Churchill Barriers

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16 June 2017

To start the day Eileen took us for a walk up a local hill from where we had extensive views of Scapa Flow and its surrounding islands.

Then it was off to Kirkwall to try and fix an intermittent problem with the van’s wipers and stock up on food and fuel.

After the sinking of the battleship Royal Oak by a U Boat in 1939 Churchill ordered that the defenses around Scapa Flow be improved and to achieve this, four causeways were built between Mainland Orkney and the islands of Lamb Holm, Glimps Holm, Burray and South Ronaldsay. They became known as the Churchill Barriers. We spent the afternoon moving southwards which meant driving over the barriers. Much of the work was executed by Italian prisoners of war captured in North Africa. As a lasting memorial of the Italians there is a beautiful chapel built under the direction of the artist Domenico Chiocchetti from two Nissan huts and scrap materials they could get their hands on. It made a very moving visit.

The night was spent overlooking the Sand of Wright in the north of South Ronaldsay.

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