Westray and Papa Westray have some delightful walks covering inland areas as well as beaches and rugged coastlines.

In Westray

Westray is ideal for walking with a Walking Guide available describing five walks with information and illustrations on points of interest.

1. West Westray Coast
8.8km (5.5miles) linear cliff top trail, maritime heath, ending at Noup head lighthouse.

2. Noup Head loop
A circular wall of 6.4km (4miles) following part of the West Westray Walk.

3. Kirk to Castle via Grobust
Easy circular walk from Pierowall to explore a medieval church, a broch, a castle and the finest sandy beach in Westray. Longest route approx 6km (3.7miles).

4. Tuquoy and Mae Sands
A 3.6km (2.2miles) circular walk from the Bay of Tuquoy to Cross Kirk or a longer 6.2km (3.85miles) walk including the beach at Mae Sands.

5. Castle O' Burrian and the Bay of Tafts
A short 1.2km (0.75 mile) walk to the Castle O' Burrian to view puffins or a longer 5.5km (3.4 mile) walk to Stanger Head and the Bay of Tafts.

Download a copy of the Westray Walks Guide.
 

In Papa Westray

Walking is a joy on Papay. You’ll feel within a few hours that you’ve known the place – and remarkably, the people – all your life. Stopping to pass a few minutes in conversation is not compulsory but highly recommended. Such an exchange has before now brought people to the island to put down roots.

Assuming Beltane House is your starting point, most of the island's points of interest can be viewed in a series of walks.

Walk 1 (East and South):

•ST ANNE’S KIRK 1844. Built by the Traills of Holland as a Free Church, now Church of Scotland.

•PRIMARY SCHOOL 1877. Built by Kirkness of Kirkwall.

•NOUSTER. There is a well-preserved group of large 19th century nousts (shelter for fishing boats) below this farm.

•HOOKIN. One of the oldest farms on Papay.

•KELP KILN. Here and in many other places near the shore one can see the shallow depressions where seaweed was burnt to produce kelp. Kelp was an important export, used in soap- and glass-making in the 18th and 19th centuries and worked for iodine extraction until the 1930s.

•THE WATER MILL was last used for milling oats about 100 years ago. The remains of the undershot wheel and the millstones can still be seen. Before milling the sluice gate was closed to allow the level of water to rise sufficiently to power the wheel.

•ST TREDWELL’S CHAPEL. On this small peninsular are traces of an Iron Age fortification and the walls of a medieval chapel. St Tredwell was famous for curing eye diseases and her chapel and loch were much visited by pilgrims seeking cures as late as the 18th century.

•GAIRSTY. Between the ruined farm of Cuppin and the loch one can see the remains of a gairsty or treb-dyke, a Bronze Age boundary which once divided the island in two.
 

Walk 2 (North and West):

•ST BONIFACE’S CHURCH. This is one of the oldest Christian sites in Orkney and an earlier church may well have been the site of Orkney’s first bishopric. Two Early Christian cross-slabs were found in the kirk-yard, one is now in Tankerness House Museum, Kirkwall and the other in the National Museum of Antiquities in Edinburgh. The present building dates from the 12th century but it was considerably rebuilt in the early 18th century. Just to the east of the Traill burial ground is a Norse hog-backed tombstone; the much-worn carving represents the wooden shingle roofing of a Viking longhouse. This historic kirk is now under restoration.

•MUNKERHOOSE. St Boniface stands in the middle of an Iron Age settlement about 10 acres in extent and some of this can be seen eroding from the cliff face just to the west of the kirk. In 1990 the section of a large broch was excavated and a sequence of buildings-dating from the 6th century BC until the Middle Ages. The name recalls a monastic settlement here.

•NORTH HILL COMMON GRAZING, managed in conjunction with the RSPB and SNH as a Nature Reserve. A warden is available in the summer to show visitors around (tel. Papay 240). The Hill is an internationally important area of Maritime Sedge Heath, home to many rare plants and to one of the largest Arctic Tern colonies in Europe. Arctic Skuas, Great Skuas and Gulls also nest on the hill, and large numbers of Guillemots, Razorbill's, Kittiwakes, Shags and Fulmars on the cliffs at Fowl Craig. The last Great Auk known to have lived in the British Isles was shot here in 1813. PLEASE BEWARE OF DANGEROUS CLIFFS. South of Fowl Craig are a number of small walled enclosures, or Crues, used for growing vegetables or penning geese.
 

Walk 3 (West and South):

•HOLLAND, formerly the home of the Traills of Holland who owned the island, has one of the finest traditional steading's in Orkney. The oldest buildings are the 17th century DOOCOT and the WEST BARN with its circular-walled DRYING KILN. Between the doocot and the barn is the stackyard; at harvest time the stone steethes were laid into circular platforms to support the stacks of corn. The 19th century north range houses the stables, hay barn and threshing mill which was worked by six horses in the adjoining MILL TRAMP. In the field south of Holland House is the stone base of a windmill last used about 1900.

•KNAP OF HOWAR. The earliest standing houses in northern Europe, these well-preserved buildings were occupied by Neolithic farmers approximately 3500 BC. The larger house was the dwelling area and the smaller one apparently used as a workshop and store.

•BURNT MOUND. Just to the east of the phone box behind Backaskaill Post Office is a large grass-covered mound. This was created in the Bronze Age by the accumulation of burnt stones which had been heated and immersed in water-filled stone tanks as a method of cooking meat.

•BOAT NOUSTS. A row of nousts and the remains of winches just south of Backaskaill indicate where fishing boats were drawn up for the winter.

•MINISTER’S FLAG. At one time the minister from Westray had to land here and walk below the high tide line to St Boniface Kirk, because the laird would not allow him to set foot on his land. Stone quarried from here was used to build Westray pier 1880.

•BOTHICAN. There is a fine sandy beach here, close to the new pier where the steamer calls. The links behind are rich in Wild Orchids and other flowers in the summer.
 

Walk 4 (North and East):

•THE OLD PIER. The steamer called here once a week before the new pier was built in 1970, now it is used by local fishing boats. The large 18th century buildings are the old kelp and coal stores and a boat house.

•SKENNEST. There have been boat nousts here since Viking times, and a group of 7 can be seen in the grass just to the east of the road.

•COTT. A number of fishing boats used to be beached here, as can be seen from the keel marks on the stone flags on the beach and the unusual tall nausts made from flagstones.

•NORTH WICK and SOUTH WICK are lovely beaches of white sand and the best places for seeing common seals. At low tide great numbers can often be seen basking on the rocks at North Taing.

•HOLM OF PAPAY. Ask about boat hires to the Holm. Two Neolithic tombs have been excavated on the island, a stalled cairn (probably the burial place of the inhabitants of Knap of Howar) at the north end, and an exceptionally long chambered cairn in the south. This has been protected by a modern roof and there is access through a hatch. An unusual feature of this tomb is the presence of carvings, unknown elsewhere in Orkney, on the lintels of some of the burial cells.

Download a copy of the Papay Walks guide.