6 Day Orkney Walking Tour |
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Departs Saturdays Check In: / Return: |
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6 Day Orkney Walking Tour
If you want to get the most out of visiting Orkney, this is the tour for you! Not only taking in the Orkney Mainland and connected islands, we'll take you to see the highlights of Hoy and Westray as well. With a unique mixture of diverse wildlife, amazing cultural heritage and a fantastic guide to show you hidden delights, Orkney is a place to savour! Our walking tours are guided by Denise, originally from Germany, living in Scotland.
Day 1 - This morning we'll take in the fine views of the Forth Rail Bridge, Edinburgh's engineering icon, before crossing the Firth of Forth. We'll make our way to St Andrews for a morning walk around the old cathedral and university city. From there we will continue to Arbroath for lunch tasting the local Arbroath smokies! After lunch we will walk along the cliff tops for views of Dunnottar Castle before continuing to the granite city of Aberdeen to catch the evening sailing to Kirkwall. Dinner will be onboard the ferry arriving in Kirkwall at 2300.
Day 2 - With a 10am start we begin our day by visiting Maes Howe, a Neolithic building with the most amazing viking graffiti! After we'll walk out to explore the Stones of Steness and the Ring of Brodgar, two fantastic stone circles that are older than Stonehenge! After we'll discover how people lived in the Neolithic times by visiting Skara Brae, two neolithic villages built upon one another that go back over 5000yrs. We'll also have an opportunity to visit Skail House, what was the old Laird's House. This afternoon we'll walk up to the towering cliffs of Marwick Head for fantastic bird watching as well as to soak up the views. If the tide is right, we may also take a walk over the causeway to Birsay - once a Pictish settlement, it was then lived upon by the Vikings and became the education centre on the Orkney Islands.
Day 3 - Today it's a day trip to Westray for walking and bird colonies. We make our way by local ferry to the island of Westray where we'll enjoy a full day of walking around Noup Head, one of the largest seabird colonies in the British Isles, second only to St Kilda. With puffins, guillemots, kittiwakes, razerbills, shags and fulmars, wild flowers, caves and lighthouses, it's a superb day out! (Expect to walk about 6.25 miles 4 - 5hrs) We'll have an early dinner Pierowall before catching the evening sailing home.
Day 4 - It's time to explore another island today - Hoy. We sail from Stromeness to Hoy where we'll enjoy a lovely day walk through Berriedale Wood with cascading burns. It's a rare habitat on Orkney that holds many plant species otherwise extinct on the Orkney Isles. As we drop down to Rackwaick Bay, we'll wander over to see the epic Old Man of Hoy, an impressive sea stack towering out of the Atlantic Ocean for 450ft. Our return journey to the ferry will be made with one of the locals! (Expect to walk 10.25 miles with an ascent of 400m)
Day 5 - This morning you have the option to visit Highland Park Distillery, the most northernly distillery in Scotland producing award winning peaty whisky. Alternatively it's some free time to discover St Magnus's Cathedral, the Bishop and Earls Palaces, the Museum of Orkney or wander around the shops where you'll find amazing local produce and gifts. This afternoon, we'll enjoy a short walk to the Gloup and Mull Head before continuing on to the Italian Chapel, an amazing piece of art as well as social culture built during the Second World War by Italian Prisoners of War. There will be time afterwards to stop at the Orkney Wine shop for a wee taste of their wines. After venturing over Churchills Barriers, we'll see the remains of ships sunk during the first World War to protect the natural harbour of the Scapa Flow. This evening we return to Kirkwall for an evening dinner before boarding our overnight ferry back to Aberdeen.
Day 6 - After arriving once more in Aberdeen, we'll begin to make our journey back to Edinburgh through Royal Deeside. With a morning walk around Loch Kinord through some native Scottish Forest. You will see the fine Picticsh Kinord stone, the remains of an iron age crannog and Castle Island, thought to have been inhabited by MacBeth himself. (Expect to walk about 3.75 miles 1.5 - 2hrs) After lunch in the picturesque village of Braemar, we'll make our way through Glenshee and the Cairngorm Mountains to Blairgowries in Perthshire and walk along the river Ericht with it's waterfalls, woodlands and old mills. (Expect to walk 3.75 miles, 1.5 - 2hrs) We'll arrive tired but happy back in Edinburgh at approximately 1830.
Please note that the kitty for this tour includes hostel accommodation, all ferries, overnight accommodation and breakfast on the return ferry journey, entrances to Maes Howe and Skara Brae. It does not include breakfasts on Orkney or evening meals on a hostel basis. Upgrades to Bed & Breakfast or Hotel accommodation are available at an extra cost.
