Rackwick

One of the posts on my list of posts not hitherto written is one about my visit to Rackwick on the mountainous island of Hoy, the second-largest in the Orkney archipelago. On the way there, I checked out the Dwarfie Stane, which I have already written about - see my post The Dwarfie Stane on 30th June 2025. But Rackwick was my prime destination in the northern half of the island. Here are two location maps:

Click on these to enlarge them, Same with the photos that follow. 

I was pitched at Stromness (upper left in the top map), and had to drive to Houton on the A964 to catch the ferry to Lyness on Hoy. I arrived in the late morning, and had about six hours to see whatever I could. But first stop had to be Emily's, a roadside café, for an early lunch. This was the card I picked up:

And this was how it was on the day. It was sunny and mild: warmer than you'd expect for a shoreline place in springtime. Even so, I sat inside. 

I beat whatever off-the-ferry rush there might have been, and was able to chat a bit with Emily herself, in between her cooking. I chose something heartwarming, sustaining, and very yummy. 

Orkney is a foody place (be warned) and although Hoy might seem a bit off the beaten track (it isn't really) you cannot go hungry, wherever you may stray. That lot was delicious, but very filling. However, I had some walking in mind to reach the Dwarfie Stane, and then at Rackwick, so I was confident of burning off some of those calories!

In the loo were some Second World War helmets, begging to be tried on. I couldn't resist.

Now who can hold a Leica X Vario in one hand, and take a picture, while applying lipstick with the other? I can!

That's the very camera whose shutter failed later the same day, and was eventually repaired. I just managed to photograph what I wanted to on Hoy before the thing became inoperative.  

On to Rackwick. Now this really is a remote place. There is one narrow road in, and you absolutely need your own transport. The nearest proper shop is twenty miles away, at Longhope far down in the south of Hoy. So a forty-mile round trip. But then everyone living at Rackwick values the hideaway atmosphere of the place. The resident population is scattered about in little houses, some of them with turf or flat stones on the roofs, so that the winter storms can't blow them off. The place is much visited by adventurous walkers, school parties, and climbers wanting to scale the old Man of Hoy, reachable by a three-mile slog through the heather. (I didn't attempt it, not even for the stunning pictures I'd have got from the cliffs)

So here's the road approach to Rackwick. It's all brown or grey hillside until a broad patch of green comes into view, where the houses are.

The car park was surprisingly full. But apart from an obvious field study group of students, and one or two tourists like me, Rackwick seemed deserted. Excellent. I wanted a solitary communion with the spot. I sat in Sophie for a few minutes. I'd wanted to come here for years; decades.

Time to walk. No jacket needed. Just the red hat. The shore beckoned. I set off down a track, passing a couple of roofless or part-ruined cottages, reminders of a time - long gone - when there was a working community here, and not just seasonal visitors and the odd resident with sufficient other income.

I was surprised that there wasn't more sand visible. All I could see were large pebbles. This was a calm day; but it struck me that the shore must be a very noisy place when heavy waves crash down on those pebbles and suck them this way and that. 

For now it was very peaceful. If I'd had the time to spare, I would have sat down and just let the sun and the peace sink into me. Many people have said this is a special spot, a spiritual place, a place for healing. Well, I needed no healing and I wasn't spiritual, but nevertheless I did feel that here you could forgot all worries. It was so serene. I found myself getting very thoughtful.

I had planned a triangular route: car park to the south-east end of the bay; then along the beach to the north-west end; then back through the cottages to the car park. Because of the large and unstable pebbles, it was clearly best to avoid the beach and instead follow a path that kept to the turf above. It had the advantage of sea and cliff views to my left, and valley views to my right.

Rackwick's most famous modern resident was Peter Maxwell Davies the composer - here's a piece about him from the NorthLink Ferries magazine:

He lived in one of the small cottages up on the hillside - ideal for a composer who needed to pound on the piano keyboard without disturbing his neighbours! In or near the car park was a board showing the location of each habitable house, there being no road names here:

I wondered which cottage? Had it been the one called Crowsnest? I still don't know. Here's a link to an expanded NorthLink Ferries article on his life in Orkney (on Hoy and on Sanday, where he died): https://www.northlinkferries.co.uk/orkney-blog/sir-peter-maxwell-davies-in-orkney/. 

Next, the walk back to the car park, using a tarred road no less, and passing houses that showed signs of modernity, and civilised living, and were not just tumbledown stone dwellings. But first a look back at the bay. Would I ever see it again?

I hope you can see the magic of Orkney, at least as I apprehend it. Hoy is the only mountainous island in the archipelago. It's the one with the best scenery. But some of the other islands have small hills, lochs and impressive cliffs. Apart from Hoy, I stayed on the Orkney Mainland. There just wasn't time in one week to visit any of the other islands, beyond in the south-east connected to the mainland by the Churchill Barriers. I'll have to go back.