Day Trips Orkney, North of Scotland Overnight Tours, Private Guided Tours

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ORKNEY 2008
Escorted tours

All our Orkney tours start from Inverness.

From mid-June to late September we offer a dozen departures of an escorted 2-day tour from Inverness to Orkney and back to Inverness - our Orkney Gold Star. Click here for details of departures in June, July & August, and here for details of this trip in September. This 2-day trip has a night in Kirkwall, capital of Orkney.

In September we run a 1-day trip from Inverness to Orkney - our Orkney MegaTour;

For details of partially escorted tours from late March to mid-October please click here.

Day Trips Orkney, North of Scotland Overnight Tours, Private Guided Tours - Go-Orkney, Puffin Express

A haunting late afternoon view of the Stones of Stenness
as a storm gathers to the north

Another page gives general information on Orkney including accommodations there, entrance fees etc.

Prehistory; the world wars; seascapes; and Norse links are what most people are looking for in a visit to the ORKNEY ISLANDS; all our trips to Orkney include features from these four main categories.
Joining: All our trips to Orkney begin and end in Inverness, leaving from Castle Wynd - or the Town House, beside Castle Wynd
Click here for some towns and accommodations north of Inverness from which you can join this tour.

ORKNEY GOLD STAR 2008

Fully escorted 2-day tour from Inverness to Orkney back to Inverness - same vehicle and guide throughout;

Bed & breakfast at a comfortable Kirkwall guest-house included ;

Pick-up from and return to your accommodation in Inverness included;

Maximum of eight (8) participants (+ guide) per trip Last summer Gold Star trip of 2008:
August 21 - 1 space left

Please click here for description of a 2-day tour
going north on Tuesdays, 2-30 September

A completely new tour for 2008

Itinerary: Day 1 (Thursday) - We pick you up at your accommodation in Inverness 0900-0930 and then head north by the A9, following the north coast of the Moray Firth. En route to our ferry point we'll have a coffee/toilet stop and visit one prehistoric site. The guide points out many other prehistoric and World War features.
About 1330hrs we'll check-in at Gills Bay - a few miles west of John o'Groats - for the crossing to Orkney with Pentland Ferries - see route 2 on the map. Lunch is available on the ferry; the crossing takes a little over an hour, and we enter Scapa Flow through Hoxa Sound, the main channel used by warships in WWII..

Churchill Barrier # 2, linking Lamb to Glimps Holm

On arrival at Saint Margaret's Hope in South Ronaldsay we turn south to visit the remarkable ancient site of Isbister Cairn, popularly known as The Tomb of the Eagles. This Neolithic chambered cairn contained some thousands of bones, the remains of some 300 people. We typically spend an-hour-and-a-half, or even more, here - but you'll find the time flies by! Our visit is in three main parts:

Time in the small museum, where the discovery of the tomb is described to you by one of the excavator's daughters; there is also a small café and WCs;

A ten-minute walk takes us to a Burnt Mound - the link is to a WikePedia article;

A further short walk takes us to the "Tomb of the Eagles" itself, where we can visit the interior. We return to the farm and our vehicle by a bonny cliff-top walk.
This link takes you to another page with information on this site.
We drive north to Kirkwall and check-in at our accommodation. En route, we cross the Churchill Barriers (see above) and stop at the Italian Chapel.
Accommodation in Kirkwall is based on guest-house type accommodation in rooms with private facilities. We normally use Brekk-Ness House; Eastbank House; Polrudden; or the Royal Oak Guesthouse. The price includes full breakfast, drop-off and pick-up (on Day 2) at the accommodation.

Day 2 (Friday). You have time in the morning to explore Kirkwall: St Magnus Cathedral; the Earl's and Bishop's Palaces; the Orkney Museum; and many local shops. We leave the town about 1030-1100 for our tour of west Mainland, visiting Maeshowe, Skara Brae, the Rings of Brodgar and Stenness.

Skara Brae, best-preserved stone-age village in Europe. We spend 1¾ hours here; giving you ample time to visit the prehistoric village; nearby Skaill House: and have lunch.
Maeshowe is the finest passage grave in the British Isles. We are normally here about 40 minutes;

Maeshowe from the air. Beyond, the lochs of Harray and Stenness; the Ring of Brodgar is between these lochs, on a brown knoll almost directly 'above' the mound of Maeshowe. This is the Neolithic heartland of Orkney and only GO-ORKNEY takes you to Maeshowe on a day tour from Inverness.

Click above for a detailed picture of Viking 'twig' runes inside the tomb
Pictures by Richard Welsby

The Rings of Brodgar (see photos below) and Stenness (see photo at top of page) - we spend up to an hour at these two great circles;

Prehistoric Tours in the Highlands of Scotland
Left, a general view of part of the Ring of Brodgar, with the Loch of Harray in the background; right, a stone struck by lightning in the 1980s, with the flake split off lying beside the stone
At 1645hrs we depart Orkney, this time by NorthLink Ferries from Stromness - see route 1 on the map. This route takes us past the spectacular cliffs of Hoy, including the world-famous stack called The Old Man of Hoy. Numerous puffin are seen in season.
We return to Inverness by 2100hrs.
Our price of £ 160 (child under 16 - £ 148) includes pick-up from accommodations in Inverness; return [round-trip] travel from Inverness to Kirkwall (Orkney); guided tour northwards from Inverness and within Orkney, as decribed; one night's bed & breakfast in room with private facilities in good-quality guest-house; transfer to your accommodation in Kirkwall and pick-up there the next day; guided tours in Orkney as described; and VAT (sales tax) of 17.5%. *Trip requires minimum of 5 participants to operate.*
The above price is based on sharing a room; for single occupancy, please add £ 15. Note: Entrance fees to Skara Brae & Maeshowe are not included.

