This is part II of the blog covering a long journey. Part I with the intro and our time on Shetland is here!

Orkeny 2024, if you ask me, what comes to my mind first is - very different emotions. A superb day out on Hoy with our one and only sunny lunchbreak in lovely Rackwick Bay, a mad rush to the ferry on Rousay (I missed the turnoff) and overtourism on mainland due to cruise ships.

Do not get me wrong, Orkney is a superb destination for photography and the neolithic sites are really unique. And of course on the smaller island, which we visited, the mass tourism did not exist! But the experience was marred by the neverending stream of buses congesting the roads of mainland and flooding the prehistoric sites with visitors. Kirkwall, the capital of Orkney, is now the busiest port for cruise ships in the UK. On two days of our stay two vessels with about 2000 pax each visited the island, and probably all where on a tour to the magic places like Ring of Brodgar or Skara Brae.

You better stay away from mainland during daytime and hope for fine weather during morning or evening.

We left the Shetland Islands on a beautiful evening, warm, no wind, a perfect summer day! The lighthouse on Brassey vanished and we had a very peaceful cruise to the new terminal on Orkney mainland. We arrived about midnight and it was dark, nearly pitch dark. It is only a cruise of several hours, but the more southerly location was already noticeable. We made our camp in Stromness, an atmospheric small town not far away from Kirkwall. It was a good choice and even the late check in worked without any problems. Stromness itself is a nice destination (the number of buses with cruise ship passengers is a proof of this) and it is very close to the main prehistoric sites of mainland.

On Orkney everything was planned and booked many weeks upfront, more or less the opposite approach to our stay on Shetland. A couple of months before we left to the northern isles I tried to book Maes Howe, one of the major attractions, and everything was fully booked for months! I had been lucky as due to a cancellation we managed to get a spot on one of the guided tours (a visit is only possible as a member of a guided tour). If you want to see Maes Howe book your place at least 4-5 months ahead! No kidding! Everything else was buildt around this activity. The ferries to Hoy and Rousay were booked as well as the visit to Skara Brae. No flexibility, for photography! This is a risky business as good weather is essential for good photography on Hoy. It all was hit or miss, no backup options.

As mentioned, the capital of Orkney is Kirkwall, which is only marginally bigger than Lerwick, but has a very different atmosphere. It is brighter, not as grey, not so "linear" and more urban. The magnificent cathedral seems to be completely oversized for a town of 7000 (Lerwick is a bit below 7000 inhabitants)! I love St. Magnus cathedral, but try to avoid it when the cruise ships are in the harbour.

It feels even bigger from inside. You can spend hours inside and look at the details, it is just an awesome place. Nearby is the next attraction, the Bishop's and Earl's palace. Our visit there was a bit dissapointing, as hourding seemed to be everywhere. It really spoiled the experience and the photography. Later in Scotland nearly all castles and ruins we visited had lots of hourding. I asked at the reception of Hermitage Castle, my favourite border castle, why nearly everything is closed and the man even had a plausible answer.

During Covid everything was shut down and the National Trust of Scotland used this period to examine the ruins and buildings. Of course lots of loose bricks and potentially instable parts of walls have been found. Therefore all or parts of many attractions had to be closed for the foreseeable future. It will take many years until the Trust has enough funding to repair and open their attractions again.

Kirwall is a nice place and a short stroll through the pedestrian area is a must. The shopping is already geared to please tourists looking for the typical "scottish" souvenirs. The viking heritage which was more prominent on Shetland, was hardly visible. Orkney was a viking island just as Shetland was, but it feels different nowadays. It is just more scottish, that is what I feel. If you compare Lerwick to Kirkwall, Lerwick is rough and rural and Kirkwall is a bit more "pleasing". You have to see both!

Hoy is one of the bigger islands, more mountainous and has the Old Man, the big landscape icon of the archipelago. We picked a really fine day, a perfect day. It was the day after our arrival and we had to get up early to catch the first ferry to Hoy I do not hink we had mmore than 4 hours of sleep and a very quick breakfast, which was a shame. The lady was very scottish and had a very special charm.

Crossing Scapa Flow means crossing lots of the recent history of Orkney. Scapa is a huge sheltered body of water and was home to many fleets during the last several hundred years. The vikings used it, it was the base of the british home fleet and the german fleet was scuttled there after WW I. Lots of history, but our destination was the Old Man of Hoy and Rackwick Bay.

After arriving on Hoy we drove to Rackwick Bay, in itself a lovely place and the trailhead for the 1 hour hike to the Old Man. It is an easy hike, highly recommended, but it takes some time to arrive at the Old Man. And never forget that missing the last ferry means staying on Hoy. Most people come for two reasons to Hoy, the Old Man and the Scapa Flow Museum at the "ferry terminal", which is a WW II jetty. As there is nearly no accomodation on Hoy, most people do it as a day trip, just as we did.

Rackwick Bay is probably my favourite place on the Orkneys, wild, peaceful, great scenery and a lovely boulder beach. After our hike we had a sunny lunchbreak at the carpark. On Shetland and Orkney we did not have really bad weather, but this break was the only sunny lunch we had and I enjoyed every second of it. After the break we trekked to the boulder beach as our last photo location on Hoy. It is not easy to capture the atmosphere of Rackwick Bay.....

