0:00:02 > 0:00:06Shetland - where over a hundred islands cluster together
0:00:06 > 0:00:10in the turbulent waters of the North Atlantic.
0:00:10 > 0:00:17For the ancients this was the Ultima Thule, literally the edge of the world.
0:00:17 > 0:00:21The remoteness of these islands from the industrial cities of the south is what made them
0:00:21 > 0:00:26so attractive to the Victorians, keen to escape the noise and the pressure
0:00:26 > 0:00:28of their busy, over-crowded world.
0:00:28 > 0:00:32Some of the more adventurous tourists braved rough seas
0:00:32 > 0:00:39to get here, hoping to find some peace and quiet in the perfect isolation of the far north.
0:00:41 > 0:00:44In Victorian times, many holidaymakers followed
0:00:44 > 0:00:48routes suggested by the most influential guide book of all,
0:00:48 > 0:00:50Black's Picturesque Guide to Scotland.
0:00:50 > 0:00:55In this series, I'm taking my own well-thumbed copy of this fascinating book.
0:00:55 > 0:00:58It's been in my family for generations and was always kept
0:00:58 > 0:01:00in the glove compartment
0:01:00 > 0:01:03of my father's car when we went on holiday.
0:01:03 > 0:01:08Now it's inspired me to make six journeys of my own.
0:01:08 > 0:01:15Letting its pages guide me, I want to retrace the steps of the early tourists to find out how Scotland
0:01:15 > 0:01:19became a jewel in the crown of tourist destinations.
0:01:19 > 0:01:22On this journey I've come to the Northern Isles to discover
0:01:22 > 0:01:29how their remoteness from the mainland drew tourists in search of perfect isolation.
0:01:41 > 0:01:45My route starts in the ocean to the east of Shetland, visits Lerwick,
0:01:45 > 0:01:47then explores the islands' rich wildlife
0:01:47 > 0:01:53before heading out to sea again and sailing south to the musical Orkney Islands.
0:01:57 > 0:01:59This is the coast of Shetland.
0:01:59 > 0:02:03The islands' position here - lying between Scotland and Norway -
0:02:03 > 0:02:07represents a kind of cultural halfway house that because of my
0:02:07 > 0:02:13family's Norwegian connections, I find especially fascinating.
0:02:13 > 0:02:18For over 600 years, both Orkney and Shetland were part of a great Viking empire
0:02:18 > 0:02:23and in recognition and celebration of this fact I've joined this Norwegian boat,
0:02:23 > 0:02:30which is taking part in the annual race between Bergen in Norway and Lerwick in Shetland.
0:02:34 > 0:02:40Because my father lives in Bergen, being part of a Norwegian crew makes me feel almost at home.
0:02:40 > 0:02:44As we sail into Lerwick Harbour, I take the opportunity to practise
0:02:44 > 0:02:49my Norwegian by asking Skipper Morten what the voyage has been like.
0:03:09 > 0:03:12- Have you made this crossing before? - I think this is my ninth time.
0:03:12 > 0:03:13Your ninth time.
0:03:13 > 0:03:16You're a sucker and a glutton for punishment I have to say.
0:03:16 > 0:03:23Tell me, as a Norwegian, what is the attraction of a place like Shetland to you?
0:03:23 > 0:03:27- It's our heritage is over here in a way, right? - This is your, this is your heritage?
0:03:27 > 0:03:30A Viking coming over and then he ended up here.
0:03:30 > 0:03:33So you're re-living the age of the Vikings?
0:03:33 > 0:03:35- Definitely.- Taking part in this race?
0:03:35 > 0:03:39Definitely. We are warriors, well we're more weekend warriors actually.
0:03:42 > 0:03:46Morten and his crew might feel an affinity with Shetland, but 1,200 years ago
0:03:46 > 0:03:51his Viking ancestors came as conquerors and colonisers.
0:03:51 > 0:03:56The local population were physically and culturally wiped from the map.
0:03:56 > 0:03:59Not the kind of tourists you want to encourage.
0:04:01 > 0:04:07Thankfully, today's Norwegian tourists are altogether less threatening and more benign,
0:04:07 > 0:04:09keen to come ashore and enjoy the delights of Lerwick
0:04:09 > 0:04:15and maybe even a curry or a beer in Britain's most northerly town,
0:04:15 > 0:04:17the capital of Shetland.
