HOY

Becca Wilson
Aug 28, 2017
3 min read

So there's good and bad news. Bad = I didn't have time to bake yesterday. Good, really good in fact = I visited Hoy for the first time and it was out-of-this-world!

Until yesterday, I had only visited one of the smaller Orkney islands, Rousay. Last summer, I joined one of my dad's archaeology trips and we sailed over to the island. Rousay has actually been named 'Egypt of the North' due to the number of archaeological sites you can see (I lost count of the number of cairns I visited).

Anyway, this post isn't about Rousay (as beautiful and historic as it is), it's about Hoy. I have been wanting to visit Hoy for a very long time, and yesterday my family and I finally made the short half hour boat trip across. The main link is the car ferry that runs from Houton in Orphir to Lyness on Hoy. Being a tourist for the day meant I just had to sit on the deck to take in the panoramic views and also do a little wildlife spotting - I saw one seal playing about next to the boat. As Hoy got closer and the sun started to make an appearance, I knew that it was going to be a memorable day.

The main point of interest is the Old Man sea stack. So we headed straight to Rackwick Bay before it got too busy, taking in the vast landscapes on the way. We parked up close to the beach, made sure we had some energy snacks and set off on the 9.25km walk up to the Old Man. The walk begins with a short steady incline, but it is worth it as the view back to the valley and Rackwick Bay is something else - a mix of impressive cliffs, rolling waves and clear sea. The path stays close to the coast so we kept an eye out for any wildlife. We didn't see any whales, but we did see a few ravens and bonxies. As we followed the path, purple heather either side of us, the Old Man started to appear.

There were only five other people there when we arrived which was pretty rare. The Old Man stands out against the mix of looming cliffs, greenery and calm ocean. WOW what a spectacular sight and it sure is a photographer's dream! I don't think I need to say much more about the amazing view I was looking at, just have a look at the photos at the bottom of this blog and you'll see how striking it is. Just as we were leaving, lots of tourists were making their way to this special spot, so we definitely timed it well.

After heading back down, the beach was calling and so was our picnic bag! We spent the rest of the afternoon looking for stones

and watching the majestic waves rolling in.

Have I sold Hoy to you? Yup, I've sold it again to myself so I will definitely be revisiting, especially to take in more of WWII Hoy.

So the bad news wasn't too bad. I didn't bake or cook this weekend but we did use up the leftover red and green homemade pesto. This week, however, homemade mexican-spice veggie gluten free pizza is on the menu, and I would like to try some kind of peanut butter, chocolate, banana bread with walnuts. I will share my recipes once I've created these wonders.

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