The Orkneys and Shetland Isles

THE ORKNEYS, SHETLANDS & NORTHERN HIGHLANDS
Includes Aberdeen Whisky Trail and the Northern Highlands

TENTATIVE ITINERARY	NIGHTSTOP
Day One
You fly into Inverness, capital of the Highlands, where you'll be met by your Back-Roads Touring Co. Ltd guide and transferred to our local base. The remainder of the day will be free for you to recover from your travels and to explore this small but lovely city at leisure. Please note: travel to Inverness is easy and cheap from London's airports by low-cost airlines (especially easyjet.com. We recommend you check their web site for fares and availability).	Inverness
Day Two
Our first day's touring takes us east through Aberdeenshire following the Speyside whisky trail. The scenery is wonderful and the sightseeing as varied as ancient pictish ruins to coastal fishing villages. Another highlight will be Crathes Castle, a delight to visit. It is very well maintained by the National Trust, filled with antiques, has a charming architecture, beautiful gardens. In fact, it has everything anyone could want in a castle, including ghosts and legends! And there'll be much more to delight on this gentle touring day.	nr Aberdeen
Day Three
A day to explore Aberdeen. The city has one of the most distinctive landscapes in Britain thanks to the use of silver granite in its construction. Glittering spires, impressive Georgian columns and the high imposing walls of the Victorian public buildings and university sparkle in the sunshine. The Maritime Museum illustrating the cities illustrious maritime past, the Tollbooth Museum, set in old prison cells, or the Gordon Highlanders Museum are all options for us to visit. And garden enthusiasts will love the botanical gardens or the roses of the Winter Gardens (subject of time of year) Of course, you may simply wish to wander the streets and shop! Later, we'll board our night ferry to the Shetlands. Accommodation is in twin-berth cabins.	overnight ferry to the Shetlands
Days Four, Five, Six
We dock in the Shetland's harbour town of Lerwick and have the next three full days to explore this rugged, remote and beautiful island that's as far away from Norway as it is from Scotland! The region is actually made up of over 100 separate islands, each projecting sharp cliffs into a sea that reflects light and changes colour by the time of day. It also changes shape, according to the weather and you might see it as a gentle was on sandy beach or a boiling surging force breaking violently on the land. Naturally, it's a haven for wildlife, sea-life and bird-life. Puffins, gulls, shags, cormorants, seals, dolphins, porbeagle sharks, and even killer whales. Who knows what we might spot! But the Shetlands are also rich in history and heritage. Neolithic and Iron age man have left their imprint. It is the Vikings though who gave the islands their most recognisable culture. The most incredible site is that of Jarlshof, where their two-hundred years of inhabitation gives a glimpse into their past. In addition to seeing the Jarlshof remains we'll also be visiting the Lerwick museum where the rebuilt longboats take the breath away. Scalloway provides another focus for our explorations. Here we'll see the infamous castle of Earl Patrick Stewart and visit the Scalloway museum. And a further highlight will lie in taking the boat our of Mousa to view the best preserved broch (primitive housing) in existence and en route see sea-life. Our crossing to the Orkneys involves us in a late night but it's a chance to experience the long summer evening and we'll dine aboard.	Shetland Isles
Days Seven, Eight, Nine, Ten
We'll have a relaxed start to the morning following our late night before begining our Orkneys explorations. These Isles will provide some of the most memorable sightseeing of the tour. This archipelago comprises of some 70 islands, and although it seduces with it's natural beauty, it is the Neolithic history that grips one. This is a World Heritage Site. For five millennia there has been human inhabitation on these islands. A storm in 1850 uncovered the remarkable Skara Brae where an intricate maze of 500 year old dwellings, largely intact, was discovered. And the discoveries have continued since with the islands now boasting over 3000 such Neolithic sites! But there's also history of a more modern time too. Evocative relics of two world wars lie in the Scapa Flow. And in the 5000 intervening years many other inhabitants have left their spoor so that there are castles, churches (including one built by Italian POWs), museums, craft centres, Martello Towers, preserved fishing villages, Victorian gardens and naturally a whisky distillery for us to visit. We'll also be visiting the outer islands of Hoy, South Ronaldsay and smaller, more remote ones where the sea and bird life are of particular interest.	Orkneys
Days Eleven & Twelve
We leave the isle of Orkney and cross to the northern tip of Scotland and explore the region of Caithness. There are not too many places in the World that one can honestly write are unspoilt, or undiscovered but Caithness is surely one of them. This is true Back-Roads Touring country and we promise you some amazing sights and unforgettable experiences! Here, precariously hugging wind-swept cliffs are literally hundreds of castle ruins, connected in many cases to the warrior clans Sinclair and Gunn. In the northerly town of Wick we'll visit the Heritage Centre and learn how people have survived in this incredible terrain of peat bog and over the centuries. Then there's Dunnet Head. This most northerly point on mainland Britain rises some 100 metres above sea level. The Dunnet Head lighthouse was built in 1831 by Robert Stevenson, grandfather of the author Robert Louis Stevenson. It was automated in 1989. On a clear day the view point allows the visitor to see as far as Cape Wrath to the west and enjoy a stunning panoramic view across to John O'Groats and Duncansby Head. to the south lies Morven, the highest mountain in Caithness. We can also visit a traditional Caithness cottage, hardly altered since it was built 150 years ago. The Caithness Heritage Trust has restored Mrs Mary-Ann Calder's former home. This crofthouse features a wealth of family history. It exhibits original box-beds and a host of early machines and implements which were used on the croft. We'll also see a more modern skills and visit a Caithness Glass centre to see it made and perhaps buy a souvenir or two!	Caithness
Day Thirteen
We make our way south towards Inverness , driving through some stunning Highlands scenery and en route stopping a sites of both historic and scenic interest.	Inverness
Day Fourteen
Alas, our days in the Highlands and Islands are over and you depart from Inverness airport. From here you can travel back to London, or to either Edinburgh or Glasgow. They say that the Orkney's in particular get under your skin, so maybe is 'au revoir' rather than farewell!