Orkney is somewhere we’ve wanted to visit for a very long time – I think the first time we talked about it was way back in 2018 after our trip to the Far North West of Scotland. Rich in history and with so much to see and do, it was somewhere we both wanted to explore – it’s just so far away. However, this year we pulled our finger out and finally got a week booked in a cottage on South Ronaldsay, with stops in the Cairngorms on the way up and in the Borders on the way back to make the journey slightly less epic. Accommodation booked, ferry tickets in our bags, and off we went at the start of September…
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Stones of Stenness
There are so many Neolithic ruins and remains on Orkney that it’s a designated UNESCO world heritage site for this very reason – principally focussed around the monuments of Skara Brae, Maeshowe Chambered Cairn, the Ring of Brodgar and the Standing Stones of Stenness. Beyond this, there are so many chambered cairns and ancient holes in the ground to explore that you’re almost tripping over them.
We squeezed a lot of these sites into our first day exploring the Mainland (always referred to as the Mainland, never Orkney Mainland). Our first stop was the Standing Stones of Stenness, four looming and incredibly tall standing stones which just happen to be in a field by the side of the main road. Looked after today by Historic Environment Scotland, in the early 19th century these five thousand year old stones were owned by a local farmer who got so fed up of ploughing around them that he tried to pull them down. Thankfully, he was stopped by some locals after he’d only managed to topple two. The locals were so angry that they tried to burn down the farmer’s house (twice) in retaliation!
Admission to the site is free and there’s a small parking area near the entrance to the field where you can find the stones. We timed our visit just right, arriving as a coach was departing and leaving as another one arrived! The walk across to the stones is very short – I wouldn’t even call it a walk to be honest, as it’s only a few hundred metres from the parking area across a flat grassy field.
Dog friendly rating – 3/5. Dogs are welcome at the site, but you will need to keep them on leads as the field is grazed by sheep. Merry and Coal received almost as much attention from other tourists as the stones did!
The Ring of Brodgar
Just down the road, you can actually walk to the Ring of Brodgar from the Stenness Stones in a circular of around two hours, but we had so much that we wanted to see and do that we just drove to them separately – giving us plenty of time to linger and soak up both sites. The Ring of Brodgar is another of the UNESCO sites and also free to visit, managed by Historic Environment Scotland. There’s a fairly large car park just across the road from the stones.
Of the two sites, Sam preferred the Stenness Stones, while I preferred the Ring of Brodgar – I suppose there’s always an element of personal preference! There are a lot more stones at Brodgar (around thirty), and the henge is rimmed by heather which was still just about in bloom when we visited – lovely.
Brodgar was a lot busier than Stenness, but there was also more space to wander round and admire the stones. There’s enough space between the stones that during the Second World War, the local regiment used the stones for tank manoeuvring practice – can you imagine the uproar if that happened today! It’s worth perusing the information boards to see a photo of the tanks in action, it has to be seen to be believed.
Dog friendly rating – 3/5. As with the Stones of Stenness, dogs on leads are welcome at the site. It’s a bit more of a walk from the car park, but still no more than 5 minutes – remember your poo bags, so that you don’t have to turn around and run back to the car for one when you get to the furthest possible point away from the car park like I did!
The Broch of Gurness
We finished off the first day of our trip with a visit to the Broch of Gurness – slightly more recent history at only two thousand years old as opposed the the standing stones’ five thousand years. It was somewhere that had been recommended to me by multiple people who had visited Orkney before, but isn’t something which is included on all of the tours circuiting the islands. We arrived towards the end of the day and it was one of my favourite stops on the whole trip.
There is a large-ish car park near the entrance to the site – again managed by Historic Environment Scotland but this time, admission fees apply. We thought it was totally worth it and is it really so bad to pay an entry fee when the money is going towards looking after these kinds of places?
You are free to wander around the site as you desire, and it’s a bit like walking through a stone maze – there are so many different aspects still (just about) standing. Sam was particularly enamoured with what was labelled as a possible dry stone toilet! I especially loved the setting, with the sea in the background and islands in the distance. It was so peaceful and calm, although I can imagine that it’s seen a lot of wild weather over the years. We had the place mostly to ourselves, with just a few other people wandering around at the same time as us – everyone who bypasses Gurness is missing out.
Dog friendly rating – 5/5. Dogs on leads are again welcome on the site, including in the small exhibition and shop where you purchase your admission tickets. Merry made firm friends with the man at the counter and had plenty of cuddles! Just watch out for the farm cats who lurk in the car park waiting to sneak into motorhomes – you might find your arm getting wrenched out of its socket if your dog likes to chase cats!
