In this brand-new series
I am going to be visiting Orkney, a place that will take you on a journey back
through time, a place of incredible landscapes and
archeology that will leave you puzzled by the rituals of our ancient ancestors who lived here
Welcome to the Gateway to the Scottish Highlands. We are right now in callandar today
I'm on a tour with Rabbie's the bus tour guide company
We are actually on a five-day tour with rabbies which is going to be a three part series on my youtube channel
Which is focusing on a place that I have not been since I was a kid and don't really remember
But I'm very excited to go back the Orkney Islands because it's so far away
We're gonna take his whole day or more even to get there tonight
We're staying in Inverness overnight and then tomorrow we're heading over To Orkney
So today's video will really be about the process of getting to Orkney from edinburgh via the highlands
We're actually going to tour the highlights today first before we get started. I just want to say welcome to everybody
Thank you very much for joining in and if you're new, don't forget to subscribe
Subscribe to my channel and also subscribe to Rabbies
Let's get hitting the road.
This series is done in partnership with rabbies. To book your Orkney tour
Click on the link in the top line of the video description below
First stop today on our epic tour of Scotland and one of the most famous most iconic Moors in
all of Scotland
all the way around me is
Rannoch Moor that's absolutely beautiful
Thistles are coming out and purple color
You know what the road is extremely busy today
So many people going up to enjoy the Highlands, very very peaty here as you can see below me
This is a peat bog. Look at the Heather. It's coming out in purple flower
A word to describe Ranoch Moor today, you could say would be dull right, but I prefer to use the word dramatic
it is absolutely dramatic today and
Not too cold. So it's fine to be up here enjoying the scenery. It's absolutely gorgeous
What a privilege being up here. No matter the weather Ranoch moor getting back on the bus
and we're heading on to our next destination
Of course we're gonna stop at glencoe, this is no one in the most famous stopping points in all of Scotland, right
I'm not kidding you I've seen over the years. I've been coming to this exact spot for
10-15 years now and I can just see the growth and the amount of people that come here and the reason is because there's this
Mountain range here behind me in Glencoe is the three sisters those three mountains up there
so one of their best spots to take a photo
I think
Anywhere in the highlands is absolutely beautiful and it changes every time so right now is very moody and a bit rain and mess coming
Over I think it's still beautiful and a lot of times a year. You'll see the snow up there and it's gorgeous but
Yeah today, it's just kind of a bit dank, but it's still like I said earlier dramatic and that's what Scotland's atmosphere
Landscape really looks like but just to give you an idea of how many people are actually here taking photos right now
Look at this car park
There are literally
Probably hundreds of people here right now taking photos
Beautiful spot and a lot of people actually walk in as well
Just make her way in the distance there on the hills that are a lot of people walking
Not a very good different but a popular spot
To go up those mountains the three sisters
As our Rabbie's guie explained the Glencoe Valley is not only a place of city all natural beauty
But also of tragedy and treachery it was the location of the infamous
Glencoe massacre in which dozens of members of the McDonald clan were slain as they slept
By the Campbells who had been given hospitality in the McDonald's homes
the Campbell's were secretly working for the king of the time who wanted to make an example of
McDonald's for being late to pledge their fealty
Little further up the road
We get a chance to explore a castle with ties to more important figures in Scotland's past
What's the name of this castle?
Inverlochy or something Glen Lochy. I can't remember the name of this castle, but it's in Fort William anyway
And this is a quick stop off on this tour. We're gonna be here for just 10 minutes
so just enough time to come in and show you around but
this is a significant castle and important castle because it was the home of
John Comyn a lot of you guys will know who that is, but
The event that led to him and Robert the Bruce coming together
Down in Galloway in a church and
John Comyn never ever left that church. He was murdered by Robert the Bruce
kick-started a whole series of events which led to the Wars of Independence or
significant place
Told you guys before that I much prefer these kind of ruined castles to the proper ones that you get like edinburgh castle
Much prefer these types of castles Craigmiller in edinburgh for example, very very cool castle and this has got really similar vibes. So
Yeah, ruined castles are the best
Good morning one and all on day two of this adventure
We woke up and inverness this morning and have made our way north
but about to catch a ferry soon over to the orkney, but we've made a couple of stops on the way a
Beautiful castle that we just saw and right now we're in Sutherland and as our guide has been explaining to us
Sutherland was the scene of the largest
number of people who were cleared from anywhere in the highlands during the Highland Clearances
So it's not know about halfway from Inverness to John O'Groats a place called, Helmsdale
where Helmsdale so
we're very close to helmsdale anyway, and
Here there is a actual statue a monument
To those emigrants those Scottish people from the highlands
But here in Sutherland who were forced off the land and had to make that journey the perilous journey over
to the New World
To the Americas which was yet to become the United States and Canada as well
So there is a monument this me set up
You know, it's incredible to see this kind of coming together a culture of nations
United States, Canada
Australia, New Zealand
Beautiful spot for it as well. It's a very dank atmospheric D
Moody
Like I said, I prefer to call it dramatic and this rain that's fallen is just future whisky anyway, so
The castles we've come across on this tour all seem like very recent history
Compared with this stop on the hill of many stanes, an alignment of around two hundred stones that were put in place
around four thousand years ago, so
We're about half an hour away from the ferry the crosses over to Orkney
But I'm with taking one final stop before
We actually make that crossing because there's something here that is gonna get us prepared for some of the amazing sights
We're gonna see on Orkney.
