I headed down to the harbour where I took a walk around the inland Peerie Sea and the adjacent boating lake but this walk was far too short for me so I turned my eyes west to the hill that gazes over Kirkwall: Wideford Hill.

Passing the Pickaquoy Centre I walked through the lovely Muddisdale Woodland, whose small trees were a welcome sight, though looking back towards Kirkwall I was astonished to see so many trees scattered around the town, on an island that is famous for hardly having any trees. After passing Orkney Golf Course I emerged onto Sunnybank Road where a few steps to my left took me to a right turn up a track that led me to the busy top of Wideford Hill that is littered with telecommunications masts. Crossing the southern slopes of the hill I came off the road and onto a path that slowly descends the heather covered western slopes of the hill while before me were views towards the Bay of Firth. I was rather concerned that I had gone to all this effort to climb the hill only to start descending the other side before I’d reached the top. Halfway down the hill my destination was eventually revealed in Wideford Hill Chambered Cairn that seemed to me to be a simpler version of the majestic Maes Howe that I had visited two days before. On closer examination I found there was even less similarity between the two with a much smaller entrance that is now blocked off and a ladder from the top that now gives access.

I was struck by the rudimentary design compared with Maes Howe whereby I had to crawl along the floor to get to some of the cells, but all I achieved was getting covered in mud. A large torch is provided, but this wasn’t working, however most people these days carry a mobile multifunctional device that works very well as a torch and I was able to use mine (usually abbreviated in this country to mobile) to illuminate the dark and dingy cells of the chambered cairn. These chaotically arranged cells are nothing like the elegant and symmetrical arrangement of Maes Howe and made me think that if this chambered cairn is an example of a burial mound then Maes Howe is completely different. I’d have to agree with my guide around Maes Howe that it must be something else, and the chambered cairn on Wideford Hill is at best an amateur’s attempt at copying a professional masterpiece. After wiping myself down, I climbed back out of the chamber and putting the hatch back down I set off through the heather all the way up to the top of the hill.

During my climb up Wideford Hill the lovely blue skies that I had enjoyed all day had finally been replaced with overcast skies so the views from the top were not as good as I had hoped. However, there were still quite good views north across the Wide Firth, towards the northern isles of Orkney and south over the Scapa Flow. Since it was now after six o’clock in the evening and I wanted my dinner I ran down the hill to the lowest wireless station and onto the road retracing my steps all the way back to Kirkwall. This was a lovely little walk, and after spending most of the day sightseeing in Kirkwall it was great to be able to get in an enjoyable walk. Orkney was still delivering fabulous sights with walks that more than justified coming to the islands even without the lure of whisky.