Monday morning, the sky was heavy and grey. And now, everything was about business. My dad had traveled to Orkney to do research for a piece about wave energy, and Orkney’s really in the forefront when it comes to renewable energy. But, Orkney is a place where public transportation isn’t very easy to come by, and my dad hasn’t got a driver’s license. That’s where I come in. I was the driver. Our first destination: Hoy.
Hoy is the second largest of the Orkney islands, but also (according to the guide book) the wildest, most montaineous and not at all as densely populated as most of the other islands (not that they are densely populated in any general European sense, but, you know, if the Orkney Mainland isn’t densely populated, Hoy is even less so). It also has one of Britains largest natural harbours, and during the world wars, Great Britain had a large part of their fleet stationed here. At one point during the Second World War, the Germans managed to get into the natural harbour and made a huge war ship sink, causing hundreds of British soldiers to drown. There was also the other time when part of the German fleet got in between the Orkney islands, but when they realised they would be defeated, the German officer in charge ordered all the German ships to sink themselves, once the soldiers could be rescued – just to make sure that the British couldn’t make use of the ships after they were captured.
The waters between the islands of Orkney are full of ship wrecks. Some of them even stick up out of the water, strange ship ghosts creating a stark contrast with the soft grassy hills on the islands surrounding them.
To get to Hoy, we had to take a ferry from the Mainland. Dad had missed that he should have bought a ticket to the ferry in advance, and we were almost not allowed on. Luckily, though, dad managed to get us a ticket to Hoy and one back to the Mainland on the same day (earlier than we would have wanted, but still, better than having to sleep in the car).
It was a calm ride, a little bit of rain, no waves to speak of, and once on the other side of the sound, dad had two interviews lined up. After the interviews, we ended up only having a little time left before the ferry was due to take us back to the Mainland – so we had some important choices to make. At the ferry camp on Hoy, there is a museum commemorating the British fleet that was stationed at the Orkney Islands, but we decided that we’d rather see something of Hoy instead. So, we chose a road, drove for a while, saw some sheep and a phonebooth, and then turned back to the ferry.
Wind power is a big thing on Orkney. The wind mills are everywhere. Their energy is actually all renewable.
On the way back, the clouds started to lift over the mountains of Hoy, revealing it for its most mysterious side.
Katja Malmborg 