Stopped at a place called the hill of many stanes
up here in Caithness.
Which is from the Neolithic a period
Set of rock formations you can see some of them there behind me and nothing really knows what they are
But we do know they're around that time the people in this area were some of the first in the world to start creating
monuments and buildings
Of stone. So but underwhelming compared to some of the stuff we're gonna see in Orkney to be honest
But it's a nice little place. They're preparing us for the trip. Probably tomorrow when we get to see some of the amazing
Neolithic sites that they have in Orkney
Whetting the appetite if you like, it's absolutely incredible to think some of these things some of these stones
Have been here for four or five thousand years
This is so weird, we were just here it feels like yesterday
At this exact spot John O'Groats for the NC 500 tour that we did
If you haven't seen that series, you can go check it out up here a link down below
We're back again
This time it means that we have reached
the ferry port which is it just actually a couple miles out we
Will remember I was talking about these monuments these stones
And
These symbolize the wave power
That exists out in the Pentland firth. The tide is so strong here it moves boulders across the seafloor
so anyway
we've reached the end of the road trying to cross this far north as you can go in the mainland of the
UK in terms of settlements
From here, we will be getting a ferry right over the water right over the Pentland firth to the Orkney islands
Which you cannot see today because they're covered in mist
But just trust me is over that way directly north from here and John O'Groats. I
We're on the ferry, it's a bit wet, but we're on
Ready to set for Orkney
And so we've arrived on the Isle of Orkney, it's great to be here
And the first stop is the famous Italian Chapel right here behind me
It's got a legendary story about the prisoners of war in the Second World War
Who actually were captured in northern Africa
The Italians they were brought here to build the Churchill barriers which connects all the islands of Orkney nowadays
But then was just a barrier against submarines and they wanted a place that they could pray
While they were a prisoner here on the island. And this is what we have left is the Italian Chapel is absolutely beautiful
We're gonna go inside and take a wee look, but it's just great to be here in orkney
I can't wait to explore more two whole days on Orkney
It's only just beginning
The Italian Chapel is a story of hope
despite being
Prisoners of war the Italians connected with locals to scavenge all the items in needed to build this Chapel on their release
they offered the chapel as a gift to the people of Orkney for their kindness and
Decades later were actually invited back to the islands as guests
We are in the town of kirkwall right now the capital which is where we are staying here
And we've actually got a couple of three hours right now to explore the town and just take a wander around
The cathedral is right there. I've just got off the bus. I won't be coming to check out the cathedral
We're gonna want to see a museum and walked on the high street and just see
Get our bearings of kirkwall. It's great to be here in Orkney
It's been a long day of traveling to be honest. But um, we've seen a lot of stuff we're taking in a lot
It's just been a great trip so far
So we're on the Main Street now of Kirkwall this is a main shopping street, I guess of all Orkney islands
The main attraction in Kirkwall is the Magnificent st. Magnus cathedral
constructed in the year
1137 its founding was described by the
Legendary OrkneyInga saga the ancient narrative of the early founding and political makeup of these islands
Alright guys, we are in our hotel room now B&B room here in kirkwall in Orkney
It has been a really long couple of days on the road
It's been great to put this first video and the in the Orkney series together for you guys
It's great to be here in Orkney. What a great place
I'm so excited about tomorrow to explore which will be the vlog that you guys will see next week
And I'm very excited for you to see that as well because this is gonna be epic
to see some of the sights that we are off to
Tomorrow. I hope you enjoyed it
let me know your thoughts down in the comments below and
Until the next adventure or hope you have a good night/morning even an afternoon or whatever time it is wherever you are in the world
Take care