Ferry at Burwick Harbour

Parking at Burwick Harbour

Churchill Barriers

St Margaret's Hope

 

The day begins at the car park close to Mull Head, early, the wind has abated somewhat and it's a sunny start to the day. Dog walkers come and go as we make breakfast and sort ourselves out for moving on.

We head south, calling off at The Italian Chapel en route, a small Nissan Hut that was decorated by Italian prisoners of war in the 1940s. It must by one of the most-visited places on the islands, coaches coming and going all the time. Gill pays and goes in to look, I decide that I will give this one a miss.

Next stop is Olad Brae, a high point with wonderful views over the island to the sea. From here you can appreciate how many buildings, mostly farm buildings, there are all over The Orkneys. On the mainland farms tend to be very large and there don't appear to be many farmhouses and barns, here there are many.

After lunch our journey continues over the so-called Churchill Barriers, these are barriers between the islands to prevent submarines from entering Scapa Flow. They are built from massive concrete cubes and rectangles that were cast and sunk here. Now they form causeways that are very convenient bridges between the islands. There are still sunken ships visible in some of the channels. In reality there is not a lot to see but the history is interesting.

We take a short detour into St Margaret's Hope, where we view the ferry terminal before moving on to Burwick Harbour on the southern tip of the island. From here there is a passenger ferry service that operates to John O'Groats on the mainland. There is a small passenger terminal building with seating and clean toilets.

We are almost alone here, except for the occasional dog-walker, then suddenly a small white van appeared followed closely by a coach. Minutes later a ferry sailed around the headland and discharged a coach load of passengers who were whisked away by the coach. An efficient operation. I talked to the man in the van as he locked up the terminal building. He told me that the ferry could hold 7 coaches worth of passengers. It sounds unlikely, maybe a fisherman's tale, but not so. The following morning no less that 5 coaches arrived and were waiting when the ferry returned. Very interesting to watch as the passengers disembarked, were sorted into their coaches and taken off for their day visits to various parts of the islands.

Alan settled down to paint a watercolour of the church that lies close to the harbour. Almost finished when another motorhome turned up and parked directly between us and the church, completely blocking the view. I went and politely asked if they could move back a few feet, which they did - thank you again if you should read this account.

We passed a quiet night close to Burwick harbour.

Summary of motorhome journey

Burwick Harbour overnight

Abandoned church Burwick Harbour

Abandoned church Burwick Harbour