On the way back from Lyness on Hoy to Houton on the Orkney mainland the ferry took a slightly different route in order to put off and pick up at the island of Flotta.

Looking back to Hoy from ferry to Flotta :-

Miltary constructions go back a long way on Orkney. This is one of at least two Martello Towers on Hoy. These date from the Napoleonic wars:-

Defunct military building on Flotta, Orkney. Plus trees – an unusual sight on Orkney:-

At the Flotta terminal a woman suddenly cried out, “Look. A Seal!”

Three more seals were basking on the shore on the other side of the ferry:-

Structure in mid Scapa Flow. This was too far away from the ferry for me to make it out but it looks like an artificial island:-

Oil Terminal at Rinnigill, Flotta, from Flotta-Houton ferry.:-

Tanker and Rinnigill Oil Terminal, Flotta:-

Orphir is on the south of mainland Orkney, near the ferry terminal at Houton. We visited it the day before Lyness as we were scoping out the possibilities of taking the car over to Hoy. It turned out you had to book that two or three days in advance. We ended up as foot passengers.

At Orphir there is a Visitor Cente devoted to the Orkneyinga Saga as it was here there was a Viking drinking hall and where a certain Sven Breastrope (Sveinn Brestrope) was murdered. There are the usual display boards and also a video dramatising the relevant bit of the saga. Unlike at many Orkney attractions we were the sole visitors.

A modern cemetery lies to the south of the site.

Plaque on cemetery wall. Bu means residence:-

Remains of Viking drinking hall from northeast:-

Remains of Viking drinking hall looking southeast:-

Remains of Viking drinking hall looking south:-

Remains of Viking drinking hall looking north from cemetery wall. Orkneyinga Saga Visitor Centre to left rear, farm buildings to right:-

Ahoy-hoy was the suggestion of the inventor of the telephone Alexander Graham Bell for the greeting people should use when answering the telephone. I couldn’t avoid thinking of it as we approached the island of Hoy across Scapa Flow on the ferry crossing from the terminal at Houton to Lyness.

Hoy from ferry:-

Approaching Lyness:-

Plaque at Lyness Ferry Terminal commemorating the salvaging of ships from the scuttled German High Seas Fleet in Scapa Flow. Apparently the metal from the ships found use in the space programme as it was uncontaminated by radioactive fallout:-

Old Fortified Building on Hoy seen from Lyness Naval Cemetery. This must have been to do with either or both of the World Wars:-

The Hoy Hotel. Art Deco/Moderne style. We met an Australian photographing the building. He had come to Hoy as that was his surname:-

Photo in the Lyness Naval Museum of the Garrison Theatre, Hoy, built by the Royal Marines. Now no more except for the foyer:-