Eday
Eday is one of the smaller islands of Orkney, an archipelago located off the northern tip of mainland Scotland. Sitting in the heart of the Orkney island group, it lies between the larger islands of Sanday to the northeast and Stronsay to the southeast. The island stretches roughly eight miles from north to south but is narrow, giving it an elongated, almost pinched silhouette when viewed from above or from the water. Despite its modest size and population of fewer than 150 people, Eday punches well above its weight in terms of natural drama, archaeological richness, and historical intrigue. It is particularly prized among visitors who seek out the quieter, less-visited corners of Orkney and who value wild coastlines, seabirds, and ancient stones over tourist infrastructure.
The island's history stretches back thousands of years. Eday has one of the finest concentrations of Neolithic monuments in Orkney, which is itself a UNESCO World Heritage region of extraordinary prehistoric significance. The most celebrated of these monuments is the Stone of Setter, a striking standing stone that rises some four and a half metres out of the heathery moorland near the island's centre — one of the tallest single standing stones in all of Orkney. Nearby are the Vinquoy Chambered Cairn and the Braeside and Huntersquoy cairns, making the central moorland of Eday a genuinely impressive open-air museum of Neolithic life and funerary practice. These tombs date back more than five thousand years and were places of collective burial and probably ritual, their builders part of the same cultural world that raised the stones at Stenness and the Ring of Brodgar on Orkney Mainland.
Eday also holds a remarkable place in the annals of piracy. In 1725, the notorious pirate John Gow — born in Orkney himself — was captured on the island after his ship ran aground at Calf Sound, the narrow strait separating Eday from the small uninhabited tidal island known as the Calf of Eday to its north. Gow had been leading a mutinous crew across the Atlantic and around the British Isles before his luck ran out in familiar Orcadian waters. He was taken prisoner by the local laird, transported south, tried in London, and hanged at Wapping. His story inspired Daniel Defoe's 1725 work "A History of the Pyrates" and later, indirectly, Sir Walter Scott's novel "The Pirate." The dramatic narrow channel at Calf Sound still carries an air of incident and history.
In person, Eday has a landscape that is simultaneously austere and deeply beautiful. The centre of the island is dominated by Ward Hill, which at around 101 metres is the highest point and commands extraordinary views across the entirety of Orkney on clear days. The hill is covered in open heather moorland, and much of the island interior feels pristine and unhurried, with skylarks, lapwings, curlews and hen harriers overhead and red grouse bursting from the heather underfoot. The coastline oscillates between sandy bays — particularly around the southern and eastern shores — and dramatic red sandstone cliffs and rocky promontories. The light in this part of the world has that characteristic high-latitude quality: long, luminous summer evenings and a haunting, low-angled quality in winter.
The island has historically been an important source of peat, and Eday's peat was for centuries exported to other Orkney islands that lacked sufficient fuel of their own. The landscape still bears the marks of generations of cutting, and in the right weather the smell of peat hangs faintly in the air. The Calf of Eday to the north is a designated RSPB reserve and one of the best seabird watching locations in the region, with grey seals hauling out on its rocky shores and significant populations of Arctic terns, razorbills, and guillemots breeding on its cliffs. A small heritage centre on Eday itself provides context for the island's archaeology and history, and the local community maintains walking routes that connect the principal prehistoric monuments.
Getting to Eday requires either a ferry from Kirkwall, the capital of Orkney, or a flight on Loganair's inter-island air service, one of the shortest scheduled air routes in the world, operating from Kirkwall Airport. The ferry is operated by Orkney Ferries and serves Eday along with several other North Isles, typically making Eday a scheduled stop multiple times a week, though services are more frequent in summer. The crossing takes roughly one and a half to two hours depending on the route. Because of its remoteness and small resident population, visitor facilities are limited: there is self-catering accommodation available and a community shop, but Eday is best approached by those who are self-sufficient and happy to explore independently. The best time to visit is between April and September, when the ferry timetable is fuller, the walking conditions are more reliable, and the birdlife is at its most spectacular. Walking boots, waterproofs, and patience with variable Atlantic weather are essential equipment.