0:04:19 > 0:04:23Leaving the beer and curry to my brave Norwegian ship mates,
0:04:23 > 0:04:26I set off to explore this fine-looking old town.
0:04:26 > 0:04:31The first thing I notice is the Shetland flag.
0:04:31 > 0:04:36It flies everywhere, proclaiming the islands' sense of independence from the rest of the country,
0:04:36 > 0:04:42a reminder that until 1469, the Vikings ruled these islands.
0:04:42 > 0:04:46Although Black's guidebook finds this Viking connection quite thrilling,
0:04:46 > 0:04:49the town itself is less favoured.
0:04:49 > 0:04:52"Lerwick is a very irregularly built town.
0:04:52 > 0:04:56"The houses are very plain, and not prepossessing in appearance."
0:04:56 > 0:05:01But the adventurous Victorian tourist didn't come this far north
0:05:01 > 0:05:04to admire the architecture, or the lack of it.
0:05:04 > 0:05:10What appealed to the discerning visitor was a sense of remoteness offered by these islands.
0:05:10 > 0:05:16This is still a huge attraction to modern tourists drawn to the abundant wildlife of Shetland.
0:05:18 > 0:05:21To experience the rich natural history for myself,
0:05:21 > 0:05:26I'm heading to Noss, one of Shetland's many uninhabited small islands.
0:05:28 > 0:05:32I'm joining ornithologist Jonathan Wells, who skippers a boat
0:05:32 > 0:05:39taking tourists on wildlife safaris to what can only be described as a seabird city.
0:05:42 > 0:05:46Noss is not a place for the faint-hearted, it's wild and remote.
0:05:48 > 0:05:51In Black's day, access to the island was made
0:05:51 > 0:05:56by means of an alarming rope cradle slung between the cliffs.
0:05:56 > 0:06:01These same cliffs rise a dizzy 600 feet above my head
0:06:01 > 0:06:03and plunge another 100 beneath the keel.
0:06:03 > 0:06:10The air all around assails my senses with the smell and noise of thousands of nesting seabirds.
0:06:10 > 0:06:12BIRDS CAW
0:06:12 > 0:06:17People think they know what to expect when they come here - they're going to see a bird cliff.
0:06:17 > 0:06:20But this always astonishes and enthrals.
0:06:20 > 0:06:24There are lots of seabird colonies and there are bigger ones,
0:06:24 > 0:06:30but this one has the greatest concentration of numbers and variety of species in one place
0:06:30 > 0:06:34and it's been knocking people's socks off for hundreds of years.
0:06:37 > 0:06:41Most tourists who come to Noss have a completely different relationship
0:06:41 > 0:06:45with the natural world from their Victorian counterparts.
0:06:45 > 0:06:50Back in the 19th century, an interest in wildlife usually meant an enthusiasm for shooting things
0:06:50 > 0:06:54and the sporting tourist would have come to Noss
0:06:54 > 0:06:59to blast away at the birds and the seals and anything else that moved.
0:06:59 > 0:07:02Even those who professed a more scientific interest in nature
0:07:02 > 0:07:05resorted to the gun to collect specimens.
0:07:05 > 0:07:09You read their lists of what they bagged and it's horrifying,
0:07:09 > 0:07:14- really rare birds, and thought it was jolly good sport.- Good sport? - THEY LAUGH
0:07:14 > 0:07:17Well the last sea eagle was shot here at Noss in 1918
0:07:17 > 0:07:19by an English clergyman.
0:07:24 > 0:07:27As well as being a sporting delight for would be crack-shots,
0:07:27 > 0:07:32Noss had other attractions for the Victorian tourist.
0:07:32 > 0:07:38Black's Guide recommends a visit to a giant sea cave with a dark secret at its heart.
0:07:38 > 0:07:43Known as the Orkneyman's Cave, it was used as a refuge by Shetland men
0:07:43 > 0:07:47when the Navy press gangs came calling.
0:07:47 > 0:07:53During the Napoleonic Wars, something like 3,000 men served in the Royal Navy from Shetland.
