The Written Word
for October 11, 2000

There is a part of the United Kingdom that is bypassed by most tourists - northern Scotland. I mean the really northern bits including Orkney and Shetland. Now let’s get this straight – it’s never the Orkneys or the Shetlands … Orkney Islands or Shetland Islands is acceptable … to be preferred is Orkney or Shetland.

I fished in Shetland about five years ago and loved it and I was determined to look at the neighbouring islands to the south and this year Wendy and I did just that.

To do the northern part of mainland Scotland itself is an adventure well worth taking and it is because it is an adventure that you see so few tourists. The best way is to fly into Glasgow and get your car. If you’re going to do the northern parts, take a room either in Glasgow – I can recommend the Normandy Hotel near the airport - or bed down somewhere north of Loch Lomond. It all looks so near on the map but to Rhiconich, near Cape Wrath is 5-6 hours by car and you don’t want to be doing that after a long flight and little rest.

This year we flew Canadian to London then BA to Glasgow arriving early evening. After a good rest we started for Rhiconich passing Loch Lomond, through Glen Orchy and Glencoe to Fort William which is worth a stop if you’re shopping for clothes for it has some very decent shops. Glencoe is well worth some time. It was here on a blizzardy night in February 1692 that the Campbells slaughtered some 34 Macdonalds in their sleep, an event that still hasn’t gone away for it was, in microcosm, the greater struggle between some highland chiefs and the new government of William IV and Mary who had, in highland eyes, usurped the Stuart crown. There is a straight line from today’s Scottish separatists to the issues of that day and to that event. There is a very good tourist center – for which the British are justly renowned – just off the highway.

After Fort William we then went up the Great Glen to Inverness via Loch Linnhe, Loch Lochy and Loch Ness – always with a sharp eye for the monster, of course, then back across to Ullapool and thence to Rhiconich. This is all a very beautiful drive. Take it slowly because there is no point in going quickly – you’ll just pass slow traffic to catch up to some more. When the heather is in bloom – from August on is best for that – it is truly magic … but it’s pretty darn good all year ‘round.

The Rhiconich Hotel run by two lovely Yorkshire folks, Helen and Ramon Fish … delightful names for owners of a fishing lodge, don’t you think? There you can fish any number of lochs and rivers or take some absolutely fantastic drives. What you find is magnificent scenery and what will also stun you are the number of beautiful beaches and water quite warm enough to swim in. Wendy and I, as is our wont, hiked the hills around and fished the innumerable lochs. Carry a compass with you for if the weather socks is one granite outcropping looks much like the other. There are some beautiful drives from Rhiconich – probably the prettiest is down to Lochinver. Now this is a twisty, lay by road and must be taken slowly and carefully. But you’re on an adventure and the scenery is well worth the trip. We simply pull over into a lay-by when people are on our tail … and oncoming traffic is unfailingly courteous when the road narrows and one must duck into a lay-by,

Another "must" is Dorness where there is a wonderful little crafts center which is really some old abandoned huts for the military … Lotte Golb’s pottery is itself worth the little journey out of Dorness.

It’s about 2 hours from Rhiconich to Scrabster and the P&O ferry to Stromness on Orkney and I would advise you book ahead and reserve … it’s all easily done on the Internet or through your travel agent. The trip there takes about two hours from Rhiconich but I would allow three to be safe. Again the scenery along the coast through Tongue and Bettyhill is just magnificent and you’ll be stunned by the sandy beaches and turquoise waters. The ferry trip is less than two hours and in decent weather, which we had, a pleasant one. We stayed at a bed and breakfast in Stromness although Kirkwall is the more interesting city. There are lots of good eating-places but I would recommend the Royal Hotel.

What to do while there? Get onto a tour of the island. For 60 pounds for the two of us we had a tour in a minivan which was terrific. There is far too much to see for me to begin to explain but it it’s ancient stuff, stone circles and the lot, Orkney is the place to be. I kid you not – we had 6 days there and didn’t feel that we’d seen half the place. Let me tell you about just three very interesting places.

