by Caroline M. Jackson
"Beyond Britannia, where the endless ocean opens, lies
Orkney." (Orosius, 5th Century A.D.)
Like random pieces of a jigsaw puzzle, the
Orkney and Shetland Islands lie adrift from the northeastern tip of
Scotland's mainland and a day's sail from Bergen in Norway.
To explore these fascinating archipelagos, we
took a three-day mini-cruise aboard the P&O Ferry, the St. Sunniva.
Leaving just after midday on a Saturday, the 260 km journey from Aberdeen to
Stromness in the Orkneys took us across the unusually calm Pentland Firth
which links the Atlantic Ocean with the North Sea.
Just as we were polishing off the last
spoonful of our tasty bread-and-butter pudding in the dining room, our ship
slipped into Stromness Harbour. It was a perfect evening for a midsummer
stroll in what is referred to as the "Simmer Dim" - the long
evening twilight. Having donned sweaters, it was pleasant to explore this
Norwegian-style harbor town with its meandering streets and gabled houses
huddled together, each vying for jetty access to the waterfront. If stones
could speak, these dwellings could have told us tales of smugglers and of
agents recruiting Orcadians for the Hudson's Bay Company. In the late 18thC,
Orcadians comprised three-quarters of the Hudson's Bay Company's workforce.
Many of them with names such as Inkster, Isbister, Moar, Mowatt, Sabiston
and Sinclair eventually settled in Manitoba and other Canadian provinces. It
was in Stromness that skippers picked up provisions and fresh water from
Login's Well for long, arduous transatlantic voyages - an era when merchant
ships preferred to sail around Britain rather than face attack in the
English Channel. Stromness was also an important stop for British whaling
fleets before they moved on to the icy seas of Labrador and Greenland.
The next day after a great night's sleep in
our comfortable bunks, we took a minibus trip to see some of Orkney's
highlights. Just listening to our Orcadian driver's soft accent and witty
humor was in itself a delight. Being a Sunday, it was appropriate to visit
St. Magnus Cathedral in Orkney's capital, Kirkwall. This 862-year-old
cruciform masterpiece is still resplendent with its warm red and yellow
sandstone. Today it is the only cathedral in Britain of no fixed
denomination.
Despite its northerly location, the Orkney
Islands were caught up in both World Wars. When the German fleet found
itself marooned in the great natural harbor of Scapa Flow at the end of
World War I, the German admiral scuttled the entire fleet of 74 war ships.
During the interwar years, 25 destroyers and more than a dozen battleships
and cruisers were re-floated and taken away for scrap. Some of the steel was
of such high quality that it was used for building nuclear power stations in
Europe and some of the lead was used for spacecraft. The remaining dozen or
so ships are now a mecca for diving enthusiasts who come from all over the
world to swim in the clear protected waters.
During the Second World War, over 60,000
military troops were stationed on the islands and the Scapa Flow became the
assembly point for arctic convoys. It also became the last resting place for
over 833 men aboard HMS Royal Oak who were torpedoed by an enemy U-Boat in
October 1939. Now classed as a world grave, the oil which still seeps from
the Royal Oak's bunkers to the surface today is a poignant reminder of the
lives sacrificed. Scapa Flow had to be made impregnable to enemy submarines
so 1700 men were conscripted to fashion more than a quarter of a million
tons of concrete into what became known as the Churchill Barriers: gigantic
causeways which eventually linked the southern islands together. Many
workers were Italian Prisoners of War and they left a beautiful legacy
behind them - a lovely Italian Chapel creatively fashioned from scrap
materials and two Nissen huts. The following was penned by one of the
prisoners:-
"It was the wish to show to oneself
first, and to the world then, that in spite of being trapped in a barbed
wire camp, down in spirit, physically and morally deprived of many things,
one could still find something inside that could be set free…"
To turn the clock back even further - to a
time before the building of the Great Pyramids of Egypt - we visited the
Ring of Brodgar which dates back to 2,500 B.C., about the same time as
Stonehenge. This mysterious ancient stone circle located on a bleak moorland
originally consisted of 60 giant stones. Only 27 have survived the ravages
of time and winds of up to 224 km per hour. An Old Wive's tale says that if
you run round the Ring of Brodgar three times, you'll be pregnant within the
year. I didn't see anyone running...
Many ornithologists flock to the low-lying
Orkneys. North Ronaldsay, for example, is just one of Orkney's aircraft
carriers for migrating birds. It is the first landfall for birds winging
their way south during the spring. Millions of seabirds - guillemots,
kittiwakes, fulmars, skuas and puffins among them - set up precarious homes
in the vertical cliffs and rock stacks. One of the most famous is the 137
meter sea stack called the Old Man of Hoy. The high salt-laden winds limit
tree growth (the tallest tree is 7' high) and thus there are few nesting
sites. According to our guide, even planes sometimes have trouble. On one
occasion a British Airways flight took off from the airport on Papa Westray
and was unable to make any progress against the high winds.