0:07:53 > 0:07:55That's a large chunk of the population.
0:07:55 > 0:07:57- That's a lot of men.- Yeah.
0:07:57 > 0:08:00And they're nearly all listed in the records
0:08:00 > 0:08:03at Greenwich, at the Maritime Museum, as volunteers.
0:08:03 > 0:08:06- Volunteers, in other words, press-ganged.- Yeah.
0:08:06 > 0:08:10The press-gang ship comes past here, they look in - "The cave's empty."
0:08:10 > 0:08:15- But in there, at the end, there's a tunnel where you can hide. - And that's where they hid.
0:08:15 > 0:08:19That's where they hid, because the naval rowing boats, the whale boats,
0:08:19 > 0:08:22wouldn't be able to get in. Once you're in there, you're safe.
0:08:22 > 0:08:25- Why's it called the Orkneyman's Cave?- I don't know if it's true,
0:08:25 > 0:08:29but the story is a man from Orkney came here and hid from the press gang
0:08:29 > 0:08:36and he tried to swim out over there and it's terribly cold, this water'll kill you in 40 minutes.
0:08:36 > 0:08:39They found him just about dead, draped on that rock over there.
0:08:39 > 0:08:40- Hypothermic.- Hypothermic.
0:08:40 > 0:08:44So they rescued him and they took him home and they gave him a shot of rum.
0:08:44 > 0:08:49And that didn't work, so they tried the ultimate resort - they put him in bed with a Bressay lass.
0:08:49 > 0:08:54- Right. Did that work? - Yes, it did, it he survived and of course he had to marry her.
0:08:54 > 0:08:58- Well that's not necessarily a bad thing.- Well, that's the legend.
0:08:58 > 0:09:01I used to believe that story, I'm not sure I do any more.
0:09:03 > 0:09:10As you might expect, Shetland is just about as rich in tall tales and legends as it is in wildlife.
0:09:10 > 0:09:13Two centuries ago, the Islands' wealth of folklore
0:09:13 > 0:09:21helped to fuel the fertile imagination of Scotland's most prolific writer, Sir Walter Scott.
0:09:21 > 0:09:25Sir Walter Scott was inspired by the dramatic scenery of Shetland
0:09:25 > 0:09:29to set his novel The Pirate in the Northern Isles.
0:09:29 > 0:09:34Now the pirate hero of the book goes by the improbable name
0:09:34 > 0:09:36of Mordaunt Mertoun - no relation -
0:09:36 > 0:09:40son of Basil Mertoun - definitely no relation.
0:09:40 > 0:09:45Now when the lovesick Mordaunt needs help in affairs of the heart,
0:09:45 > 0:09:47he calls upon the witch, Norna,
0:09:47 > 0:09:53who lived over there, on the spectacular cliffs of Fitful Head.
0:09:54 > 0:10:01It was typical of Scott to use real locations like Fitful Head in his work, a clever device
0:10:01 > 0:10:07that helped to attract his sometimes fanatical readership to visit the settings of his novels.
0:10:12 > 0:10:18This is Jarlshof, another Scott location from the novel The Pirate.
0:10:18 > 0:10:23Jarlshof is the fictitious name Scott gave to the old manor house here,
0:10:23 > 0:10:27but there's more to Jarlshof than even he could have imagined.
0:10:27 > 0:10:34I've come to meet tour guide Douglas Smith to find out more about Scott and this special site.
0:10:34 > 0:10:36He needed a headquarters
0:10:36 > 0:10:39for his hero, he saw this ruin here
0:10:39 > 0:10:44and said, "That's it, that'll do fine." I'll just call that Jarlshof.
0:10:44 > 0:10:49- That's Sir Walter Scott's romantic imagination working overtime again then?- I suppose so, yes.
0:10:49 > 0:10:53It's amazing. He didn't realise this, but there are layers of history here.
0:10:53 > 0:10:55Absolutely, this is a quite unique site.
0:11:01 > 0:11:08Jarlshof is fascinating and extraordinary, because it's been a place of continual human habitation
0:11:08 > 0:11:14since the Stone Age, but in Black's day it was unknown until the weather intervened.
0:11:14 > 0:11:17So what happened to reveal this site then?
