Are they part of the Hebrides? Do people speak Gaelic? Which is Orkney, which is Shetland? These questions are often asked by people who are thinking of visiting the northern isles for the first time. The answers are, of course, ‘No’. ‘No’ and ‘Orkney is nearest to Scotland.’ These sixty seven islands which make up the Orkney Archipelago, of which sixteen are inhabited, lie immediately off the coast of Caithness, the fertile north- east corner of the Scottish mainland from which they are separated by the stormy Pentland Firth. Shetland lies much further out, a full 56 miles beyond North Ronaldsay, Orkney’s farthest island. However, historically, geologically and in every other way, these northern island groups have little to do with the Hebrides: since the eighth century, Orkney’s links have been first with Scandinavia, then with lowland Scotland. For more than five centuries the islands formed part of the sea empire of the north founded by Norwegian kings and settled by people who came westwards from the over-crowded fiords. Only in 1468 did Orkney become part of Scotland; consequently Gaelic is unknown in Orkney.

Is Orkney rocky and mountainous, like the Hebrides? Isn’t that weather appalling? Surely it’s dark most of the time in winter? These questions also arise frequently, and it may be a good idea to correct, right from the start, the false impressions that have inspired them. Orkney is never rugged, like Harris and parts of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides. Orkney is fertile and populous, with more than 19,000 people; a land of cultivated fields, beef cattle (at least 100,000) and dairy herds; a green country overlooked by low, rounded hills covered with heather and grass. Some of the hills offer fine walking particularly in Hoy.

Geologically, Orkney is an extension of the Caithness lowlands. The island’s characteristic rocks are flagstones, reddish ochre and brown in colour, and closely allied to the red rocks of Devon and Herefordshire. Some of the flagstones make excellent building material, which is one reason why Orkney has so many well preserved ancient monuments. The flagstones are of two distinct ages; the newer and more massive form the striking Hoy hills, the backdrop to most distant views in Orkney – the name Hoy derives, in fact, from the Old Norse for ‘high island’; the older flagstones form the less dramatic hills and lowlands of Mainland and the other islands. Only on Stromness do really ancient rocks appear, peeping up through the flagstones to form Brinkie’s Brae and a ridge of stony hills. These are part of the deep foundations of Europe and in Orkney they contain uranium. In the early days of nuclear power when fuel was thought to be in short supply, there were official proposals to extract these rocks, making a huge hole in the process. Fortunately other sources were found and the Orkney Islands were left intact.

Within the last million years or so in what scientists refer to as recent geological time, Orkney was overrun by moving ice which smoothed the hills and gouged out deep hollows and valleys; now that sea-level has risen again, these form lochs and sea-channels. The ice also deposited the muds, sands and clays and gravels which are the basis or Orkney’s soils. These soils are often boggy, and so draining them has always been a pre-occupation with Orkney farmers.

As to Orkney weather, this certainly can be appalling, although usually it is not. There can be days of gales, driving rain and an overall bleakness which is daunting to residents and visitors alike, but equally there can be wonderfully clear days with marvellous visibility and a great sense of space. Cloud effects can be magnificent at any time of the year, and the northern light has a crystal clear quality which is unknown in the south.

Summer days on Orkney seem endless. On the longest day the sun hardly sinks below the horizon, and according to tradition it is perfectly possible to play golf or read The Orcadian (Orkney’s local paper) at midnight out of doors. In practice, however, following the ball is none too easy and it is difficult to read the small print.

Because of Orkney’s high latitude, winter nights are long. The islands lie as far north as St Petersburg or Churchill of Hudson Bay and are a mere 50 miles south of Greenland’s Cape Farewell. In December on the Orkney’s the sun does not rise until after 9am and sets soon after 3pm, and if the weather is cloudy there is little light at any time. It is not, however, very cold; the warm Atlantic waters and the winds which constantly blow from the west keep Orkney free of frost in most recent years, and snow rarely lies for long, except on the Hoy hills. January temperatures at sea-level are about the same as those for the Kent and Sussex coasts, 4-6 Celsius.

Fine winter days can be the most memorable of all of Orkney. Hills are brown and purple with heather, and Hoy is powdered with snow, dazzlingly white and clean; the colours of the sounds and sea-channels reminiscent of Homer’s wine-dark sea. Unfortunately few visitors ever see Orkney in its magnificent winter apparel.

Orkney’s coastline is its greatest scenic glory, as the ceaseless pounding of Atlantic waves has sculpted its sandstone cliffs into spectacular shapes. On the west coast of Mainland, around Yesnaby for instance, there is quite extraordinary array of sea-stacks, caves and natural arches, bow holes and the narrow-trench like inlets called geos. Here, too, are broad bays with beaches and sand dunes that Orkney is renowned for; at the Bay of Skaill, dunes have preserved one of Europe’s most famous archaeological sites, Skara Brae. One of the many wonder’s of the Orkney isles.

Today only about twenty of the Orkney Islands are inhabited. Orkney has some remarkable prehistoric remains dating from the 4th millennium BC, including underground dwellings (earth houses), tombs and stone circles. The very first inhabitants of Orkney left behind many remarkable remains. The neolithic village of Skara Brae, the best preserved in western Europe, the magnificent tomb of Maes Howe and the remains of Pictish and Viking settlements on the island of Brough of Birsay are an absolute must for the visitor.Indeed the Orkney Islands were known to the Greeks and Romans (the Greek navigator Pytheas is said to have sailed around the islands in 325 BC) and were colonised by the Picts in the first century AD. After two centuries of Viking raids, the islands were annexed by the Norse king Harald I Harfagri in 875, and governed by the earls immortalised in the Orkneyinga Saga. This Saga was written in the 12th century in Iceland and tells the deeds of Rognvald III, his crusade to the Holy Land, his return to Orkney and the foundation of the cathedral dedicated to his uncle, St Magnus.

Away from the Atlantic furies the coasts are mostly low-lying, with broad, curving bays, sheltered channels and vistas of low, rounded hills. Orkney’s Atlantic cliffs are home to more than a million seabirds, and the lowland coasts attract seal, otters, dolphins and sometimes whales.