Peace, quiet and beady-eyed seals can be found on the wind-whipped speck of Papa Westray, the Orkney island that inspired a new film
The beach looks and feels like spilt cake mix: white sugary sand, a sprinkling of raisin-size cowrie shells and slicks of yolky seaweed. In the fields, cows roam and wildflowers sway.
I’m also staying at the hostel, in one of its modern, insulated wooden bothies that look like upturned boats. It is a cosy cocoon in which to shelter from the wind. “No matter the season, no matter the seas, selkies will appear, inquisitive and curious,” says Jonathan Ford, Papay’s ranger. “Their folklore is embedded on the island.”Ford moved to Papay in 2015 for the ranger role. One of his duties is to take visitors on tours. He says the highlight is the Knap of Howar, a Neolithic farmstead and the oldest preserved settlement in Europe, occupied more than 5,000 years ago.
On the other side of Papay, the red sandstone St Tredwell’s Chapel dates from the 11th century. There are also Viking burial mounds; a boat excavated in 2015 was dated to Norse settlers in 640AD. I spotted a black hut on the way, which Ford tells me is part of the North Hill nature reserve and used for bird watching. Curlews are Liptrot’s favourite bird – she describes their call as the most “evocative sound of Orkney”.
He says the best way to do this is to go to the Wednesday coffee morning or the Saturday pub night. “Pub” is a loose term for the hostel living room. It is transformed by a pull-out corner bar, a blackboard and ferry haul of booze. It’s cash-only and run on a rota of volunteer barmen.We get Alistair. He promptly recommends a Papay G&T – no ice, no lemon, flat tonic, mostly just gin – and to sit at any table for a night filled with local chatter, sing-songs and maybe a dance.
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