Neighbouring Orkney, you’ll find a small cluster of magnificent isles waiting to be discovered - ‘ay', you might just fall in love...
Westray
You can take a boat from Kirkwall that takes an hour and a half or fly and enjoy the Worlds shortest flight from Westray to Papa Westray in 2 mins and get a certificate. The Island has wonderful coastal and inland walks which in the spring and summer are a delight with wild flowers. Lying roughly on the same latitude as Stavanger in Norway the island is one of the most remote of the Orkney group.
Shapinsay
The green and fertile island of Shapinsay is just 30 minutes by ferry from Kirkwall. Tradition has it that this little isle was home to banished thieves and witches but now it is the haunt of cormorants, kittiwakes and seals.The main settlement is Balfour village, built in the late 18th century as a home for smiths, carpenters and masons employed on the Balfour estate. Balfour Castle is open to visitors in the summer.
Papay
Papay, as the locals know it,is travel writer Bill Bryson’s favourite spot in all of Britain. With a population of around 70 people, Papay is renowned internationally for its bird life, its archaeology, its wonderful beaches, and most recently, its attempts to sustain a genuine and distinctive small, integrated community.
Hoy
Travel to Hoy by boat in 30 mins for a visit to the South Island with a different perspective to the rest of Orkneys Islands.
Old man of Hoy is a 449-foot sea stack, formed from Old Red Sandstone, it is one of the tallest stacks in the United Kingdom.The Old Man is popular with climbers and was first climbed in 1966..
The Gloup
The Gloup is a collapsed sea cave in the Mull Head Nature Reserve in the islands of Orkney, Scotland. The name derives from the Old Norse “gluppa”, meaning a chasm.
The cave is separated from the sea by a land bridge about 80 metres wide. It is approximately 40 metres long and 25 metres deep. The peninsula of Deerness just clings on as the eastern end of East Mainland, prevented from becoming a separate island by the dunes and sand bar of Sandi Sands.
Rousay
Take a 20-minute boat journey from this beautiful island. Hosting 160 sights of Historical significance you will be spoilt for choice.
The Westness Heritage Walk is one of the most impressive of the archaeological sites in Scotland. It covers thousands of years of history in just one mile-long rough coastal path. This amazing trail takes you on a journey through the first Stone Age settlers (from over 5,500 years ago), to the Pictish Iron Age, the Viking invaders, the time of the Earls, and the crofting clearances of the early 1800s.