Second day of sightseeing. Today’s goals ; to take in the south coast road and see the islands south of Kirkwall. A gloomy day with grey skies so we were very pleased to have the comfort and warmth of the car. Driving south past the ferry terminal at Houton we could see an oil? rig and massive container ships in Scapa flow. A famous sea area with lots of world war history ( google it!) South of Kirkwall we drove through the now familiar wide open countryside, with green windswept fields. There are a lot of sheep with lambs of all sizes. I noticed how little shelter they are provided with as most of the fields just have fences and no walls. I guess they are born hardy! Our first stopping point was the Churchill barriers which connect the islands of Holm, Burray and South Ronaldsay. They were built in the Second World War by Italian POWs to stop access to Scapa flow from the east. Very interesting although again all very tough for those involved. One can only imagine what conditions were like. Next stop was The Italian chapel on Burray, which was built out of two Nissan huts and is an amazing work of art. Inside is painted to look like 3 dimensional tiles and carved stonework . So very clever and a story worth googling! After continuing to the end of the island and taking a few bleak looking photos across the Roosts and the Pentland Firth, we returned to a very wet St Margaret’s hope on the west of South Ronaldsay, and had a wonderful lunch and local beer at Robertson’s cafe/ bar. Returned to Kirkwall and got out of the rain by visiting the magnificent cathedral of St Magnus. Well worth a visit. Finally a big shop at Tesco’s and Lidl whilst we still had the car. Not sure when we will next be near one !
What I learned today……. the story of the Italian chapel and the Churchill barriers.
Sue x
Churchill barriers 
St Margaret’s hope
St Magnus Cathedral
Angelique 