Visiting the Beautiful Island of Rousay – Neolithic Chambered Cairns, Iron Age Broch, and Stunning Scenery

After my stay in Stromness, I took the ferry from Tingwall, on the east coast of Mainland, to the island of Rousay which is the fifth largest of the Orkney islands and has the second highest hills after Hoy. Roughly circular, farms occupy the lower slopes, close to the sea, while the hilly centre of the island is rather wild with heath and moorland and small lochs. Rousay has more than 160 archaeological sites, and it is rich in flower meadows, birds, and other wildlife. My accommodation (a lovely little self-catering studio suite at Trumland Farm) was located close to the ferry. I settled in and then set off on foot along the main road to visit three Neolithic chambered burial cairns which are located within about two and a half miles of the ferry terminal.

It was a lovely walk, despite the very strong wind and occasional drenching sweeps of rain! (I was prepared though, wearing my waterproofs and armed with a strong umbrella.) In the photo below (centre) is Trumland Farm and to the left is the ferry terminal, with part of the island of Wyre opposite.

As I walked I had fields to my left, sloping down to the sea, and fields to my right sloping up to the heather-covered hills. Curlews and oyster catchers were nesting in the fields and as I passed near they would rise up and fly about noisily, warning me away. These lovely horses, however, were calm and sedate, and barely noted my presence as I walked by. It was great to be alone, on this quiet single-lane road and I was already in love with this island.

The first chambered cairn was Taversoe Tuick which is around 4,500 years old and, unusually, it has two stories, with an upper and lower chamber. There was no one else about and it was thrilling to enter the cairn and descend down a metal ladder from the upper chamber into the lower one. When first discovered, the bones of five people were found here, together with flint, stone tools, and pottery fragments.

The next burial tomb was Blackhammer Cairn, entered through a sliding hatch. It is a stalled cairn, thirteen metres long, with seven compartments. It has been damaged over time but a concrete roof with skylights now protects it. The bones of two individuals were found here and it is believed that the tomb was probably cleared periodically over many centuries. The far end of the mound was rounded, and faced with a large flat stone. I got chills here, but it wasn’t creepy or because of the cold – it was reverential, and a privilege to see the work of people from 5000 years ago as they created these homes for their dead.

The next tomb, the Knowe of Yarso, required a good steep climb up the hillside to reach a level terrace on the moorland, with views of farmland, the sea, and a ferry below.

This cairn was also protected by a concrete roof with skylights, and was in better condition than the last, with higher walls and the slabs of rock dividing the space into chambers were more intact. The bones of 29 individuals were found here, and it is thought that the tomb was in use for at least a thousand years. Again, I felt very privileged to be here, all alone, to walk through this space and imagine the lives of those who built this place.

The following morning dawned brighter than previous days, hurray! Trumland Farm rents bicycles and I splurged on a electric one for the day which was a wise choice given the strong winds and many steep hills on Rousay.

The first stop of my round-the-island tour was at Midhowe Broch and the Midhowe Chambered Cairn. This 5,400 year old chambered cairn is so immense that it is protected by a hanger (the large building at the bottom of the hill, below).

Once inside the hanger there was a bit of a surprise. Catwalks have been built above the cairn, enabling visitors to view the structure from above. The cairn’s passageway is an astonishing 23.6 metres long and features 12 stalled chambers. The upright stones marking the chambers rise to a height of 2 metres and the remaining walls rise to a height of 2.5 metres.

It was thrilling to walk down one side of the catwalk and back along the other. Looking down, one chamber reminded me of the box beds found at Skara Brae.

The remains of 25 people were found here when the site was excavated in 1932. Cattle and sheep bones, antlers, fish bones, shells, worked flint knives, and pots were also found, possibly due to ritual feasting in the space, or possibly placed with the bodies for use in an afterlife. I was rather awestruck by the enormous effort it would have taken to quarry and fit all of the stone for this enormous tomb.

Back outside, the unceasing wind had cleared away a few dark rain clouds – the sky was blue and the coastline ahead was wild and beautiful. Just ahead was Midhowe Broch, the best-preserved of three Iron Age brochs that were built on this section of coast and occupied sometime between 200 BC and 100 AD. Brochs are round defensive residences that are particular to Scotland, and when I visit Shetland I will view the best-persevered of all.

The siting of this Broch is spectacular. It was built on a promontory, with ditches cut through the rock on two sides and also a ditch and rampart on the landward side for defence.

I enjoyed walking around and through the broch. Again I was here all alone, but for the wheeling gulls over the sea and swallows swooping low over the turf.