0:11:17 > 0:11:20Well, there was a great storm just before 1900
0:11:20 > 0:11:24and the sand and soil was blown off the top of some structures.
0:11:24 > 0:11:30So until that point, the whole area was completely buried by sand, it was like a big sand dune?
0:11:30 > 0:11:32As we, as we understand so, yes.
0:11:34 > 0:11:39Among the ruins is a wonderfully-preserved 4,000-year-old wheelhouse,
0:11:39 > 0:11:43which to me looks like the prototype of a hobbit's burrow,
0:11:43 > 0:11:46but I'm especially eager to see the Viking remains
0:11:46 > 0:11:48that have been discovered here.
0:11:48 > 0:11:51So now, we're coming to the Viking era,
0:11:51 > 0:11:54about 850 AD.
0:11:54 > 0:12:01Of course, the Norwegian visitors tell us that it was only the seasick Vikings who settled in Shetland.
0:12:01 > 0:12:05And the real Vikings went on to pursue their voyages.
0:12:05 > 0:12:10Now do you think Shetlanders feel a wee bit Viking, a wee bit sort of Norwegian themselves?
0:12:10 > 0:12:16I certainly do and it's part... Och it's part of our heritage, it has to be.
0:12:16 > 0:12:21The Scandinavian connection is just one of the characteristics
0:12:21 > 0:12:26that define modern Shetland, but there is another.
0:12:26 > 0:12:30Unlike the war-like images inspired by a Viking past,
0:12:30 > 0:12:34this one provides an altogether more endearing symbol of the islands.
0:12:36 > 0:12:42This, of course, is a Shetland pony, famed and much-loved throughout the world
0:12:42 > 0:12:45and used to serious heraldic effect
0:12:45 > 0:12:48by the island's council on its coat of arms.
0:12:50 > 0:12:53To find out more about the original My Little Pony,
0:12:53 > 0:12:55I've come to Thordale Stud,
0:12:55 > 0:13:00'where I'm helping Jo Tomkinson get her Sheltie ready for work.'
0:13:00 > 0:13:04Now these wee beasts have been used for many hundreds of years
0:13:04 > 0:13:07for carrying people and doing general work about the farm, have they not?
0:13:07 > 0:13:12They have indeed. These guys are so bred now for work.
0:13:12 > 0:13:13Too many people keep them as pets.
0:13:13 > 0:13:15They get into trouble
0:13:15 > 0:13:18because their pony is a pet that hasn't got enough to do.
0:13:18 > 0:13:20These guys like to work, they need a job.
0:13:20 > 0:13:25- They're strong beasts, aren't they? - Very strong.- Were these horses also used in mines?
0:13:25 > 0:13:32They were indeed. Before then, women and children were used to pull coal carts full of coal along the tracks.
0:13:32 > 0:13:37And the government made it illegal to use women and child labour down the mines,
0:13:37 > 0:13:41so they had to find some other way of transporting their coal through the mines,
0:13:41 > 0:13:44so the Shetland pony was the obvious thing.
0:13:44 > 0:13:47They were shipped out in huge numbers.
0:13:47 > 0:13:49- Bred here for the mines? - Bred here for the mines.
0:13:49 > 0:13:54So the ponies would be born here, brought up here in this fresh air
0:13:54 > 0:13:57and then spend the rest of their working lives down a mine.
0:13:57 > 0:13:58But they'd have had a job to do.
0:13:58 > 0:14:00And they were well looked after
0:14:00 > 0:14:03and I hear they were bathed with warm water every night, but...
0:14:03 > 0:14:06It's more than the kids were, I suspect.
0:14:06 > 0:14:09More than the kids were, yes, probably. Blinkers.
0:14:09 > 0:14:12He can see where he's going and he's ready to go.
0:14:12 > 0:14:13Andy, walk on.
0:14:15 > 0:14:19'Happily, the ponies have a much better life these days
0:14:19 > 0:14:23'and here at Thordale, they're trained to pull a small carriage,
0:14:23 > 0:14:26'but in Shetland, ponies were nearly always ridden.
0:14:29 > 0:14:33'And as Jo and I continue on our way, I wonder how it was possible
0:14:33 > 0:14:38'for the grown men who rode them not to have felt just a tiny bit silly.'
