Skaill House, Yesnaby and Marwick Head

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09 June 2017

On the day that Theresa May was struggling to put together a new government after the Conservatives poor showing in the general election, the weather in Orkney was again wet, but we made the most of it.

To start with we went around Skaill House which is adjacent to Skara Brae and has been in the ownership of the same family since being built in 1620. We then went to the remote bit of coast at Yesnaby where I took a short walk to see some superb sea stacks.

After lunch we continued northwards to the RSPB coastal reserve at Marwick Head where we took a walk to the Kitchener Memorial and then along the tops of the huge cliffs which were covered in nesting sea birds. The Memorial remembers the sinking of the armed cruiser HMS Hampshire on 5^th June 1916 after it hit a mine off Marwick Head. Lord Kitchener, his staff and 643 of the 655 crew all perished.

The night was spent at the campsite in nearby Birsay.

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