Don't Flaunt Orkney

On Saturday 5th August the three liners shown above, the Ruby Princess, MSC Magnifica and Nautica spent the day in Kirkwall. The seven thousand passengers and crew temporarily increased our population by over 30% but it all went smoothly, the sun shone and everyone seemed to have a good time. 

 We've come a very long way in fifty-six years; in December 1958 a headline in the local paper said, "Don't Flaunt Orkney".

Dr Margaret Tait had been asked to help arrange an Orkney stall at the Scottish Tourist Board's Holiday Market in Edinburgh and she was very dubious about the whole affair.

 "I really think that an organised tourist industry would be contrary to the welfare of Orkney... It is after all,  a very cynical and very hopeless avowal of defeat to say, in effect, "There's nothing left for us to do now but charge for admission for people to come and gape at us." She went on,"I have nothing much against tourists going to Orkney if they want to. It's the accosting and soliciting that I object to."

In the end, she agreed to help, on the understanding that the stand was intended to provide information to those already thinking of visiting us.

Tourists have actually been coming in reasonable numbers for about two hundred years, since Sir Walter Scott's novel, The Pirate, set partly in Orkney, was published in 1822 and we've been catering for them, in our quiet and efficient way, ever since. Tourism is now second only to agriculture in the money it brings into the islands.

I must go down to the sea again

Relatives in Orkney were being visited by cousins from London. When the Orcadian children heard that their cousins lived miles from the sea, they asked where they went on Sunday afternoons. We go to 'the shore' and one of the advantages of island life is the choice available.
 You can have lots of sand at Waulkmill Bay, Orphir

or at the Sands of Wright in South Ronaldsay, where they hold the Boys' Ploughing Match in August. 

I've been told that Orkney sand has a higher lime content than the rest of the country, because of the high proportion of shell in it. This is very useful because it can be spread on the soil to make it more workable.

You can go to a stony shore, to look for patterned stones

or a rocky shore, to scramble on, like this one at Marwick on the west side of the Mainland. The famous rock stack, the Old Man of Hoy, is just about visible in the distance.

Alternatively, you can take a walk along the cliffs and admire the spectacular scenery.