On our last full day in Orkney we made a day trip to the island of Hoy.

image: http://www.visitorkney.com/hoy/
You’ll need to check out Visit Orkney if you want to know what all the numbers mean

The largest village, Lyness, is on the southeast coast of the island but we bypassed the big city (just kidding: the entire island of Hoy has a population of 272) and took the passenger ferry from Stromness to Moaness, in the north. It was a pretty rough ride but we made it.

A boat full of day-trippers

We’re there

There we were met by a van driven by an amusing and voluble chap who filled our heads with local lore as he transported us across to the western side. He dropped us off at Rackwick, population 1 or 2, plus quite a lot of sheep.

We followed a path to the Old Man of Hoy, a tall rock stack at the north of the island. The scenery on our 3-hour walk was spectacular despite the drizzle, mist, and wind.

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Returning to Rackwick, we stopped in at the free museum of island life, really just one of the old crofts that has been kept as it was before the last family member moved away to town.

The croft

A traditional Orkney chair

A “box bed” – a cupboard with a bed in it.

We explored a little more around Rackwick

Then the van came back to get us. We had an hour or so before the ferry arrived, so we stopped in the little cafe at Moaness for tea and a scone, then waited at the pier for our boat back to Stromness.

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Hoy is the setting for this 1980s Eurythmics music video. Enjoy a blast from the past.