Skara Brae
Day two dawned if not bright, certainly blustery, and continuing with our historic theme of day one I booked us tickets to go and see Skara Brae. This Neolithic village is one of the best preserved anywhere in the world, and I’d guess that 99% of people who go to Orkney on holiday also visit Skara Brae. I pre-booked our tickets on the Historic Environment Scotland website, and if you’re planning to visit I’d strongly recommend you do the same – not only are they cheaper, they also restrict how many people are allowed in during any half hour slot – I got the last two tickets while I was cleaning my teeth that morning.
The site is interesting and there’s a dramatic walk over from the main visitor centre to emphasise how far ‘back in time’ you are travelling to visit the site, with stone slabs marking historic events further and further back in time. I do think the word ‘village’ might be a bit of a stretch – it’s more like a small-ish corner of a field. So just temper your expectations before you arrive as I was a bit underwhelmed at first!
There is a defined ‘route’ around the village which operates on a one way system – and if you take a few steps back to take a closer look at something you didn’t notice as you initially passed, one of the volunteers on the site will come and tell you to go round the whole thing again rather than walk back. I’d totally get that if we were trying to go ‘against the flow’, but it was 5 steps that we’d descended, noticed something at the bottom, and walked back up the 5 steps to get a better view. It felt like being told off by the teacher and we quite clearly weren’t going back any further, nor were there any other people near us!
Overall, I was glad we’d visited, but I enjoyed our visit to the Broch of Gurness a lot more. Less people, free to wander as you please and a bigger site. After we’d finished at the ‘village’, we walked back over to the visitor centre for a hot drink to warm up – these were very nice but the cafe all of a sudden become extremely busy, so we quickly finished and left.
Dog friendly rating – 2.5/5. At first we thought the dogs weren’t allowed at all, as the website says ‘no dogs allowed’, but after checking on Tripadvisor and at reception when we arrived, this only applies to the inside areas and the site itself is dog friendly (although the enthusiastic volunteer also made a comment to us about making sure we kept them on leads, when we’d been there for twenty minutes and had them on leads the whole time, so I didn’t get the feeling that they were particularly welcome by this individual). We had to pop the dogs back into the car while we had a look in the shop and cafe, but they were more than happy to catch up on some sleep for twenty minutes or so.
Hoxa Head
Up until day three, we’d spent all of our time exploring the Mainland, driving backwards and forwards across the Churchill Barriers (which in itself feels like a bit of an adventure). This changed on day three, when Sam chose a walk on the island we were staying on (South Ronaldsay) around Hoxa Head. This short walk of an hour was a route from the Cicerone guide we found in our cottage, and on a hot sunny day was an absolute delight.
Parking is free in a small off-road parking area – it would probably fit around four cars. While not one of the islands’ prehistoric stars, Hoxa Head is one of the best places for Orkney’s other top attraction – whale watching. In fact, every person in our cottage’s visitor book who reported seeing orcas during their stay, saw them at Hoxa Head.
Sadly, we didn’t spot any orcas (or any whales full stop), but we still enjoyed a lovely walk around the headland. And there’s still plenty of interest, with a host of old Second World War gun batteries abandoned along the coast here – while a gun was never fired in combat here, the batteries played a vital role in defending Scapa Flow (where the British fleet was often at anchor) from German U Boats. These days they no longer have a military purpose, but they make quite good shelters if you want to sit and indulge in a spot of whale watching – they kept the midges off us and also provided some shade for the dogs on a hot day.
Navigationally the walk was pretty straight forward, following the coast nearly all the way (although we did nearly miss the path to loop back round to the car). Up and down but not strenuous, it’s the perfect stroll if you don’t want to haul yourself up a hill.
Dog friendly rating – 3/5. Our dogs stayed on the lead the whole way around this walk due to all the cliff edges – and there are plenty of rabbits to lead them astray if you’re not careful! However, there are no stiles or other dogs obstacles to encounter, and Coal in particular loved watching the sea from his perch in a battery.
Glimps Holm
Considering that Orkney is an archipelago of islands, it would be remiss not to talk about one of the beaches we visited. Day four was mostly spent in a haze of drizzle and fog – not really outdoorsing weather, and we spent most of the day wandering around the streets of Stromness and Kirkwall (Kirkwall in particular is really worth a visit). On our drive home though the sun made a valiant attempt to come out, and so we quickly pulled over at Glimps Holm to let the dogs have a run on the beach.
The water wasn’t quite the shade of azure from the Visit Orkney photos, but nevertheless it was a nice sandy beach which we had totally to ourselves. Oh, and the parking was free!
Dog friendly rating – 5/5. What dog doesn’t love a trip to the beach? Dog friendly all year round, the beach is easily and quickly accessible from the parking area, meaning you can spend all your time on the beach – bliss.
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