0:14:43 > 0:14:49My next destination is North Mavine, which lies about 40 miles northwest of Lerwick.
0:14:49 > 0:14:56In Victorian times it was a remote district and seldom visited, but Black's Guide describes it as
0:14:56 > 0:15:03"one of the most beautiful parts of Shetland, a peninsula, almost an island".
0:15:08 > 0:15:13'This is the St Magnus Hotel in Hillswick, once an exclusive resort
0:15:13 > 0:15:17'for the discerning tourist who came to Shetland in search of perfect isolation.
0:15:19 > 0:15:23'I'm meeting Andrea Manson, who owns and runs the hotel, to find out
0:15:23 > 0:15:27'why such a remote place was once so popular.'
0:15:27 > 0:15:28All made of wood, too.
0:15:28 > 0:15:32All made of wood, yeah, in a Norwegian... To keep the Norwegian influence.
0:15:32 > 0:15:35Right, so it's actually made in Norway, was it?
0:15:35 > 0:15:41Originally, yes. It was built for the Norwegian Trade Delegation at the Exhibition in Glasgow in 1896.
0:15:41 > 0:15:46- How did it get here?- The North of Scotland Orkney and Shetland Shipping Company bought it,
0:15:46 > 0:15:49brought it here and turned it into this lovely hotel.
0:15:49 > 0:15:51So the original flat-packed building, is it?
0:15:51 > 0:15:53The original IKEA flat pack.
0:15:53 > 0:15:58'The St Magnus Hotel opened for business in 1900.
0:15:58 > 0:16:01'Andrea is keen to show me the original visitor's book.'
0:16:01 > 0:16:03What kind of people came here?
0:16:03 > 0:16:09It would have been the rich and the gentry and the aristocrats.
0:16:09 > 0:16:12People with money. WH Auden was here in the mid-'30s.
0:16:12 > 0:16:14- The poet. - The poet, yes, with his boyfriend.
0:16:14 > 0:16:17Which would have caused a stir in London in those days.
0:16:17 > 0:16:20Goodness knows what they thought of him in Hillswick!
0:16:20 > 0:16:24'Later visitors included the Earl Mountbatten
0:16:24 > 0:16:29'and even the Iron Lady once graced the rooms of the St Magnus Hotel.'
0:16:29 > 0:16:31Margaret Thatcher was here as an MP.
0:16:31 > 0:16:36- Margaret Thatcher?- When she was an ordinary MP, before she reached the dizzy heights that she did.
0:16:36 > 0:16:39That's amazing, very neat hand she's got there, look.
0:16:39 > 0:16:43"Margaret Thatcher MP. 1976." No address.
0:16:43 > 0:16:45- No.- No fixed abode.- No, no.
0:16:45 > 0:16:52To keep these illustrious guests in the manner to which they were accustomed
0:16:52 > 0:16:57required an army of hotel staff, among them members of Andrea's own family.
0:16:57 > 0:17:02Four of my aunts worked here and there's some of them in some of these photos.
0:17:02 > 0:17:07There's one, so I have happy memories, or a memory of being
0:17:07 > 0:17:10a child and sitting here feeling very important and posh.
0:17:10 > 0:17:15'Andrea's family connections have inspired her
0:17:15 > 0:17:19'and her husband to restore the hotel to its former glory.'
0:17:19 > 0:17:23- It's kind of living history in many ways, isn't it?- It is indeed.
0:17:23 > 0:17:25I think it's got a great atmosphere.
0:17:25 > 0:17:29Yeah, it's all the wood, it's just so wonderful and warm and it's fabulous.
0:17:29 > 0:17:31- Norwegian wood. - Norwegian wood, yeah.
0:17:31 > 0:17:35I can feel a song coming on, but never mind!
0:17:38 > 0:17:43Many guests who came to stay at the St Magnus Hotel signed up for an inclusive cruise package
0:17:43 > 0:17:48and my copy of Black's highly recommends sea cruises as the best way of seeing the Islands.
0:17:50 > 0:17:55"An excursion which should never be omitted is the sail along the west side of Shetland,
0:17:55 > 0:18:02"with a view to afford tourists an opportunity of seeing the finest rock scenery in the Islands."
