Scotland: Resources for Orkney and Shetland

There are a some good websites. One of my favorites is Orkneyjar. http://www.orkneyjar.com/index.html This site is managed by Sigurd Towrie on Orkney and provides a wealth of information on the history and culture of the islands. Also there is the official visit scotland site for Orkney. http://www.visitorkney.com/. This a sponsored by the government Scottish Executive. There is another site that was the very first website on Orkneyoriginally Orknet. http://www.orkney.org/. You can also visit the Orkney newspaper, The Orcadian. http://www.orcadian.co.uk/index.html. If you want more information on the world heritage sites go to Historic Scotland. This is a government sponsored organization that looks after many of Scotland's historic sites. http://www.historic-scotland.gov.uk/ Finally, I've found that the Footprint Guides are helpful. There is one for Scotland as a whole and one for the highlands and islands. There are likely similar resources online for Shetland. I've just not looked for them yet. Pam

When I last went to Orkney, I stayed in Kirkwall and rented a car. The top sites to see are Skara Brae, the Ring of Brogdar and the Standing Stones of Stenness, Maes Howe, the Cathedral and Bishops Palace in Kirkwall, the Borough of Birsay and the Earl's Palace. And that's just the Mainland. ; ) Stromness is lovely little town. I would also recommend driving down to South Ronaldsay. You can drive over the historic Churchill Barriers, visit the Italian Chapel, drive all the way down to the south to the see the Eagles Tomb, and then stop off at St. Margaret's Hope on the way back. Also there is a wonderful tapestry artist near St. Margaret's Hope. Hoy is wonderful. It's a very different island and is good for walking. We also visited Balfour Castle on Shapinsay and enjoyed the walled garden in particular. While you're there you should also plan on visiting the many jewelry designers and other artists' studios. And if you visit in June, the birds are migrating and its supposed to be amazing. If you're looking for interesting literature check out George MacKay Brown. If you want some music look for Aly Bain from Shetland. He's an incredible fiddler. Pam

I've only been to the mainland of Orkney, so that's all I can comment on. It's quite fabulous, particularly if you like prehistoric sites. Pam pointed out all the top sites. I agree with all her suggestions, except I was not that impressed with the Eagles Tomb. Skara Brae and Maes Howe were my favorites. We stayed two nights in Stromness in a nice B&B called Millers House. It's nothing fancy, but is in a neat old building and the breakfast is quite good. We had a good sized room. We loved the fact that when you stepped out the front door, you could get hit by a car the street is that narrow. There is hardly any traffic though. Stromness is awesome. We also stayed two nights in Kirwall at Avalon House. This is a new B&B outside the city about a 20 minute walk into town. I didn't think I'd like staying in a new place, but we loved it. The hosts are perfect and they built this place knowing exactly what their guests would like. Excellent breakfasts too. Kirkwall is bigger than Stromness and not as quaint, but it's closer to some of the sights. It has more shops and restaurants and a very nice cathedral.

I would agree that Eagle's Tomb is not quite the same as Maes Howe and Skare Brae, but I actually enjoyed the more local aspect of the Eagles Tomb. It was hoot to have to use the funky cart to go into the tomb and I liked meeting the local dogs and others. It felt a bit Monarch of the Glenish to be honest, which I enjoyed. South Ronaldsay is worth a visit no matter whether you check out the Eagle's Tomb or just enjoy the scenery. You can see over to the mainland of Scotland from its southern tip across the Pentland Firth. This is a very treacherous body of water. The Lifeboat from Longhope on Hoy has paid a price for helping ships at risk. There is also a lovely church on Ronaldsay. This church means a lot to me personally as there is a gravestone hear that commemorates my grandfather and his brothers three of whom emigrated to the US. My sister and I first saw it in 1977 when we were taken there. I remembered daisies, blue sky and a view of the ocean. More recently my mother, dad and I visited it. We had a hard time finding the stone, but my mother perisisted and found the memory to her dad. It was totally encrusted with lichens. This is a sign of how wonderfully clean and clear the air is in Orkney. It's a wonderful place and I hope you have a marvelous trip.. Pam

See http://www.shetlandtourism.com I have relatives on Shetland. It is a fabulous place. Can be quite chilly, even in June/July. The Sumburgh hotel, near the airport, is an interesting place to stay - good to start/end your trip there. If you're tempted there is a (14 hour) ferry from Aberdeen into Lerwick or the choice of British Airways or FlyBe into Sumburgh. There's plenty of other info on the web site. Roger

I'll just echo what Pamela said - good advice there. I'll also agree with Carroll on Stromness and Millers House - I personally preferred that location and accomodation to Kirkwall, but different strokes. Other sites not yet mentioned that I enjoyed were taking some walks in the Brough of Birsay and Brough of Deerness areas, which I was clued into from http://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk No matter what I'm sure you'll enjoy these magical places.