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Orkney is an island group to the North of Scotland. These interesting islands are only separated from the Scottish mainland by a sixty-four mile wide body of water known as the Pentland Firth. The Orkneys are said to be made up of sixty-seven islands. Thirty of these are inhabited, four of them by only light house attendants. There are also another more than twenty rocky islets as part of the chain.
The islands are mostly low lying and bleak. An exception to this is the larger islands' west coasts that are marked by dramatically rugged cliffs famed for their colours and natural beauty. There are practically no trees to speak of, increasing the forlorn appearance of these islands.
Hoy boats the tallest hills. Rousay and Pomona are the only alternate islands that have any peaks at all, with Wideford at 740 feet high and Ward Hill at 880 feet high.
Practically all of these island have lakes. Pomona boasts two exceptional ones in Loch Stenness and Loch Harray. Any rivers in the Orkneys are only tiny streams that form in the higher lands and drain to the sea. Besides the westerly parts of Hoy, Pomona, and Rousay, the coats of this island group are indented deeply. Straights are all that separate the islands from one another. These are known as firths or sounds. Bring Deeps is the firth to the north east of Hoy Island, while Scapa Flow is the famous water to the south of Pomona, and the Fall of Warness is located to Eday Island's south west.
The islands were inhabited by the Norse for centuries, as is evidenced in the endings of the island names that finish with "ay" or "a," which means island in Norse. Since the tides off the coast of these islands are fierce and fast, whirlpools commonly form here. These have been dangerous to smaller boats.
The Orkney Islands' charm is not found in their rather plain physical features. It lies instead in the unusual and stunning effects. These are comprised of phenomenal samples of shade and light colour combinations of sea and cliff.
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