0:18:04 > 0:18:09My own voyage now takes me 100 nautical miles south of Shetland to the Orkney Islands.
0:18:09 > 0:18:13I've joined the Ocean Countess, a 21st-century cruise liner,
0:18:13 > 0:18:20that maintains a Victorian tradition of sailing among the Northern Isles.
0:18:20 > 0:18:27Each year about 70 ships like the Ocean Countess bring over 40,000 visitors just to Orkney,
0:18:27 > 0:18:32making the Islands Scotland's favourite cruise-ship destination.
0:18:36 > 0:18:42Orkney shares Shetland's Viking heritage and is also rich in archaeological remains,
0:18:42 > 0:18:45but the islands feel gentler somehow, less rugged.
0:18:45 > 0:18:51Nevertheless, Black's warns the Victorian tourist not to expect too much of the weather.
0:18:51 > 0:18:55"Spring," it declares, "does not commence until April
0:18:55 > 0:18:57"and there is little warmth until June.
0:18:57 > 0:19:02"Summer terminates for the most part in August and winter commences
0:19:02 > 0:19:06"in October and occupies the remaining five months of the year."
0:19:06 > 0:19:07Oh, dear.
0:19:12 > 0:19:18This is Maes Howe, for me, Orkney's most spectacular archaeological site.
0:19:18 > 0:19:21It might not look much, but beneath this grassy mound
0:19:21 > 0:19:24lies a structure so ancient and unique,
0:19:24 > 0:19:27its importance is recognised around the world.
0:19:27 > 0:19:33'I've come to meet Tour Guide Sheena Wenham, who's braved the weather to show me around.
0:19:36 > 0:19:39'For centuries, Maes Howe was a mystery.
0:19:39 > 0:19:45'Local people believed it to be inhabited by malevolent trolls and it wasn't until the 19th century
0:19:45 > 0:19:50'that archaeologists opened it up to reveal a structure older than the pyramids.'
0:19:50 > 0:19:53So here we are.
0:19:53 > 0:19:56- Oh, wow! That's amazing. - Yes, the quality
0:19:56 > 0:19:59of the building's extraordinary and do you see how it...
0:19:59 > 0:20:01The stone comes in, it's called corbelling.
0:20:01 > 0:20:07Well it's incredible to think that, 5,000 years ago, people had the technology and the skill to cut
0:20:07 > 0:20:13and fit stones so intricately and lock it together in such a kind of precisely-engineered way.
0:20:13 > 0:20:15What do we know about the people who built this?
0:20:15 > 0:20:18Well we know they had no metal tools,
0:20:18 > 0:20:23but these people were farmers, they had livestock, they grew crops
0:20:23 > 0:20:28and when somebody died, we think the bodies were left outside
0:20:28 > 0:20:31to be picked clean and when they were just bones,
0:20:31 > 0:20:36these were brought into chamber tombs like these.
0:20:36 > 0:20:39Now I read somewhere, and I don't know how accurate this is, but,
0:20:39 > 0:20:45as with a lot of Stone Age sites, this is aligned astronomically.
0:20:45 > 0:20:47- Yeah.- Towards the sun. Is that true?
0:20:47 > 0:20:51Yes, it's quite extraordinary. If you stand in here in pitch darkness
0:20:51 > 0:20:54on the shortest day of the year,
0:20:54 > 0:20:57about three in the afternoon,
0:20:57 > 0:21:04the rays of the setting sun shine down the entrance passage
0:21:04 > 0:21:07and splash that wall,
0:21:07 > 0:21:10lighting the whole tomb up in a kind of rosy glow.
0:21:10 > 0:21:15When you said that, the hairs on the back of my neck began to rise.
0:21:15 > 0:21:18It's really quite atmospheric in here as well.
0:21:18 > 0:21:23I mean, you get a real sense of history and it's not just Neolithic history,
0:21:23 > 0:21:29because we've got these runic inscriptions all over the place. I mean, how did they get here?
0:21:29 > 0:21:32Well, we have a book called the Orkneyinga Saga,
0:21:32 > 0:21:36and it tells the story of the Norse Earls of Orkney and we know,
0:21:36 > 0:21:39a couple of times, Norsemen broke into this tomb,
0:21:39 > 0:21:43and they must have had a lot of time on their hands.
