I love Orkney. I’ve only visited it three times and would love to go more often but it is a bit of a trek to get there from London. But these days I get a lot of pleasure from exploring it again online and in my imagination.

The first time we went to Orkney we drove the full distance from London to Scrabster on the northern coast of mainland Scotland, near John O’Groats. We took several days to get there, stopping off for a break in Inverness. The ferry trip from Scrabster to Stromness was beautiful, as we passed the Old Man of Hoy surrounded by arctic terns. We stayed in an ancient cottage tucked away in the steep lanes of Stromness.

Returning a week later was a different story.  The ferry was very late leaving and then took a long detour through the protected Scapa Flow before attempting to cross the notorious Pentland Firth in a heavy storm. That was the worst sea journey of my life. I was terrified. I now understand why the Firth is such an important sea defence.

I said I would never again try the sea crossing, so on the last two occasions we have flown from one of the Scottish airports. I don’t know how Alistair Carmichael manages his weekly commute in happier times, as it can’t be done in one hop from London. On one of our visits we popped in to his constituency office which is behind St Magnus Cathedral in Kirkwall.

So why do I love the place? It is totally different from the rest of Scotland, geographically and culturally – indeed, its heritage is more Viking than Scottish. There are no forests – in fact, no trees at all on the main island (simply known as Mainland) or on most of the outlying islands. There are no mountains, no heather, no steep sided lochs. But there are huge horizons, gentle hills, amazing birds and the wind, always the wind.

However it is the Neolithic response to that wild landscape that brings the visitors to the islands. A quite large area on Mainland is designated a UNESCO World Heritage site, and it includes four extraordinary structures: the village of Skara Brae, the Ring of Brodgar, the Stones of Stenness, and the chambered tomb of Maeshowe, all dating back over 5000 years. They alone are worth the journey, but there are an astonishing 3000 Neolithic sites to be explored on the islands.

One day we took a tiny 8 seater plane from Kirkwall to the outer island of Westray. We stayed on the plane for the two minute hop to neighbouring Papa Westray (known to everyone as Papay) – a journey that appears in the Guinness Book of Records as the shortest scheduled flight in the world. We joined a handful of other visitors for a minibus tour of the island which included lunch in the village hall served by some of the 70 people who live there.

During that tour of Papay we went to see the Knap of Howar, the remains of the oldest house in Europe built nearly 6000 years ago. When we visited Skara Brae we had the full visitor ‘experience’ (at a cost) and were restricted to walkways around and over the houses. But to reach the Knap of Howar we walked across a muddy field full of cows, avoiding their deposits, opened a gate then climbed into the home and the workshop, which you can see in the photo.

Since then the excavations at the Ness of Brodgar on Mainland have unearthed some extraordinary finds which have challenged all existing understanding of Neolithic culture in the British Isles. More about that, though, another time.

Please note

We have been in full self-isolation since 16th March to protect my husband whose immune system is compromised.

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* Mary Reid is a contributing editor on Lib Dem Voice. She was a councillor in Kingston upon Thames, where she is still very active with the local party, and is the Hon President of Kingston Lib Dems.