Graemsay

Graemsay is a small, low farming island in Hoy Sound, the strip of water between Orkney’s Mainland and Hoy, with views across to Hoy’s hills from almost anywhere on its single road. Around 21 people live here, working crofts and a handful of small farms. Two lighthouses stand at opposite ends of the island, known as Hoy High and Hoy Low; both were built in 1851 by the engineer Alan Stevenson, their beams lined up so a ship’s captain can steer a safe course from the Atlantic into Hoy Sound. An Orkney Ferries passenger boat links Stromness with Graemsay and on to Moaness on Hoy, carrying no cars. The road makes a quiet circuit of the whole island, an easy walk or cycle in an afternoon, with Hoy’s hills filling the view across the water most of the way round.