UKC

Morning Folks,

Looking into the logistics for climbing the Old Man.

The plan we have is to meet up in Inverness and drive to Scrabster to get the ferry to Stromness then get the ferry across to Hoy. The preference would be to get the Scrabster Ferry on the Saturday morning then across to Hoy from there, do the route in the afternoon evening then stay in the Hoy bothy and return back to Scrabster on the Sunday. Is this possible or do you need to leave from Scrabster on the Friday evening? If so where can you stay/camp in Stromness?

Any information appreciated, thanks.

In reply to Dangerous Dave:

Only you can decide if you can make it work, based on the ferry timetable. But be aware that when the timetable shows that the Hoy ferry leaves just *before* the Scrabster ferry gets in, this is not an error - it is indeed true. There is a story there involving local politics, I gather!

Stromness - I've stayed in Browns before. The owners are nice but hostel was noisy when we stayed.

In reply to Dangerous Dave:

When I climbed the Old Man in 2012 there was a campsite at the very southern end of Stromness. Basically, walk off the ferry, turn left and keep going. Just before you dropped into the sea, was a campsite. Beware, if the winds coming off the sea it can be awful, no shelter between you and the ocean. Fortunately I only had one night there. Otherwise it was perfectly fine and even had a little lounge by the look of things, where you could hang out when you couldn't stand the noise of your tent flapping anymore.

In reply to Dangerous Dave:
When I did it in 2000, we did it on a slightly more relaxed timetable. Mid-afternoon ferry from Scrabster got us to Stromness early evening and we camped at the site at the south of the bay. Lovely campsite, exposed, but the wind wasn't blowing too hard when we were there. Morning ferry to Hoy, explored the island and checked out the approach to the Old Man, stayed at the SYHA hostel. Climbed the Old Man the next day and spent the night in the bothy at Rackwick Bay, then back to Stromness and the ferry to Scrabster later that day.

In reply to Dangerous Dave:

One further thought - you probably know this, but there are two ferries, one foot ferry from Stromness, one vehicle ferry that is quite a drive from Stromness. If you are on foot and want to do things on a tight schedule, then booking a taxi from Moaness to Rackwick will save you some walking.

In reply to jonny taylor:

Hi Jonny,

Did not know that, we were planning on leaving the cars in Scrabster. Is the foot ferry to and from Scrabster or to and from Hoy?

Thanks

In reply to Dangerous Dave:

Also worth booking the taxi from the landing in Hoy to Rackwick in advance. Bit of a walk really. There's a couple of cabbies on the island who know the score.

In reply to Dangerous Dave:
To get to the Orkneys, you can take cars from Scrabster to Stromness, or go on foot(*).
To get from Mainland Orkney to Hoy there is a tiny passenger ferry from Stromness to Moaness, or a vehicle ferry from Houton to Lyness.
I think most people probably do it on foot. If you are happy pre-booking a taxi on Hoy, or enjoying the beautiful cross-country walk to Rackwick instead, then there is no real need to bring a car to the Orkneys. I second Tom Last's comment about pre-booking. Moaness is basically a pier and a couple of crofts - there won't be a taxi rank waiting for you!


(*) If leaving Scrabster as a foot passenger, be warned that it's a little walk from car park to ferry jetty, foot passengers must check in 30 mins in advance, and the ferry has been known to leave early if all checked-in passengers are on board. Yes, I speak from experience here!