A Peedie Bit O' Orkney...

And another coastal feature tonight, on the northern isle of Stronsay... The Vat Of Kirbister, probably the finest sea-arch in Orkney, created when the roof of an almost-circular sea cave collapsed... leaving an inlet with an archway at its seaward end.

It's easily possible to explore it by boat, or look down into it from the clifftop, but not safe to walk across the arch itself.

Beautiful, isn't it?

A Peedie Bit O' Orkney...

And a bit more - as promised - on the area of Scapa Flow and Wartime developments, today focusing on The Churchill Barriers and The Italian Chapel.

In 1939, the Royal Navy battleship HMS Royal Oak was at anchor in Scapa Flow (whose entry was protected by blockships that had been sunk to make access harder), when German U-Boat U-47 under the command of Gunther Prien managed to sneak undetected into the Flow and torpedo the ship, which sank with the loss of 833 of her 1,234 man crew.

In 1940, a series of 4 causeways were built, linking the Mainland to 3 of the south islands, thus making a permanent defence from the East. They were built by Balfour Beatty, with labour provided by Italian prisoners of war who were held in the area.

One of the Barriers:

The prisoners had asked for somewhere to worship, and were given the use of 2 Nissan huts on the island of Lamb Holm. And this is what they built...

Spectacular, isn't it?

Most of the interior decoration was carried out by Domenico Chiocchetti, making use of materials lying to hand... for instance, some of the ornate fittings round the lights were made from corned beef tins!

Domenico sadly died in 1999, after returning to Italy after the war (but not before helping to finish the chapel), and his widow has passed away within the last few days. They were not forgotten, and he returned a couple of times to assist in the restoration of the chapel. Orkney held them in high regard, and I believe this was returned.

The chapel is well worth a visit if you ever make it to Orkney... it really is beautiful.

A Peedie Bit O' Orkney...

If you come to Orkney by boat, one of the first views you're likely to get of our islands is The Old Man Of Hoy - and you really can't miss him, considering the fact he's 137 metres tall (that's 450 feet in old money).

Here he is in all his glory:

Wikipedia entry here: Old Man Of Hoy (Freddie! Freddie! It worked... I gave a link a different name!)

There are other sea stacks round Orkney, as well as caves, arches and geos (like mini Norwegian fjords)... photos of some of them are likely to make an appearance at some stage... but The Old Man is the highest, and most famous. It's a magnet for climbers, and has been climbed by some of the biggest names, including Chris Bonnington (which was filmed for a documentary many years ago, in black & white), more recently Sir Ranulph Fiennes, and Chris Chittell (I think that's his name... the actor who plays Eric Pollard in Emmerdale).

Sadly, the coastal erosion that created him probably about 400 years ago is still ongoing, and there's a big vertical crack running from the top down... someday, he'll simply collapse into the sea (the sea already claimed his second "leg"... the arch at the bottom that gave him his name).