JUNE 22 - 28 - ORKNEY ISLANDS, SCOTLAND'S WILD ARCHIPELAGO

Backabush is going to Orkney for some Scottish island hopping in the far north!

Group size - 21. Number of nights - 6. Accommodation in a quality hostel with twin share rooms. Cost - £699.

Orkney is an archipelago off the north coast of Scotland, famous for its tall sandstone cliffs, neolithic sites, wildlife, and seemingly endless daylight at midsummer. Come island hopping with us to a place with its own unique Scottish character.

The relatively low level walking on Orkney is in complete contrast to so many of the Scottish hiking trips that we have run in the past, Orkney's rolling hills, meadows, miles of coastline and archaeological sites provide hikers with so much to explore.

You can expect see incredible wildlife including lots of delightful puffins. The trip is well suited to people looking for gentler hikes with plenty of opportunities to photograph seabirds and marine mammals plus admiring the stone age monuments.

Our plan is to drive from Inverness on Sunday June 22nd and catch the ferry across to St Margaret's Hope on South Ronaldsay, Orkney. From there our road hops across a few little islands all connected by narrow causeways before reaching Mainland, which is the largest of the islands.

We will stay for 6 nights on Mainland in the town of Kirkwall, Orkney's largest settlement, comparatively busy with restaurants, shops, picturesque harbourfront and historic Norse centre.

For our 5 hiking days we will have the chance to explore Mainland Orkney as well as some of the neighbouring isles accessible by short ferry rides. Some of Orkneys walking highlights include:

• Skara Brea & the Western Coastline, one of the best preserved stone age villages in Europe.
• The island of Hoy, with its craggy coast and sea-stack 'The Old Man of Hoy.'
• The island of Westray, 'Queen O' the Isles', RSPB reserve and broad bays of Tuquoy and Mae Sands.
• Marwick Head Nature Reserve and the Viking settlement at Brough of Birsay.
• Deerness, the eastern tip of Mainland, a beautifully rugged Orkney classic.

ACCOMMODATION
We have hostel accommodation with a difference in Orkney as we have shared twin rooms so only 2 people per room. Bathrooms are shared.

TRAVEL TO SCOTLAND
The meeting point will be in Inverness town centre at 10:45am on Sunday 22nd June. We will meet in the car park outside the Morrisons Supermarket, which is just next to the train station.

We must depart Inverness no later than 11am in order to catch our ferry to Orkney. For this reason we would recommend travelling to Scotland the day before on Saturday 21st and staying overnight in Inverness or nearby. There are plenty of hotel, B&B and hostel accommodation options to choose from in Inverness.

We will drop you off back in Inverness on Saturday 28th at around 16.30pm so please consider that when planning onward travel. There will be a town centre and train station drop off as well as a stop at the airport.

DIFFICULTY
Although ascent on this trip will be minimal (Orkney's highest summit is 481m high) this is a wild and remote area with rough trails and some steep routes winding up and down the island coastal cliffs, surefootedness is necessary. On this trip we will need to be fit enough to walk at least 10 miles a day.

WHAT IS INCLUDED:

• 6 nights quality, hostel accommodation.
• All transport in Scotland and airport transfers from Inverness.
• Guided hikes. Our leaders are Mountain Leader trained and qualified first-aiders.
• Financial protection in accordance with the Package Travel Law 1992

WHAT IS NOT INCLUDED:

• Meals - our accommodation will have self catering facilities and there are many local pubs and restaurant nearby.
• Travel to Scotland.
• Travel insurance.

HOW TO BOOK A PLACE ON THIS TRIP:

To confirm your place on this trip use internet banking your RSVP is not enough to reserve a space on this trip. Please use ORKNEY as your payment reference. The account details are:

Account Name: BACKABUSH XPLORERS
Sort Code: 090127
Account Number: 22440622

The following "terms and conditions" apply to all trip reservations:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ngc5A61k76qb6HGMeTK96AVaXn0565yPS9p42IPzIy8/

Only payment secures your place. Please email backabushxplorers@yahoo.com as soon as you send payment so that we can confirm everything with you. Thanks. :)