The coolest thing you can do on Hoy is to climb the mountain called the Old Man of Hoy. It is this peak facing the open Atlantic ocean, with cliffs jutting out over the water and then falling straight down. It’s supposed to be this amazing hike, but unfortunately (due to dad not pre-booking the ferry tickets), we had to leave Hoy without visiting the Old Man.
As a compensation, the two extremely friendly Finnish engineers that dad had been interviewing on Hoy came over to the Mainland with us (they were staying in Stromness, which is the second largest village on Orkney, so it wasn’t really out of their way or anything) and showed us the way to a really great vista point just west of Stromness. Afterwards, when I consulted the map, I learned that the place was called Breck Ness.
To get there, we had to drive on this super narrow road up and down the hills until we reached a tiny, abandoned cottage. There, we left the car and hiked up an almost invisible path next to fence. On the other side of the fence, the cows and calves stared at us, their eyes huge, as if they couldn’t for their lives understand why we would want to climb up the hill.
Well, maybe cows don’t really care for any kind of view – but for us, this was just. Like. Breathtaking. (And look, the clouds were still heavy over Hoy on the other side of the sound, the Old Man shrouded in a think mist. Hiking there wouldn’t have meant any splendid vistas anyway – while the sun was shining on the Mainland. So, you see, maybe we were meant to miss pre-buying the ferry tickets!)
The risks I take, for the sake of a photograph. On the other side of that flower TUVA, the cliff falls straight down. Even if you weren’t afraid of heights, it would certainly make your heart beat faster.
On the way back to Stromness, we took a detour down to the beach and this little cemetary, sticking up all by itself on a little headland, facing the ocean and surrounded by cows and sheep.
These islands have got some really superb specimen of sedimentary rock. Seriously, can the layers be more obvious than that? And no wonder, in a place like this, that the neolithic peoples could carve out those huge flat stones for their buildings at Skara Brae and the standing ones at Ring of Brodgar.
Katja Malmborg 