I crossed the Pentland Firth to Orkney on the Hamnavoe, a finely appointed, Finnish-made ship which sails to the Orcadian port of Stromness. But before it reached the Orkney “Mainland,” * it passed close to the western end of the Isle of Hoy. Here are the United Kingdom’s highest sea-cliffs, as high as 350 m/1150 f. Struck by the afternoon light, they were extraordinarily beautiful. If my trip had ended at this place, I would have pronounced it entirely worthwhile. We passed by the Old Man of Hoy, a stone stack separated from the cliffsthat rises 137 m/450 f from the waves. Sunlight reflected off hundreds of seabirds, creating swarms of bright specks that swooped and dove against the backdrop of the cliffs. These are made of young sandstone, in horizontal layers of rusty red, grey, and sunlit gold, broken by vertical cracks that, here and there, are covered with green moss. Hoy is the wildest of the larger islands, with the highest hills, and only a few inhabitants.
Approaching and passing the Isle of Hoy, and the “Old Man of Hoy”
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