0:21:43 > 0:21:46Because they seem to spend it writing on the walls
0:21:46 > 0:21:49and really it's graffiti, just like the sort of graffiti you see
0:21:49 > 0:21:52- on your average bus shelter today.- Really?- Yes.
0:21:52 > 0:21:55Well, they went to a lot of effort to leave their names here.
0:21:55 > 0:21:57- They certainly did. - Do we know what they say?
0:21:57 > 0:22:02Things like, "Ingigerth is the most beautiful of women,"
0:22:02 > 0:22:05and then a slavering dog image just by it.
0:22:05 > 0:22:07Was he being ironic, do you think?
0:22:07 > 0:22:13Maybe, and the very sparse one that is about a woman called Thorni,
0:22:13 > 0:22:17it just says "Thorni bedded, Helgi carved."
0:22:17 > 0:22:20'Looking at the runes, it suddenly strikes me
0:22:20 > 0:22:25'that the 9th-century Viking tourists must have had a high degree of literacy.
0:22:25 > 0:22:30'They may have been a wild and warlike bunch, but they could read and write.
0:22:32 > 0:22:36'Leaving Maes Howe, my journey next takes me to Kirkwall,
0:22:36 > 0:22:40'which Black's guidebook describes in rather unpromising terms.
0:22:40 > 0:22:45'"Kirkwall, the capital of the Orkney Islands, is a clean and tidy,
0:22:45 > 0:22:48'"if not very lively, town."
0:22:48 > 0:22:50'That was in 1862.
0:22:50 > 0:22:52'Today, it's a noisy, bustling place.
0:22:52 > 0:22:58'But I'm surprised to discover old customs are given a contemporary twist.'
0:22:58 > 0:22:59Excuse me, ladies.
0:22:59 > 0:23:03- What the hell is going on? - Can I ask you what's going on? - A bit closer.
0:23:03 > 0:23:05I feel I need to come to her assistance.
0:23:05 > 0:23:08Celia is getting married soon, so this is...
0:23:08 > 0:23:10- She's married? - She's getting married.
0:23:10 > 0:23:13'Since time immemorial, Orcadian brides-to-be
0:23:13 > 0:23:17'have endured public ridicule at the hands of their best friends.
0:23:17 > 0:23:22'It's a good-natured, if rather sticky, business.'
0:23:22 > 0:23:25- She's secure.- Bye. Bye, Celia. I'll just leave that there for you.
0:23:25 > 0:23:27- Bye! - LAUGHTER
0:23:27 > 0:23:31With a covering of treacle to keep her sweet,
0:23:31 > 0:23:37the bride to be is left to contemplate her forthcoming nuptials outside Kirkwall's cathedral,
0:23:37 > 0:23:41scene of many such tarring-and-featherings through the centuries.
0:23:41 > 0:23:45Founded by the Viking Earl of Orkney in 1138,
0:23:45 > 0:23:50this "stately and venerable pile", as Black's describes it,
0:23:50 > 0:23:55is dedicated to the Islands' very own Viking saint, St Magnus.
0:23:55 > 0:23:59Today, the cathedral is the principle venue for the St Magnus Festival,
0:23:59 > 0:24:04an international event that attracts musicians and composers
0:24:04 > 0:24:06and audiences from around the world.
0:24:10 > 0:24:15Founded in 1977 by Orkney's distinguished composer Sir Peter Maxwell Davies,
0:24:15 > 0:24:20the festival has become a highly-regarded international celebration
0:24:20 > 0:24:22of modern classical music.
0:24:22 > 0:24:27In recent years, a musical fringe event has developed as well.
0:24:27 > 0:24:33To find out more, I'm taking a walk around the town with musician Andy Cant.
0:24:33 > 0:24:39The St Magnus Festival now has kind of evolved to incorporate other kinds of music, is that right?
0:24:39 > 0:24:43- Well, they're calling MagFest which is a...- MagFest?
0:24:43 > 0:24:44..a kind of add-on, if you like.
0:24:44 > 0:24:50I suppose it's an attempt to bring in different types of acts and different types of music.
