“T he one outstanding characteristic
is wind. No other region in Great
Britain can compare with it for the
violence and frequency of its winds.”
– MAGNUS SPENCE, 1908
Out here, at what seems like the very end of the earth, the wind never seems to
let up. Some days — as many as 30 in a calendar year — these howling winds
reach “gale force” levels across this hauntingly beautiful, almost alien landscape.
Known as “Orkney” to many in the U.K., this chain of windswept islands lies a
little over an hour across the ocean from northernmost Scotland. They offer
travelers an entryway into a remote world, mysterious and drenched in history.
The wild, windy, otherworldly Orkney presents an up-close-and-personal look
at some of the best-preserved Neolithic sites in Europe… along with fascinating
remnants of both World Wars via its historic harbors.
Around 22,000 residents — scattered over 20 or so islands — call Orkney home
today, but the 382-mile-long chain of 70 islands is much more renowned (and
visited) for its past than its present.
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