Heading north to Orkney and Shetland
Vatersay Bay
We head out from Oban, up the Sound of Mull and across the Minch to the Outer Hebrides. We have a fantastic sail, using the code zero and accompanied by a large pod of dolphins for over an hour. We land on the southernmost island, Vatersay and anchor in the large bay, just off a beautiful sandy beach. After a couple of days on Vatersay we go around the corner to Bara and tie up to the pontoon in Castlebay. Here we stock up on a few items, walk up the hill overlooking the bay and Kisimul castle, stronghold of the MacNeils.
We retraced our path up the Outer Hebrides, stopping just for an overnight stay on Ronay in a rocky but protected pool. The next day we got an early start to catch the tides and wind and made a run all the way up to Stornoway. Here we spent a couple of days to wait out some bad weather up north and then when the forecast looked favorable we set out for Orkney. Unfortunately the wind died on us just past Cape Wrath yet the large seas remained. The worst combination and the Captain felt a little peaky. We finally made it to Stromness and tied up to the dock. The next day we went exploring and discovered a beautiful town, caught in a 1950’s time warp. The narrow paved roads, quirky buildings and a wonderful art museum with connections to the Tate. There was also a lot of nautical history scattered around town if you looked.
We rent bicycles for a day and take off to explore the prehistoric sites of Orkney. We start off at Yesnaby Castle, a rock stack on the west coast. We cycled further north to Skara Brae, a 5000 year old Neolithic settlement. There was a recreation of what the dwellings were like and then the excavated ruins themselves, complete with stone dresser and bed. It is amazing to think this was inhabited 3000-2500BC. No rest, onwards to the Ring of Brodgar. We realised then that the wind, which had been on our backs was quite strong, necessitating us to cycle while going downhill! The final stop at the Stones of Steness completed our visit on Orkney.
Yesnaby Castle, a rock stack off the west coast of Orkney.
Dwelling at Skara Brae; large bed on left for male, smaller on right for female. Dresser facing entrance to room, firepit in center.
We move on after a storm passes across The Hole, a treacherous area of turbulent water, to Shetland. We anchor in Levenwick Bay and recover from a difficult sail, the strong winds and an accidental gybe caused us to break a sail car We spend a couple of days here, walking in the hills where we met John Sinclair, a local shepherd who invited us into his home for a cuppa. We learned about the Shetland sheep, his sheep dog Tess, and his life as a merchant mariner. We then move on to the main town of Lerwick and tie up to the pontoon.
Shoreside graveyard in Levenwick Bay.
On the way to Lerwick we stopped to visit the Broch of Mousa, the most complete and best preserved of all the Iron Age round towers found in Europe. It is though to have been constructed in 100BC and is one of 500 built in Scotland..
In Lerwick we stock up and finally find a place to fill up our propane. There is a shortage in the UK and we know there will be problems refilling in the European countries, so we are very pleased to have two full tanks. We discover there are strong ties between the Shetland Islands and Norway when a flotilla of Norwegian boats arrive to celebrate Norway independence day. Their numbers were a little scant so we volunteered and before we knew it we were marching through the streets of Lerwick waving our Norwegian flags.
We had previously seen a couple of these “boat” sheds, and were interested to chat with the creator of a particularly fine example, made with love for his wife, for her gardening tools. We also make friends on the dock with Alan, who we had initially met in Orkney, and Peter, an Australian sailor who we would meet again on our travels north.