The forecast predicted clouds and later rain, but I hoped we could get some sunny spells on our way back to Stromness at the standing stones. The evening meal was not booked, therefore we could stay as long as the clouds allowed. The worst case was to drive to Kirkwall to eat some (fast) food at the eateries in the capital. Stromness closes all services between 8 and 9!

At the Hoy ferry terminal I picked up a coffee at the refurbished museum, a visit was not possible, to little time. But what I have seen from the "new" museum was very promising. It deserves a visit, but to pack The Old Man, Rackwick Bay and the museum in one day, is simply not possible. By the way, the clouds drifted in quite quickly and we left the Stones just in time to find some good food in Stromness. Like on Shetland, the restaurants serve delicious food, no kidding!

The Standing Stones of Stenness and Brodgar, Maes Howe, Skara Brae and now the Ness of Brodgar are sites of world wide reputation and they attract visitors from all over the world. After the cruise ships have left you will be not alone, but only few people are coming during the early and late hours of the day. You encounter all type of visitors including the telltale Stone Huggers and Dowsers (Wünschelrutengänger, I had to look up this noun). It may be strange sometimes, but it is a peaceful and very unique atmosphere, which helps the photography of these places.

Just do not visit during the peak hours of the day! It will spoil everything. The Stones are still open all day and night, Skara Brae and of course Maes Howe, have opening hours. Do not forget to book Maes Howe as soon as possible..... On busy cruise ship days even the neolithic village Skara Brae has, as it seems different rules (moving only in one direction.....). We had only a ship below 1000 pax, it did not count as a busy day.... I even had a long chat with one of the wardens from the Trust about cruise ships, the new findings at the Ness of Brodgar and the difference between Jarlshof on Shetland to Skara Brae on Orkney!

The area around Maes Howe, Stenness, Brodgar and Skara Brae is now called a "ceremonial landscape". The excavations at the Ness of Brodgar changed the perception of what this area was during neolithic times completely. As it seems all the different places have been connected visually and probably ceremonially. It must have been a very important place for many hundred years for the neolithic population of the northern isles and the north of Scotland. It will take years to examine and interpret what has been excavated and found on the Ness of Brodgar.

It was the last season where the Ness of Brodgar was "visible", now the Ness of Brodgar is all covered up again by the very earth it hid it for thousends of years. The archaeologists decided it would be best to preserve it under a safe layer of earth. The site is hidden again! We had been lucky and could visit the dig as long as we wanted. Not an easy task to understand the leftovers of walls, debris, earth and so on. Take a look.... 

Taking good fotos of the stones of Stenness and especially Brodgar is not easy. Brodgar is a huge stone circle, it is a challenge, but fun. We run out of luck and the weather gods decided it is time for clouds and rain. This makes it even more tricky..... We tried and had a good time out there! Stenness and Brodgar had been the first neolithic monuments I ever visited (as a teen) and I will always try to come back, it is just a special place!

After Hoy we had a rainy day on Rousay with its Midhowe Broch and Cairn, visited on another day the Italian Chapel and suddenly our time was over on the Northern Isles of Scotland. As ususal we had not enough time neither on Shetland nor on Orkney. But we have seen lots of wildlife, lots of landscape, lots of unique ancient places and met many interesting people. The Northern Isles deserve a visit, but take your time. They seem to be small, but once you dove in you will find more than you have expected.

And you probably want to come back!

Wir sind jetzt wieder regelmäßig auf den Fototagen und Reisemessen unterwegs. Wenn Ihr wollt besucht uns! Die nächsten Messen sind:

Zum ersten Mal für unsere schweizer und südwestdeutschen Kunden die

Mundologia in Freiburg vom 31.01.bis 02.02.2025

und wie jedes Jahr die Naturfototage bei München

Naturfototage Fürstenfeldbruck: 01. - 04.05.2025

Noch ein Hinweis für meine nächsten Workshops:

• Der Workshop auf Shetland ist jetzt bei Jürgen online.
• Grönland 2025 wird jetzt geschlosssen, alle Interessenten auf der Liste werden bis Jahresende benachrichtigt, wer noch Interesse hat, bitte sofort melden. Das Interesse für Falkland 2026 war in Wien, Lünen und Erlangen sehr hoch, wir arbeiten momentan die Kontakte ab. Wenn da Interesse besteht bitte ebenfalls Kontakt aufnehmen, danach könnte es zu spät sein.
• Neben Shetland planen wir als neue Destination Finnland im Winter und es wird eine Neuauflage der 4 wöchigen großen Antarktisrunde geben. Die groben Daten stehen schon fest, Anmeldungen sind schon möglich, Detailinformation direkt bei Jürgen Stock!
• In Westgrönland hat sich auch einiges getan, Nuuk ist als internationaler Flughafen endlich eröffnet und Planungen sind jetzt wieder besser möglich.
• In den nächsten Wochen werde ich dann die neuen Reisen bei mir einpflegen!

Thats it for the moment! Stay tuned and healthy!

Written in the train to and from Munich-Hanau, December 2024