Orkney - The Rough Guide to Scottish Highlands and Islands - page 341

he earl might have been acquitted, but he foolishly ordered his son, Robert, to
organize an insurrection; he held out four days in the palace against the Earl of
Caithness, before being captured and sent to Edinburgh to be hanged; his father was
beheaded there five weeks later.

Orkney Museum
Broad St • Mon-Sat: May-Sept 10.30am-5pm; Oct-April 10.30am-12.30pm & 1.30-5pm • Free • T 01856 873535
Opposite the cathedral stands the sixteenth-century Tankerness House , a former home
for the clergy, and now home to the Orkney Museum . A couple of rooms have been
restored as they would have been in 1820, when it was the Baikie family's private
home. The rest houses some of the islands' most treasured finds, among the more
unusual of which are a witch's spell box and a lovely whalebone plaque from a Viking
boat grave discovered on Sanday. On a warm summer afternoon, the museum gardens
are thick with the buzz of bees and vibrantly coloured flora.

7

Orkney Wireless Museum
Kiln Corner, Junction Rd • April-Sept Mon-Sat 10am-4.30pm, Sun 2.30-4.30pm • £3 • T 01856 871400, W owm.org.uk
At the harbour end of Junction Road, you can browse around the tiny Orkney Wireless
Museum , a single room packed to the roof with every variety of antique radio
equipment imaginable. The museum is particularly strong on technical flotsam from
the two world wars, and there's even a working crystal set that you can listen to.

Highland Park distillery
Holm Rd • April & Sept Mon-Fri 10am-5pm hourly tours; May-Aug Mon-Sat 10am-5pm, Sun noon-5pm hourly tours; Oct-March
Mon-Fri tours at 2 & 3pm • £6 • T 01856 874619, W highlandpark.co.uk
A mile or so south of Kirkwall along the A961 to South Ronaldsay is the Highland Park
distillery . It's been in operation for more than two hundred years, and still has its own
maltings, although it was closed during World War II, when the army used it as a food
store and the huge vats served as communal baths.

Scapa Bay
If the weather is unusually good and you're moved to consider a swim, follow the locals
and head a mile south of town on the B9148 to Scapa Bay , Kirkwall's very own sandy
beach. Briefly a naval headquarters at the outbreak of World War I, Scapa's pier is now
used by the council tugs and pilot launches servicing the oil tankers out in Scapa Flow.
Visible from the beach is the green Admiralty wreck buoy marking the position of
HMS Royal Oak , torpedoed by a German U-boat on October 14, 1939, with the loss of
833 men (out of a total crew of around 1400). A small display shed at the eastern end
of the bay tells the full story, and has photos of the wreck (still an official war grave) as
it looks today.
ARRIVAL AND DEPARTURE KIRKWALL

By plane T 01851 707400, W hial.co.uk. Kirkwall
airport is 3 miles southeast of town on the A960; the hourly
bus takes 15min, or else it's a £5 taxi ride into town.
Destinations within Orkney Eday (Mon & Wed 1-2 daily;
10-30min); North Ronaldsay (Mon-Sat 3 daily, 2 on Sun;
20-30min); Papa Westray (Mon-Fri 3 daily, Sat & Sun
2 daily; 15-35min); Sanday (Mon-Fri 2 daily, 1 on Sat;
15min); Stronsay (Mon-Fri 2 daily, 1 on Sat; 10-25min);

Westray (Mon-Fri 2 daily, Sat & Sun 1 daily; 15-25min).
By ferry T 0845 600 0449, W northlinkferries.co.uk.
Ferries from Shetland (3 weekly; 5hr 30min) and Aberdeen
(3 weekly; 6hr), and all cruise ships, dock at the Hatston
terminal, a mile northwest of town; a shuttle bus will take
you into Kirkwall (or to Stromness if you prefer). Ferries for
the other islands within Orkney leave from the town pier
in Kirkwall.