Orkney Part 4 – Sanday

15/11/2024

Is it wrong to book a destination based on Pizza? It’s not that pizza was the reason we wanted to go to Sanday. But once we’d decided we were going to Sanday we definitely wanted to go to 59ºNorth, a café and pizza place AND a motorhome stopover. In the winter the stopover is open all week but the café is only open on a Thursday. So we had to make sure our visit included a Thursday evening. I think that all makes sense.

Getting to Sanday and Rock Formations

We had a morning start to get to Sanday and it was dark which always makes it feel earlier. The noise of passing traffic nudged us awake and we rubbed bleary eyes and clumsily got ourselves dressed. A quick cuppa was made, breakfast would be eaten on the ferry.

This was our second time at the Northern Isles ferry terminal in Kirkwall so we knew what to expect, sort of. We’d forgotten that the ferry goes to Eday before Sanday so wondered why two destinations were embarking on the same ferry, but we soon figured it out. I popped down to the lower deck and picked up a couple of bacon roll for our breakfast and did a little work while we crossed.

Sanday is a long Rorschach Blot of an island. If you squint and look at it sideways it might look like a diving dolphin. The ferry terminal is on the nose of the dolphin and the motorhome parking on the tip of the fin. Although I was planning to work on the day of our arrival we wanted to visit a location near the harbour and this was our best opportunity to do so. So I exercised the perks of flexible working and excused myself for a couple of hours.

We parked up Bertie and got our bikes off the back. A short bike ride up the road and we could head east on a track towards the interestingly named steading of Stove where a lot of ruined fam buildings back onto the beach. Picking up the road from the steading we found our way past an electricity substation and picked up another track out towards the east coast.

Looking towards the abandoned farm buildings (and some occupied houses) at Stove

We left the bikes on the top of the cliffs and slipped down a sandy bank to a wide sandy bay where we found a few interesting caves and scooped out hollows in the cliffs. The tide was visibly receding and before long we could explore. Maybe there are more caves if you visit at low tide but we couldn’t get around the next headland to see.

59º North and an Unwelcome Guest

We followed the road up to the north west of the island where we found the motorhome parking really easily and got ourselves settled. The cafe wasn’t open when we arrived but we had already paid for the parking via their website. The sliding doors into the lobby of the building were open so we could access the toilet and shower. We knew from reviews that this was the bathroom for the cafe as well as available to campers. I felt more relaxed using the shower knowing that I wouldn’t find a queue outside when I was done. If the cafe was busy I think I would stick to using our own facilities.

I spent the rest of the day and most of the following day working. The weather was starting to get a bit wet and windy, our run of exceedingly mild weather was coming to an end and we were starting to experience the type of weather that we had been expecting all along. I wasn’t sad to be inside a toasty van working. A local critter was also quite happy to take advantage of our warmth as the next morning we found evidence of mice. We have had plenty of experience of mice taking shelter in the van. Our first step was to make sure that all food was in sealed containers (Paul had to empty one of his tool boxes to make room), then deep cleaning. It seemed to do the trick and the little opportunist moved on for richer pickings. Not before leaving me a present of an unwrapped chocolate on my seat – something I didn’t notice until I stood up and found a congealed brown mess on my trousers.

Sunset outside 59 Degrees North

A lunch time cycle

I took a long lunch break from work and we went out on a little bike ride around the coast from our parking spot. We cycled down to the end of the road and then cycled on the sand or on the grass along the coast. This looked like prime otter territory but we didn’t see any, just a few footprints that looked possible candidates.

Otter prints?

This was a great introduction to the white sand beaches that prompted the Norse to give Sanday it’s name. Whitemill Bay was particularly beautiful. It was amazing to think that there was nothing between us and the Arctic.

Once we’d rounded Whitemill Point we made our way back to Bertie using tracks and roads.

Cycling the north of Sanday

On our last full day on Sanday we took the bikes out again. Cycling has been a great way to get around Orkney. Our mountain bikes have proven capable of cycling the firm sand and flat rocks on the beaches and the rough ‘outrun’ land along the coast. We haven’t had many hills to tackle but plenty of small ups and downs to keep our legs working.

This bike ride took us via the Sanday Heritage Centre (sadly closed) up to Start Point (the tail of the dolphin). Start Point Lighthouse is vertically striped, which is quite unusual. It looks like a new variety liquorice allsort. You can only get up close to it at low tide when the causeway is exposed, we waited for the tide to drop, watching the seals playing in the currents, but the rain started and we decided to get on our way rather than sitting in the drizzle.

The Meur Burnt Mound – reconstructed outside the visitor centre. No one knows what these structures were used for, but we do know that water was heated in a trough, which is why they were thought to be ‘burnt’.

Start Point lighthouse

The road took us past Lopness Bay, another long sandy beach where we could see the remains of the German WWII B-98 Destroyer which broke loose when being towed from Orkney to Rosyth.

Remains of the B-98 Destroyer peeking out from the sea. You can walk around these at low tide.

We popped into the well stocked local shop where we picked up some lunch. While we were chatting to the lady who was stocking the shelves we asked how bad the weather would have to be to cancel the ferry. We were starting to get a little worried that the weather was getting breezy. She wasn’t very hopeful but we decided we would just stay on Sanday for longer if it came to it, in any case there was no room for us on an earlier ferry.

Star Wars sculptures made from scrap

We cycled down to Quoyness cairn. Like a smaller version of the Maeshowe Cairn this mound covers a central chamber with six small side cells and a long low tunnel for access. Unlike Maeshowe, human remains had been found in this structure making it more likely that it had been a tomb.

We cycled along a muddy and grassy farm track which was heavily pocked with cows hoof prints, probably the most difficult cycling of the whole day and not helped by the increasing wind and rain. Our reward was being able to crawl into the cairn to see the inside in the dim light of the dirty glass skylight. It’s not as impressively constructed as Maeshowe, made from sea worn stone rather than hand shaped slabs, but it’s still amazing to think about how old it is and the civilisation that lived and farmed on Orkney thousands of years ago.

Back for pizza

We made our way back to our parking spot where we found the café open. Stopping for tea and cake was only polite. We also tried to book a table for pizza in the evening but they were already fully booked so instead take away was ordered to be picked up later. It was delicious and very welcome after our day of cycling.

Getting back to the mainland

As feared, ferries were disrupted the following day. We watched the Orkney Ferries facebook page while I did a few more hours work in the wind rocked van. Around midday we were phoned by staff who warned us that there was a chance that our crossing would be cancelled, but in the end it was moved to an earlier time. Once we had confirmation that the ferry was definitely on its way we drove carefully to the ferry terminal. The winds howled and the wild seas crashed over the harbour wall. As the sun went down we watched the seas and finally, in the low light of early evening, the ferry made it in. Only two other vehicles made the crossing with us, most people having sensibly moved their bookings. The sea may have been lumpy but really it wasn’t the worst crossing. Our strong stomachs prevailed and soon we were back in Kirkwall ready for dinner and a drink. Bertie was parked up back in the now familiar car park we had been in before our departure.