Instead of describing these two beautiful days we will give you our personal do’s and don’ts and must see’s of the Mainland Orkney. 668.4 km in two days and this is our summary.

Do’s and Don’ts

  • bring layers and layers of clothing
  • speak to locals
  • when you see a cruise ship at Kirkwall – run
  • don’t rush from one place to the next – slow down and take it all in
  • the admissions to most of the places are quite expensive, think how many stone ruins you really need to see
  •  the Standing Stones of Stenness and the Ring of Brodgar are free of charge 🙂
  • playing at the beach is free of charge 🙂
  • sitting at a Loch is free of charge 🙂

Stéphane’s must see list

  1. rainbow Sunday morning
  2. Italian chapel
  3. Ring of Brodgar
  4. Keith’s story telling
  5. landscape – Lochs &  North sea – water everywhere
  6. St Magnus cathedral Kirkwall
  7. Yesnaby
  8. There is an almost constant feeling of isolation when travelling in the countryside: small houses are spread across the landscape. There is not one spot where no house is visible. But still, most of them are somewhat isolated and many are abandoned or even ruins.

Lara’s list

  1. rainbow Sunday morning
  2. sleeping in the car
  3. Bay of Skaill
  4. Dunnet Head – the most northern point of mainland Britain
  5. nature (lot’s of green)
  6. Standing Stones of Stenness
  7. Ring of Brodgar
  8. building our own stone circle on Yesnaby
  9. Yesnaby

Alina’s list

  1. sleeping in the car
  2. rainbow Sunday morning
  3. climbing around the rocks that are only visible at low tide just before the tidal island Brought of Birsay
  4. painting pictures in the sand at the Bay of Skaill

Anja’s list

  1. seeing three shooting stars
  2. seeing a sky just overflowing with stars
  3. waking up to a double rainbow on Sunday morning
  4. leaning, touching and sitting with the stones of the Ring of Brodgar
  5. camping at the Bay of Skaill
  6. feeling free at Yesnaby
  7. Keith’s story telling
    1. pointing out the runes at the Ring of Brodgar
    2. the viking origin of ‘don’t burn your boats’
    3. the viking origin of ‘going berserk’
  8. Mandala Landart at a beach somewhere
  9. the Italian chapel if it hadn’t been flooded with cruise tourists
  10. hearing about the history of St Magnus
  11. watching seals at the Bay of Skaill

day26
Day 26: Lunch time Landart

day27

Day 27: Waking up in our 5***** lodge