Orkney - The Rough Guide to Scottish Highlands and Islands - page 362

loads of seals, a large colony of arctic terns, and good views out to the lighthouse on
the outlying island of Auskerry .
ARRIVAL AND GETTING AROUND STRONSAY

By plane Flights from Kirkwall (Mon-Fri 2 daily, 1 on Sat;
25min) and from Sanday (Mon-Sat 1 daily; 6min).
By ferry Stronsay is served by a regular car ferry service

from Kirkwall to Whitehall (2-3 daily; 1hr 40min-2hr).
By taxi/car There's no bus service, but D.S. Peace ( T 01857
616335) operates taxis and offers car rental.

ACCOMMODATION AND EATING
Storehouse T 01857 616263, E annemaree.carter
@byinternet.com. A good alternative to the Stronsay Hotel
is this welcoming little B&B in Whitehall, wit h en -suite
rooms, a guest lounge and full board on request. £65
Stronsay Fish Mart T 01857 616339, W stronsay.org.
The old fish market, by the ferry terminal, now serves as a
hostel, and should be newly refurbished by the time you

read this. A cheap and cheerful café is also run from the
same buildin g - check Facebook for the latest opening
hours. Dorms £16
Stronsay Hotel T 01857 616213, W stronsayhotel
orkney.co.uk. Stronsay's only hotel, right by the ferry
terminal, has modern en-suite rooms, while the hotel bar
does good pub food - try the seafood taster. £80

7

Sanday
Despite being the largest of the northern isles, and the most populous after Westray,
Sanday is the least substantial, a great low-lying, drifting dune strung out between
several rocky points. The island's sweeping aquamarine bays and vast stretches of clean
white sand are the finest in Orkney, and in good weather it's a superb place to spend
a day or two. The sandy soil is very fertile, and the island remains predominantly
agricultural even today, holding its own agricultural show each year at the beginning
of August. The shoreline supports a healthy seal, otter and wading bird population,
and behind the sandy beaches are stretches of beautiful open machair and grassland,
thick with wild flowers during spring and summer. The entire coastline offers superb
walks, with particularly spectacular sand dunes to the south of the vast, shallow, tidal
bay of Cata Sand .

Start Point Lighthouse
Accessible only during low tide • Tours T 01857 600341
The island has a long history as a shipping hazard, with many wrecks smashed against its
shores, although the construction of the Start Point Lighthouse in 1802 on the island's
exposed eastern tip reduced the risk for seafarers. Shipwrecks were, in fact, not an
unwelcome sight on Sanday, as the island has no peat, and driftwood was the only source
of fuel other than cow dung - it's even said that the locals used to pray for shipwrecks in
church. The present 82ft-high Stevenson lighthouse, dating from 1870, now sports very
natty, unusual, vertical black-and-white stripes. It actually stands on a tidal island, so ask
locally for the tide times before setting out (it takes an hour to walk there and back). Better
still, phone and arrange a tour, which allows you to climb to the top of the lighthouse.

Quoyness Chambered Cairn
Sanday is rich in archeology, with hundreds of mostly unexcavated sites including brochs,
burnt mounds and cairns, the most impressive of which is Quoyness Chambered Cairn ,
on the fertile farmland of Els Ness peninsula. The tomb, which dates from before 2000
BC, has been partially reconstructed, and rises to a height of around 13ft. The imposing,
narrow entrance, flanked by high dry-stone walls, would originally have been roofed for
the whole of the way into the 13ft-long main chamber, where skeletal remains were
discovered in the six small side-cells.