First there is the chambered tomb of Maeshowe built who knows when but so constructed that the light from the sun enters through the opening to it only during the winter solstice and at that moment the sun, the entrance and a stone perhaps a mile away are all aligned. It contains probably the world’s largest example of the runic writing of the Norsemen which was, of course, the graffiti of the times since they arrived thousands of years after the building was constructed.

Then there is the famous stone circle called the Stones of Stenness at the Ring of Brodgar comprising originally 60 stones – one each 10 degrees, now down to 36. Perhaps the most compelling sight is Skara Brae, the Stone Age village in virtually perfect condition. I should add that one of my favourites is the Brough of Birsay which is on a small island accessible at low tide and has remains of early Norse and Christian settlements.

The town of Kirkwall is well worth some time if only to see St Magnus Cathedral, built in 1137. There is also excellent shopping in Kirkwall. Another sight, though more of historical importance than beauty, is the Churchill Barrier, really only big hunks of concrete joining Mainland to Flotta Burray and South Ronaldsay erected to keep U-boats out of Scapa Flow; after Gunther Prien and the U-40 penetrated the defences in November 1939 and sank the battleship Royal Oak.

Scapa Flow, the enormous harbour, was where the Germans scuttled their fleet in July of 1919 and those vessels not raised later for scrap are marvelous places to dive and dive they do – the pubs are full of young people there for the diving giving the Orkney a nice flavour of youth.

There are a number of other islands reachable by ferry, all of which have their own charms. We visited Hoy – a short ferry ride – which has some special walks especially to see the great stone prominence caused by the ocean called the Old Man of Hoy. On the walk there is a delightful little cottage run by Mrs Mackay who will, no doubt, lasso you in for tea and biscuits and regale you with marvelous stories of the island and Orkney in general.

Fishing? Excellent all over Orkney and it’s all free. Best to stop into a tackle shop and get some advice as to where and when.

The weather?

All the way from sun block weather to a bit chilly.

The food prices are very reasonable and the best part is that there are not many people. And as seems so often the case, islanders are a special breed of very nice people indeed.

Let me tell you ladies about one particular craftswoman – Sheila Fleet who has her workshop about 15 minutes from Kirkwall and has outlets in Kirkwall and Stromness. She does magnificent work and Wendy bought a gold ring with Norse runes on it and we actually went into the workshop and watched the craftsman size it.

Let me leave Orkney with this thought – it was everything I hoped and thought it would be and more.

On the way back we stayed at Banff for three days and took our time in the beautiful Cairngorms and Grampians. One of our side trips took us to Peterhead where, in the early 1800s my great great grandfather, Gilbert Mair took off for New Zealand and this story had a nice twist. In our townhouse at Lions Bay we have, of course, a wonderful view of Howe Sound … and I’d been thinking of getting a telescope. As we walked back from the pier Gilbert must have sailed from we saw a very small antique and bookshop and there is the window was a wonderful brass telescope. I mean how could I not cough up the 175 pounds and lug it home with me! This area has lovely sea and valley drives, plenty of golf courses and distilleries with free samples everywhere you turn.

After Banff we drove down, through Grantown-on-Spey to St Andrews which quite apart from the golf courses is a fascinating town. St Andrews University is the second oldest in Britain and the ruins of the ancient cathedral are themselves worth the stop. Wendy an I wandered over the Old Course – where I had played several times many years ago – and I showed her the bunker next to the 17^th – the Road Hole – that poor old David Duval got trapped in at this year’s Open. This is a very expensive town to stay in and I recommend you do as we did and get a bed and breakfast on a nearby farm.

It was a wonderful trip. I recommend that you book your ferry to Orkney well in advance and have your accommodation booked as well. There are plenty of beds and breakfasts but you can’t be sure of getting one available. For example, there was a great beer festival at Stromness and accommodation simply didn’t exist.

Take it from Wendy and me … if you have a bit of a sense of adventure there are places to visit in the United Kingdom where there are few tourists but which have magnificent scenery and wonderful things to see.