North Ronaldsay is also renowned for its
small seaweed-eating sheep. To keep the animals off the land, the island is
surrounded by a 21-km drystone dyke to ensure that the sheep can only graze
on the narrow strip of beach and foreshore. Over the years, they have
learned to survive on the abundant supply of red seaweed on the shores. This
unusual diet makes the lamb flavourful and is referred to as seafood lamb.
The islanders have also had to breed a unique breed of sheepdog which will
catch the sheep one by one because there is no place to round them up en
masse.
"In the course of a single day you
can see, in that immensity of sky, the dance of sun, cloud, sea-mist,
thunder, rain." (Orcadian poet George Mackay Brown)
The final destination on our cruise was to
Lerwick, the most northerly town in the U.K. and capital of the Shetland
Islands. The harbour once provided shelter for King Haakon's and other
Viking fleets. Today it is a haven for an assorted flotilla of vessels
servicing nearby oil rigs.
After an interesting walk around town, we
once again opted for a minibus tour of the islands. Our driver, Magnus, had
such a soft melodious voice that along with the combination of jet lag and
sea air, I initially had to fight for every minute of wakefulness. As we
headed south along the narrow Sumburgh Peninsula, we passed shaggy Shetland
ponies, tractors ploughing fields with clouds of gulls overhead, many crofts
and a few locals out cutting the peats with a narrow turf-cutting spade
called a 'tushkar'. Snuggled into the recently vacated trenches were lambs
cloistered from the ever present wind. As we passed the Shetland Golf Club,
Magnus pointed out that the golfers were having a thieving problem with
hooded crows and ravens mistaking the golf balls for eggs. "These birds
must have a huge stockpile somewhere and there must be a lot of these crows
with bent beaks trying to break them open" said Magnus without taking
his eyes from the road.
Visited by Vikings, Norsemen and Danes, the
Shetland islands were ruled for more than six centuries by Scandinavia
before being bequeathed to Scotland as a dowry. To dip into the islands'
rich history, we were on our way to the archaeological site located in the
village of Jarlshof. This settlement remained a secret buried in time until
a violent storm exposed the site in 1905. Today visitors can walk around
this outstanding site which spans 3,000 years of continuous settlement from
Neolithic to Viking times. Jarlshof was the name given to the medieval
farmhouse in Sir Walter Scott's novel "The Pirate".
A stone's throw away from here is a huge bird
sanctuary on Sumburgh Head. The sheer cliffs are a haven for nesting
seabirds that vie for space in the rocky clefts. Puffins, known locally as
"Tammie Nories" provide non-stop entertainment as they are
momentarily suspended motionless in the high winds before diving beak first
into their burrows to feed their chicks. The racket of garrulous seabirds is
incredible and the keening gale force winds are a challenge for the
steadiest of hands holding binoculars and cameras.
After our blustery experience, we warmed
ourselves with a delightful afternoon tea at the nearby Sumburgh Hotel which
dates back to 1867. A quick chat with Magnus and we headed 10 km north to
visit St. Ninian's Isle which is connected to the mainland by a tombolo - a
magnificent swath of shell-sand, the finest example of its kind in Europe.
Recently in 1958, archaeologists working in the 12th Century church
discovered a hoard of Pictish silver - 28 Celtic silver objects dating back
to the 8thC. The treasure is now in the Royal Scottish Museum in Edinburgh,
but replicas can be seen in the Shetland Museum in Lerwick.
Later, while searching for a book on puffins
at the information centre in Lerwick, our Canadian "accents" drew
the attention of the tourism officer. "Och," she said, "if
you're from Canada, you must know my relative, Marlene Moar." Although
I could not resist pointing out to her that Canada is a wee bit bigger than
the Shetlands, I was forced to confess that I did in fact know Marlene; I
had played bridge with her only a few weeks earlier. It is indeed a small
world even if you are on the same latitude as Cape Farewell in Greenland and
250 km from Norway.
These islands and their hospitable people
have many more tales to tell but like the stones in the ring of Brodgar, I
will have to stand and wait until another time.
Travel tips:
Souvenirs: Celtic silver craft, pottery, Orkney oatcakes, tablet, Shapinsay
goats cheese, 'Fair Isle' knitwear.
Sea connections: P&O Scottish ferries Aberdeen/Stromness: 8 hrs;
Stromness/Lerwick: 8 hrs; Scrabster (Thurso) and Stromness: 2 hrs.
British Airways has connector flights from UK cities to Kirkwall and
Sumburgh Airport. 1-800-AIR WAYS.
For info: British Tourist Authority: 1-888-VISIT UK.
A special homecoming celebration will be held between 31st May and June 9th
for descendants of Orcadians who worked for the Hudson's Bay Company.
Tel.1-800-661-3830.
Lerwick will be a port of call for the Cutty Sark Tall Ships Race in 9-12
Aug. 1999
