Getting away from it all: Orkney island hopping

The Orkneys – just voted Scotland’s ‘best island’ – are home to archaeological riches, lunar landscapes and silver-white sands. It’s a place to get away from it all – even if you live there

This morning, before breakfast, I was out on the water: silk-smooth in front, and streaming away behind, the ferry cutting a path from the island of Hoy, via the island of Graemsay, to the island where I live, confusingly called Mainland.

Though this name creates some conversational ambiguity (are they referring to mainland Orkney, or the Scottish mainland, seven miles to the south across the Pentland Firth?), I’ve always admired the way it subtly shifts the centre of gravity closer to home. By considering all else relative to our own largest island, it resets the dial on what it means to be remote. Remote, us? Hardly. We’re at the heart of the action.