Orkney - The Rough Guide to Scotland - page 535

during the boom years of the herring industry, but was badly affected by the sinking of
the blockships during World War I. he two-storey warehouse, built in 1860 in order
to cure and pack the herring, has since been converted into the Sands Hotel (see below).

Orkney Fossil and Heritage Centre
April-Sept daily 10am-4pm • £4 • T 01856 731255, W orkneyfossilcentre.co.uk
Burray's chief attraction is the Orkney Fossil and Heritage Centre , housed in a converted
farm on the island's main road. he UV “glow room”, where the rocks reveal their
iridescent colours, is a particular favourite with kids, though be sure to show them the
coprolite (fossilized poo) among the main displays, too. Upstairs, there's a lot of
wartime memorabilia and a whole section on the Churchill Barriers - kids can practice
building their own - while the ground floor has a community-run café.
ARRIVAL AND DEPARTURE BURRAY

By bus Buses from Kirkwall to St Margaret's Hope call in at Burray village shop (Mon-Sat hourly; 30min).

15

ACCOMMODATION, EATING AND DRINKING
Sands Hotel 14 Main St T 01856 731298, W thesands
hotel.co.uk. An imposing former fish warehouse overlooking
Burray harbour - now a hotel with simple pine furnishings
and a few original features. The bar menu dishes (all under

£10) include herring in oatmeal, and mince and tatties; the
restaurant serves up local scallops and black pudding (mains
£12-16). Food served Mon- Sat n oon-2pm & 6-9pm, Sun
noon-2pm & 5.30-8.30pm. £99

South Ronaldsay
Low-lying South Ronaldsay is the largest of the islands linked to the Mainland by the
Churchill Barriers. It was traditionally the chief crossing point to the Scottish
mainland, as it's only six miles across the Pentland Firth from Caithness. Today, car
ferries arrive at St Margaret's Hope, and there's a passenger ferry between John
O'Groats and Burwick, on the island's southernmost tip.

St Margaret's Hope
South Ronaldsay's main settlement is ST MARGARET'S HOPE , which local tradition says
is named after Margaret, Maid of Norway, daughter of the Norwegian king, who is
thought to have died here aged eight in 1290. As the granddaughter of Alexander III,
Margaret had already been proclaimed queen of Scotland and was en route to marry

SCAPA FLOW
Apart from a few oil tankers, there's very little activity in the great natural harbour of Scapa
Flow , yet for the first half of the twentieth century, the Flow served as the main base of the
Royal Navy, with more than a hundred warships anchored here at any one time. The coastal
defences required to make Scapa Flow safe to use as the country's chief naval headquarters
were considerable and many are still visible all over Orkney, ranging from half-sunk
blockships to the causeways known as the Churchill Barriers and the gun batteries that
pepper the coastline.
Scapa Flow's most celebrated moment in naval history, however, was when the entire
German High Seas Fleet was interned here immediately after World War I and then scuttled
on the orders of the commanding o cer, Admiral von Reuter, on Midsummer's Day 1919.
To find out more about Scapa Flow's wartime role, visit the museum on Hoy (see p.542).
Scapa Flow is one of the world's greatest dive sites and Scapa Scuba ( T 01856 851218,
wscapascuba.co.uk), based in Stromness, offer one-to-one scuba-diving tuition for all abilities
(from £70). If you don't want to get your feet wet, Dawn Star II ( T 01856 876743,
W orkneyboattrips.co.uk; May-Sept) will give you a history tour above water; tours begin at St
Mary's, by the Churchill Barriers (3hr; £90 for two).