Things you didn't know about... the Orkney Isles

The Orkney Isles? What a dive!

Divers love the Orkney Isles, with Scapa Flow regarded as one of the best wreck-diving sites in Europe. Among the numerous boats for divers to check out around the Orkney Isles are three battleships of the German High Seas Fleet that were scuttled in 1919, a World War II German escort vessel—and the barge sent to salvage it.

Ready for take-off? Happy landings!

The Orkney Isles offer the shortest scheduled flight in the world. The flight lasts just two minutes and takes you from Westray to Papa Westray. It can take even less time if the wind is favourable.

The Long John Silver connection

The Orkney Isles are home to many lighthouses built by the Stevenson family, well-known engineers whose number included Robert Louis Stevenson, author of Treasure Island.

Stone me, look at that village

Skara Brae is one of the Orkney Isles' most impressive Neolithic sites. The well-preserved stone village has beds and cupboards intact, and dates back 5,000 years. It was not uncovered until 1850, when fierce winds and high tides stripped the earth from Skerrabra mound.

A big influence on Hollywood

One of the Orkney Isles' most famous sons is James Petrie Chalmers. Born in 1866, he became an apprentice printer for The Orkney Herald and later emigrated to New York where he edited the first film magazine, the highly influential The Moving Picture World.

Orcadians play football in the streets (all of them)

The tradition of ba' is upheld in the Orkney Isles at Christmas and Hogmanay. In this mass street football game in Kirkwall, the "Uppies'" goal is the wall of a house in the south of the town, while the "Doonies" have to get the ba' into the sea. Games last for hours and there are no rules—attempts to smuggle the ba' out of the scrum have seen players take to the Orkney Isles' rooftops.

Witch direction to sail in?

Bessie Millie is the Orkney Isles' legendary witch. She sold "favourable winds" to sailors for a sixpence and she was described as having a nose and chin that almost met together. She told author Sir Walter Scott the tale of John Gow, the famous Orkney Isles buccaneer, which influenced Scott's novel The Pirate.