In July this year, my mother (who lives in Sussex) and I flew from Heathrow up to Kirkwall on a Loganair Flight. We visited Orkney , the islands immediately to the north-east of Scotland north coast, last year in June. We had stayed on the main island (known as the mainland) last year in a little village called St Margaret’s Hope on the island of South Ronaldsay. This time I had planned a longer stay with the first 5 nights on the isle of Sanday and the next six nights in St Margaret’s Hope. We landed in Kirkwall on a Monday afternoon amidst the typical summer fog. The runway only appeared out of the mist at the last minute. We were met at the airport by the people at Orkney Car Hire (thoroughly recommended) and picked up our car. After a couple of hours in Kirkwall, we drove onto the roll-on roll-off ferry to Sanday. The trip is about 1.5 hours and the seas were relatively calm. I had booked a cottage near the little village (the only one on the island) known as Lady Village. It has a community centre, petrol station and store as well as a cluster of houses and that is about it. About one mile away is the airstrip. Flights from Kirkwall arrive here. Loganair operate Britten-Norman Islander aircraft for the inter-island services. We watched one landing – it was an interesting sight.
The beaches around Sanday are so numerous and are all absolutely beautiful. Here are some photographs of the island.
Meanderings of a peripatetic maths teacher 