I headed back towards the chambered cairn hangar,

and then beyond it to view and learn about even more historical sites in this area called Westness.

There were the jumbled remains of a Viking hall (the Wirk), the ruins of 16th century St. Mary’s Church, built on the site of an earlier medieval church, and the ruins of Skaill Farm. The current ruined buildings of the farm date from the early 18th century, but are built atop and amongst many Viking farm buildings and field structures of the early 12th century when Sigurd of Westness ruled here.

There were interpretive panels at each site and it was a lot to take in! Here, an archaeological dig is ongoing. I am so impressed by the painstaking work that archaeologists do to make sense of the structures and artefacts they find, and to try and piece together the very complex story of human occupation and use of the land here over many centuries and even millennia!

But that was enough history for one morning! I left Skaill Farm, and the entire Westness site, very happy with my visit to this incredibly historic and atmospheric place. These sheep wanted their quiet grazing time back, and I had more of the island to discover.

I climbed back up the hill and hopped back on my bicycle to continue my counter-clockwise circuit of the island. There was no traffic to worry about and the fields, hills, and scattered farms were wonderful to take in. Soon I had reached the northwestern part of the island and I stopped for this wonderful view across farm fields to a small loch and beyond it the Bay of Saviskaill where I had read that seals sometimes pull out to rest on the shore. I passed several more farms on my way to the bay, including one with old out buildings deeply covered in yellow lichen. At the beach, the tide was high and the shore was thickly covered in rich mounds of deep burgundy/brown seaweed. I sat and had a light lunch here and watched the gulls and several curious Grey seals who watched me as much as I watched them.

Leaving the bay, I passed the end of the small loch and traversed a bit of boggy ground to get a picture of the yellow iris blooming near the shore. Down low, I saw a purple bog orchid with two very large and fat bumblebees on it. I think that they may have been Great Yellow Bumblebees which were once found throughout the U.K. but are now quite rare and mostly found in northern Scotland and the northern isles. I crouched low for a photo but was not quick enough and they flew off a second before I pressed the shutter so a positive ID can’t be made!

My next stop was at the trailhead for a loop hike of Faraclett Head where Arctic terns and Great Skuas nest. I climbed up a steep hillside and then across sheep-shorn turf, with great views ahead and down towards a small loch situated behind a curving beach.

The walking was great but after only about a kilometre dark rain clouds were approaching fast and so I decided to cut my hike short and retrace my steps. I arrived at my bike just as the rain started and decided to crouch down beside one of the two cars parked at the trailhead. Now one advantage of Orkney’s wind-driven rain is that it comes in at quite an angle, versus straight down, and so I stayed surprisingly dry sitting on the ground against the lee side of the car, knees tucked in to my chest, boots tucked under my waterproof pack. I snacked on a granola bar, shook my head half-admiringly at the rapid changeability of the Orkney weather, and quite enjoyed the sight and sound of the heavy fall of rain around me. Ten minutes later it was all done! I walked to my bike, swept the water off of the seat, and continued on my journey.

My next stop was at the Heart of Rousay Boardwalk. The electric bike was so helpful in getting me up a fairly steep dirt road to the summit of a hill that was topped by one lone and very large windmill. The boardwalk passes over a tufty expanse of cotton grass and heather and provides great views across to the hills at the centre of the island, and also out to the sea, looking towards the island of Egilsay, which was my destination for the following day. A string of circular pens, probably of farmed salmon, was in the sea between the two islands.

I cycled back down the hill, and then continued along on the quiet road, sad that I was nearing the end of my tour around the island. I made one last stop to check out the trailhead for a hike that leads up onto the moors and through the Trumland RSPB Reserve to the highest point on Rousay. I had read that it is a good place to view raptors such as Hen Harriers, Merlins, and Short-eared owls. My reconnaissance done, I took in the view of this beautiful wildflower meadow, with the ferry terminal below and my accommodation just minutes away. What a day! I was definitely in love with Rousay and wishing that I had many more days here to explore and enjoy. It is the kind of island where, of the few cars that passed me on the road, everyone waved.

If I could do it again I would definitely stay on Rousay for at least four or five or seven days as there are more walks to do and places to discover such as a large standing stone, sea stacks, bird colonies, and isolated lochs where red-throated divers nest. But, I still had one more full day here to look forward to, with a planned morning outing to Egilsay and an afternoon hike up on the moor. I was already looking forward to it, and I felt so thankful that I had come to visit the beautiful island of Rousay.