Kirkwall to Isle of Hoy

76km. We set off early to make the most of our time on the Orkeys. Cycled along several lochs and stone circles, one of them the BCQ, the neolithic standing stones of Stenness. They nearly didn't survive as Captain W Mackay decided to smash them up as he didn't like people trespassing on his land to have rituals. This caused outrage and he changed his mind! Not much changes!
Had a quite ride to Birsay to see the Earl's Palace (BCQ), he left sometime ago and Cromwell smashed it up so a lot of it was a pile of stones and some windy towers.
On to Stromness to have our dinner at the Ferry Inn before taking the actual ferry to Hoy.
Arriving at Hoy at 18:45, everyone getting off quickly disappeared and we cycled to Radwick across the Middle of Hoy in between two huge mountains (500 m). We searched fir the Bothy in Randwick with was a little track down to the beach. A locked gate soon became a barrier but I noticed the kissing gate next to it and managed to lift it off its hinges to get the tandem through.
The bothy was something out of Edith Blyton, 5 travellers inside huddled around a wood fire. No lighting or other services, a couple of tables and chairs. Space to sleep on stone slaps, couldn't get more adventurous! The wind was howling, the rain bashing the stone slab roof. Managed a fitfull sleep on the stone floor, was this real?
Total 733 kmRead more