Day: 25 August 2020

Scotland Tour – Day 6

Carol 4 Comments

We explored the South East of Orkney crossing several causeways. These were called ‘Churchill’s Barriers’. In WW2 ships were sunk to stop German U-Boats getting into Scapa Flow. Unfortunately, in 1939, one got through and sunk the ‘Royal Oak’ killing 834 men. Churchill ordered the construction of the barriers, which was carried out by Italian prisoners of war.

The Italian POWs also built a church.
One of the scuttled ships we saw.
From South Ronaldsay we could see Dunnet Head on mainland Scotland,
and Hoy, the second largest island in the Orkneys.
We walked out to Mull Head, at Deerness
and saw the ‘Gloup’, a collapsed sea cave.
At Kirkwall we saw St Magnus Cathedral,
the Bishop’s Palace,
the Earl’s Palace,
and Kirkwall harbour.

We ended our busy day at the Murray Arms Hotel, in St Margaret’s Hope, with a seafood platter. The hotel has their own boats and the seafood is caught fresh, daily.

We will explore more of the island tomorrow.

Carol