To book now, note price and go to Bookings - (use the Orkney/September box on the drop-down menu)
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GO-ORKNEY MEGATOUR 2008
The best of Orkney in a day from Inverness
Scheduled trips - Days & dates of operation 2008
This trip is available 361 days per year as a private trip - click here for more information

*Revised ferry schedules for 2008 give us at least an extra hour in Orkney and make for an even more rewarding experience*

Most of this year's trips are already guaranteed departures

Wednesday 3 September
Wednesday 10 September

Departure time (Inverness) - from Castle Wynd: 0615hrs; returns c. 2200hrs.
Please click here for a list of accommodations where we pick people up about 0620.

Fare:£ 85 + admission fees to Skara Brae & Maeshowe - maximum £ 11.50
Joining at Gills Bay (ferry point) at 0915hrs: £ 80

Wednesday 17 September
Wednesday 24 September
Wednesday 1 October

Pick-up from points north of Inverness:
Tain - 0720, at Co-op Supermarket car park at north [west] end of the royal burgh;
Dornoch Firth Caravan Park - 0725
Dornoch - 0730 - check this link for details of joining from Dornoch
Golspie - 0745, at Fountain Road car park
Brora - 0755, Gower Street car park, near Co-op;
Helmsdale - 0810 - opposite Bridge Hotel

This is the only day-trip to Orkney which visits all the top prehistoric sites - Skara Brae; the rings of Brodgar & Stenness; and Maeshowe - and which gives you sufficient time at each of these antiquities. For our crossing to Orkney we use MV Pentalina B, the car ferry service started in 2001 and which takes just over an hour from the mainland to Orkney. During this crossing we see a wide variety of wildlife. Often seals are seen before we leave mainland Scotland and seabirds are seen on all trips.

0615hrs: Depart Inverness TIC (Castle Wynd). Drive north by the coast road to Gills Bay (near John o'Groats), with a breakfast/toilet stop. On our way we pass cliff-top castles, wild moorland scenery and a variety of prehistoric sites inlcuding the broch of Carn Liath and the stone 'circle' - actually more a horseshoe - of Achavanich.
0945: Depart Gills Bay for the scenic 1-hour crossing, taking us under Stroma, Swona and the great gun emplacements which guarded Hoxa Sound during the Second World War.

Day Trips Orkney, North of Scotland Overnight Tours, Private Guided Tours - Go-Orkney, Puffin Express

Swona, where the Pentland Firth meets Scapa Flow. This island, which rarely experiences frost, is at the same latitude as frigid Churchill on Hudson's Bay, haunt of the ice-bear! Swona is now uninhabited, except by seabirds and its famous herd of feral cattle.
Dunnet Head, most northerly point of the Scottish Mainland, can be seen in the background to the right of the cottage.

1100-1120: Arrive at St Margaret's Hope in South Ronaldsay, most southerly of the inhabited islands of Orkney. Drive north over the Churchill Barriers, stopping briefly at the Italian Chapel (right) - sometimes we visit the chapel on the southwards journey.

We then proceed to visit the major prehistoric monuments of West Mainland:

The Rings of Brodgar (see photos below) and Stenness - we spend up to 45 minutes at these two great circles;

Skara Brae, best-preserved stone-age village in Europe. We spend over 1½ hours here; you may spend some of your time in nearby Skaill House, with its account of the discovery of Skara Brae. It is also our lunch stop;

Maeshowe is the finest passage grave in the British Isles. We are normally here about 40 minutes;

Click above for a detailed picture of Viking 'twig' runes inside the tomb
Pictures by Richard Welsby

Kirkwall. Our time here is determined to some extent by our departure time from Maeshowe - the only potential bottleneck on the trip - but we usually have 30-50 minutes. Places to visit include Saint Magnus Cathedral, the Earl's & Bishop's Palaces, and the Orkney Museum.

1800hrs: Depart St Margaret's Hope, returning to Caithness 1900hrs.
2200hrs: Return to Inverness.

Our price of £ 85 includes return road and ferry transport from Inverness to Orkney and guided tour within Orkney. Entrance fees to Skara Brae and Maeshowe are not included - both these monuments are in the care of Historic Scotland.
Meals & snacks are available on board our ferry, and there is a caf� at Skara Brae.

Our long experience of Orkney means that, as far as possible, we arrive at the principal sites when there are few other visitors. We can't always promise this; when there's a cruise ship in, even we may meet up with them. But the photos below tell their own story:
Day Trips Orkney, North of Scotland Overnight Tours, Private Guided Tours - Go-Orkney, Puffin Express Day Trips to Orkney, North of Scotland Overnight Tours and Private Guided Tours from Go-Orkney and Puffin Express
The left picture is how the bus park at Skara Brae usually looks when we arrive - just our little coach! The right picture shows it as we're leaving - we're nearly always ahead of the crowd!

To book now, note the price of this trip (£ 85) and go to Bookings
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How far in advance should I book?
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Private Tours. Our GO-ORKNEY MegaTour is available almost every day of the year as a private tour. We pick you up from your accommodation in Inverness or at any point north of the city. Details of the tour are then as given above - or you can have the tour tailored to your own requirements. Departure time for private tour can be as late as 0645hrs.
Cost: Our price of £ 450-500 for a private tour includes land and ferry transport from Inverness to and within Orkney and back to Inverness, with high standard of guidance, and features visited as in the itinerary above or as agreed. This price covers up to 2 passengers; add £ 27 for each passenger above that number. VAT (sales tax) of 17.5% is also included. Not included: meals, entrance fees.