Janet Christie’s Mum’s the Word

A road trip to Orkney fires the imagination

Books in a bedroom at Skaill House, Orkney. Pic: J Christie

I don’t remember who suggested it but unlike my Book Group’s usual wistful ‘I’d love to go there’ musings here we all are walking along the narrow main street of Stromness in Orkney with its old flagstones stretched between houses so close that the upper floors almost kiss.

It was a book that started it, or rather two, both set in Orkney: Amy Liptrot’s The Outrun and Harry Josephine Giles’ Deep Wheel Orcadia. I’ll spare you our group ramblings apart from saying they’re obviously worth a read as they inspired us to visit, because our discussion meandered for hours and was interspersed with deeply personal information which, while riveting, would result in my exile from Book Group for ever.

They’re all my pals, so it was an amiable group on our long weekend on Orkney’s Mainland, but what hit us along with the archaeological marvels of Skara Brae, the Broch of Gurness and standing stones scattered everywhere, was that people were so friendly.

Pic: Buildings in Stromness, Orkney. Pic: Janet Christie

It’s a cliche but here it was true and the locals all had plenty of chat, from the man in the shop/post office who told us of his relocation to the island he fell in love with to the cheery bus drivers willing to make an impromptu stop on the road to scoop you up and the staff at Skara Brae cafe who knew The Outrun’s location - ‘just over that field’, as well as the characters in it. All the more impressive since everyone seemed busy with several jobs, such as the guy at the garage who raced away to put out a fire.

As for recommendations - Helgi’s and The Old Library in Kirkwall and The Stromness Hotel all fuelled our trip with tasty platefuls (try the Orkney version of Battenburg cake for extra ballast against the wind) but since books are my theme the friendly woman in Stromness Museum recommends the thriller Bloody Orkney by Ken Lussey and for younger readers, The Six Lives of Fankle the Cat by George Mackay Brown who lived a cat swing across the road (and referred to Stromness as ‘Sin City’, according to his nephew with whom I once flatshared). Now that Orkney’s on my radar, so far I’ve added Joan Lennon’s Silver Skin and David Greig’s novels to the pile and I know it’s the start of a beautiful friendship. So long Sin City, I’ll be back.