0:24:52 > 0:24:57There's about sort of six or seven of us doing more traditional stuff,
0:24:57 > 0:25:02but also some elements of sort of bluegrassy-influenced stuff as well.
0:25:02 > 0:25:04- That real mix you've got. - It is, yeah.- Ah.
0:25:04 > 0:25:06We're quite excited about it.
0:25:06 > 0:25:11So, in a sense, there was, and presumably there still is, quite a strong and vibrant
0:25:11 > 0:25:14- artistic community of various kinds here in Orkney.- Oh, yeah.
0:25:14 > 0:25:19Festivals are a great way of pulling folk in and if you look at the calendar,
0:25:19 > 0:25:22Orkney has just festivals that go non-stop of various kinds.
0:25:29 > 0:25:31APPLAUSE
0:25:31 > 0:25:35The summer festivals have turned Kirkwall into the music capital
0:25:35 > 0:25:41of the North, but all this is a diversion from my original quest for perfect isolation.
0:25:41 > 0:25:49So to get back on track, I'm leaving town and heading south, not by boat this time, but by plane.
0:25:53 > 0:26:00From up here, you get a clear view of all the 67 islands that make up Orkney
0:26:00 > 0:26:05and below me is perhaps the most famous of them all, Hoy.
0:26:05 > 0:26:09In the old language of the Vikings, "hoy" means "high island".
0:26:09 > 0:26:15This is where the Old Man of Hoy, a fantastic 450-foot rock tower,
0:26:15 > 0:26:21stands as a lone sentinel against the tumultuous seas of the Pentland Firth.
0:26:23 > 0:26:26But it's not the Old Man of Hoy that I want to visit.
0:26:26 > 0:26:29I've come in search of another lonely rock.
0:26:29 > 0:26:32According to Black's guidebook,
0:26:32 > 0:26:36"It was believed to have been the residence of a troll or a dwarf."
0:26:36 > 0:26:41This unlikely rock is named after its supposed diminutive resident,
0:26:41 > 0:26:43and is known as the Dwarfie Stane.
0:26:43 > 0:26:50To get there, Victorian tourists had quite a slog across this barren moor.
0:26:50 > 0:26:55Here we are in the middle of nowhere and this is it, the Dwarfie Stane.
0:26:55 > 0:26:59Now as Black's says, it's a huge sandstone block,
0:26:59 > 0:27:02it measures about eight-and-a-half metres from end to end,
0:27:02 > 0:27:05but what makes it absolutely fascinating and unique
0:27:05 > 0:27:09is this entrance, leading to a room inside.
0:27:12 > 0:27:17No-one can be certain, but this is probably a tomb of some kind,
0:27:17 > 0:27:21and if so, it's the only one of its kind in the whole of the UK.
0:27:21 > 0:27:27It's incredible to think that this space would have been hollowed out thousands of years ago,
0:27:27 > 0:27:33using nothing but stone tools and antlers, patience and a lot of muscle power.
0:27:33 > 0:27:38Now, on either side of me are two low, shelf-like spaces
0:27:38 > 0:27:42and this one actually looks a bit like a bunk.
0:27:42 > 0:27:46There's even a little stone pillow for his head
0:27:46 > 0:27:53and you can imagine thinking they might have been the homes for a Mr and Mrs Dwarf or Troll.
0:27:53 > 0:27:57There is another legend to explain the Dwarfie Stane,
0:27:57 > 0:28:02one that connects this lonely place to the home of a hermit or holy man, and you can see why.
0:28:03 > 0:28:09A hermit searching for perfect isolation need look no further.
0:28:09 > 0:28:13This is it, absolute peace and quiet,
0:28:13 > 0:28:16a real balm for the soul,
0:28:16 > 0:28:20exactly the sort of thing that tourists to the Northern Isles have been looking for,
0:28:20 > 0:28:22but from my own point of view,
0:28:22 > 0:28:26I prefer some accommodation with a few more creature comforts.
0:28:27 > 0:28:33My next Grand Tour Of Scotland takes me to the crowded shores of the East Coast.
0:28:33 > 0:28:36Join me then at the seaside.
0:28:44 > 0:28:47Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd
0:28:47 > 0:28:50E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk