Hoy Island
The gaunt cliffs and hills of Hoy make a dramatic backdrop to the benign landscape of Mainland. It is the second largest of the islands and by far the most desolate, very beautiful, but wild and depopulated. Since the naval base for the fleet at Scapa Flow closed in the 1950s, there has been little employment and much of the land is too inhospitable to farm. Only one proper road, running down its east coast past the ugly ruins left by the navy at Lyness, impressive Martello towers that guard the deepwater inlet at Longhope – built as a defense, not against the French, but against American ships in 1812 – then across the narrow isthmus that joins green, prosaic South Walls, where most of the islanders live, to the rest of Hoy. At Osmondwall cemetery in Longhope, there is a memorial to the brave men of the Longhope lifeboat which was lost with all hands in 1969. You can see the new lifeboat at Brims.
The interior is a hilly, heather-covered wilderness haunted by legends of trolls and giants. There
are many little lochs and burns, rare alpine plants and Ward Hill at 1565ft is the highest point in Orkney. The strange Dwarfie Stone, a hollowed-out neolithic tomb, once thought to be the home of a malevolent dwarf, stands overlooking the valley that leads to the lovely almost deserted village of Rackwick. It is just beginning to come back to life, three or four crofts are lived in again and local people are working to make others habitable. Jack Rendall, who owns some of them, also runs a taxi service from Mo Ness where the ferry from Stromness lands, to Rackwick.
Old Man of Hoy
The cliffs along Hoy’s north-west coast are much the most spectacular in Orkney, more than 1000ft high at St John’s Head. You get a splendid view of them from the Scrabster to Stromness ferry. The island’s most famous landmark, the Old Man of Hoy, a sheer rower of rock 450ft high surrounded by roaring waves, was first scaled in 1966 and remains a supreme test of ability for rock climbers.
Few places to stay except two hostels. Only one shop in North Hoy where the ferry lands – run by Jack Rendail in Rackwick – so if you are going on a day trip take a picnic and wear wellingtons, the hills are very boggy. There are daily boats from Stromness to Hoy, sometimes cancelled in bad weather.