is that no matter where you are really, you will always get a view of the sea. This is what I look out to from the comfort of my home. It faces out towards Scapa Flow, a natural deep water anchorage used frequently now by large oil tankers waiting for the best price for their cargoes, but once used as a secure anchorage for the British Fleet during both world wars, until that is, the sinking of the battleship Royal Oak near the beginning of the war by U-boat U47. You can read more about the sinking here.
After the sinking there was a desperate need to plug the gaps into the Flow and so the Churchill barriers were constructed with the help of Italian POW's. The Italians were billeted on Lamb Holm, the small island just above the house in front of my house, which is named Churchill by the way. They left behind a converted nissan hut which is called The Italian Chapel. This is still standing and maintained and visited by coachloads of tourists every day during the holiday season.
Also on Lamb Holm is a private airfield, owned and operated by Tommy Sinclair. It is quite a sight to watch the light aircraft fly in and out. Behind Lamb Holm is a small uninhabited island of Glimps Holm and behind that is the Island of Burray, one of the south islands now connected to the mainland by the barriers, and behind that is South Ronaldsay, the largest of the south isles.
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