North Sea Cycle Route - Thurso to Kirkwall
St. Margaret's Hope
Ride Review
The most challenging part of the day is crossing the Pentland Firth, one of the most treacherous sea-passagess in the world, for it is here that the North Atlantic and the North Sea meet in a turbulent embrace. Fortunately, you’ll be on a ship which is more than capable of dealing with the whirlpools and fierce currents. So with the dangers out of the way, what does this day hold? Decisions; what ferry to take, from where and at what time? To ride to Duncansby Head, the easternmost headland of mainland UK, to go to John O’Groats, to visit Castle Mey? All is possible for the actual ride distance is low today - around 50km if you head directly to the Gill’s Head ferry. Then after an hour or so of sailing, you arrive in at St. Margaret’s Hope on Orkney. On the way to Kirkwall, the capital of Orkney (the third capital city of the trip), you ride over the Churchill Barriers across Scapa Flow. Make the wind your friend, as it too lives here!
Ride practicalities
The route is well signed with the blue background/white bicycle along with some North Sea Cycle Route signs.
START/FINISH: Thurso/Kirkwall DISTANCE: approx. 50km. Distance will depend on whether you ride to Duncansby Head Lighthouse, the most north-easterly part of the mainland and back to Gill’s Bay (20km) The Ferry takes off a further 30km approx. Thus if you ride only to Gill’s Head Ferry and onward to Kirkwall, you’ll only be riding about 50km TOTAL ASCENT:700m TERRAIN AND SURFACES: quiet-ish roads. The road to Kirkwall can be a little busy RECOMMENDED CAFÈS/PUBS/ACCOMMODATION: NEARBY MAINLINE TRAIN SERVICES: Thurso PLACES TO VISIT; Mey; Castle Mey, Lambholm (Orkney); The Italian Chapel, Kirkwall; The Orkney Museum, Bishop’s and Earl’s Palace, St. Magnus Cathedral LINKS TO OTHER RIDES: Lairg to Thelso Kirkwall to Kirkwall
FERRIES; North Sea RouteFerry; Pentland Ferries run service from Gill’s Bay, Caithness (on the way to John O’Groats), landing at St. Margaret’s Hope, on Orkney. The other Service is with Northlink Ferries , who run a service from Scrabster, (near Thurso) to Stromness on Orkney.
Ride notes
There are decisions to be made early on in the day; you’ll need to research Ferry times, and consider whether you wish to go from Scrabster, just outside Thurso or whether to cycle onwards to Gill’s Bay from where there are other ferries. The weather, your fatigue, and whether you wish to ride onto John O’Groats and Duncansby Head must all play a role in your decision making.
Castle Mey
I recommend that you ride from Thurso and take the ferry from Gill’s Bay. This allows you the option of riding onwards to Duncansby Head, the UK Mainland’s most North-Easterly point, and/or visit Castle Mey, once the home of the Queen Mother, now owned by King Charles, and still make the early afternoon ferry. Guided Tours of the castle run regularly throughout the day. To visit the lovely garden does not require booking ahead for a tour. At Duncansby Head, there’s a lighthouse, a bastion of cliffs and towers of stacks and in spring, thousands of puffins. It seems right to ride here, for this is the North Sea Cycle Route afterall, and this is the last connection of mainland UK with that sea. John O’Groats is said to be disappointing, so much so that I was persuaded not to go.
The ferry across the Pentland Firth is special. It is here where two oceans meet. The tidal streams are ferocious and whirlpools not uncommon. Of course the whirlpools have no relation to tides and oceans, but due to a witch you lives under the sea, whose job it is, is to turn the mill wheels to grind the salt which keeps the sea salty. You can often see the results of her stirring and grindings just north of Stroma, where the whirlpool is knows as ‘Selkie’. As you sail past the island of Swona, you’ll see the feral cattle which were left to run wild over thirty years ago.
St. Margaret's Hope
The ferry docks at St. Margaret’s Hope, and you begin the ride northwards to Kirkwall across a series of islands linked by the Churchill barriers. These came about when in October 1939, a German U-boat managed to ‘wengle’ (a Shetland word meaning to twist and turn) into the Home Fleet’s harbour at Scapa Flow and torpedo HMS Royal Oak, which sank with the loss of 834 lives. The First Lord of the Admiralty, Winston Churchill ordered the building of the causeways to block off the eastern approaches to the naval anchorage of Scapa Flow. Much of the physical work was undertaken by the Italian Prisoners of War who were held in a camp on Lamb Holm.
The Italian Chapel, Orkney - a painted 'trompe d'oeil' of a stone carving
It is on Lamb Holm, that you ride past another amazing structure; the Italian Chapel. The Italian POWs transformed a Nissan Hut into a chapel with tremendous skill and artistry, especially considering what little access they had to tools and materials.
The riding across a green and windswept grassy land is on the A960, and there is traffic, perhaps more than you may have anticipated. There are though, good sightlines so overtaking you should not be an issue. Unless you are riding here in the long evenings of mid-summer, lights, certainly a rear one, are a good idea. From September onwards, the nights draw in quickly and by the time the afternoon ferry arrives, you’ve visited the Italian chapel and ridden into Kirkwall, you may find that dusk is approaching.
Every route on this website has been carefully researched as well as ridden. However situations on the ground can change quickly. If you know of changes to this route, or cafes, pubs and the like which you think other cyclists need to know about, feel free to share your thoughts below.
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