The wind from the south east was fairly light, unusual for Orkney. I set off from home, which is in the east end of Holm, heading west past the Holm war memorial heading towards Kirkwall. The road was free of ice and fairly wet. I got to the main Holm - Kirkwall junction and turned left down towards St Mary's village, this is a lovely straight downhill run and I clocked 34 mph, fairly zooming along. Arriving at the start of the village there is a lovely little loch on your right with some wildfowl and a pair of resident swans. The road carries round the bend into St Mary's, a onetime lively herring station, past the pier on the right and then you are out the other side of the village.
The Commodore pub with holiday chalets next door to it are on your left as you leave the village soon followed by a large Nissan hut, owned by local builder Alfie Flett. Memories of Orkney's wartime role are awakened by this hut, Nissan huts are scattered throughout Orkney apparently left after the WW2.
50 yards further on and you arrive at another reminder from wartime Orkney, the Churchill Barriers. There are four of these causeways linking the South Isles to Mainland, built to defend Scapa Flow following the sinking of the Royal Oak. There are really five of these causeways although the fifth one linking Burray to Hunda is believed to be a practice one prior to building the main ones.
I carried on over the first barrier to the small island of Lamb Holm with the Italian Chapel on my left followed by a small private airstrip. Nobody lives on Lamb Holm, although there are a couple of small businesses opened up. Up over a small rise down to the second barrier. This is the one with a wave wall built to deflect waves washing over the road during winter storms.
You are now on the small island of Glims Holm, no houses are on this island although a colony of Arctic Terns have taken up residence during the sojourn here in the spring/ summer.
Approaching the third barrier the eye is drawn to the rusting hulks of sunken block-ships, position at entrances to the Flow before the barriers were built. Once over this barrier you have reached the inhabited island of Burray, another busy herring station in its day and also the location of a small boat builders yard.
Burray has a few routes that you could take, but on this occasion I elected to stay on the main road as I was a little bit apprehensive over the road conditions of the smaller roads. Soon I was cycling over the fourth barrier connecting Burray to South Ronaldsy, the largest and most southerly of the South Isles. The barrier here looks very different from the previous three, due to dune colonisation taking place since the erection of the barrier.
Once over this barrier the road swings to the right and you head to St Margarets Hope, the main village in South Ronaldsy, this is where you would get the Gills Bay ferry owned by Andrew Banks of Pentland Ferries.
On this occasion I cycled past the 'hope' and carried on past the recycling yard on my left and on up the road past the new nine hole golf course. I had a lovely straight road ahead with the hamlet of Herston on the waters of the Flow on my right. At the top of the road there is a shop with petral pumps, the shop appears to be undergoing refurbishment although the sigh did say open. I took the next left, signposted Aikers, this road started heading back in the direction I came from although on a more circular route. I had some spectaculer views of the island of Copansey and her attendant islands shown below
Just to the left of this view was the Point of Ness, where I started from in Holm, just behind the green finger of headland.
On the right was a lovely spit of land,the name of which I do not know.
Following this road led me back to the fourth barrier and I retraced my routeback over to number one barrier, where I then took a right by Grahamshall and its loch, up the steep hill towards the war memorial and finally back home.
Total distance for the journey: 24.6 miles.
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