The Broch of Borwick

It was not the ideal day to be walking on the open top cliffs, with weather clearing from the east over the Bay of Skaill, which was beginning to see few patches of blue skies and sunshine. Whereas, in front of me was low cloud, mist, or fog, call it what you will, but it was bleak and uninviting. Having not done a major walk over the four days I was determined that this walk from Skara Brae to Yesnaby was going to be completed today!

All the way along this stretch of coastline the cliff scenery includes sea stacks, blowholes and geos. I probable ought tell you what a geo is, as until I googled it, I was a mystery, as no-one I had asked knew what a geo was. A geo or gio from Old Norse, means an inlet, a gully, or a narrow and deep cleft in the face of a cliff. Geos are common on the coastline of the Shetland and Orkney islands. Geos may have at their most inland point sea caves. These sea caves may collapse, extending the geo, or leaving depressions inland from the geo.

Anyway, if I had driven here I would not have seen the Broch of Borwick, which is today quiet literary perched high on an eroding headland, surrounded by the spectacular sea-cliffs typical of Orkney's Atlantic coastline. This broch site takes its name from the near by Borwick Bay, an inlet, or geo, lying almost halfway between Yesnaby and the Bay of Skaill.

I completed the walk in under 3 hours so, having returned to Skara Brae, I was elated and invigorated and in need of a cuppa! Spent the evening having dinning out and talking on the far side of Kirkwall, with two fellow guests, half my age, who are here as part of the Edinburgh International Science Festival: Generation Science, visiting Scotland schools. By the time we had returned back to the B&B I’d was surprised that all my walking had totaled 14.8 miles, what a truly God given day it was...