Segment: Sights of the South Isle with a Taste of Orkney
Episode: Viking Ep – British Isles Explorer
Air Date: 1st December 2019
Presenter: Trevor Cochrane

Viking offers a fascinating excursion of Scotland’s Orkney Islands, delving into their history and artisanal produce.

• About 50 miles from the Shetland Islands, the Orkney Islands lie off the northern tip of Scotland, where the North Sea and Atlantic Ocean meet. They are made up of about 70 islands, of which only 16 are inhabited.
• The Churchill Barriers were built to protect the Scapa Flow, a 312-square kilometre natural harbour. There are 4 barriers, built after a German submarine sank the HMS Royal Oak in October 1939.
• This loss of 833 lives prompted Winston Churchill to order the building of a series of causeways to block off the eastern approaches to the naval anchorage of Scapa Flow.
• Barrier No 1 is over 610m in length, with a maximum depth of 59 ft.
• The island of Burray is home to the Sands Hotel, set in a 19th Century building. Here, you are able to sample some of the local produce, including bere bannocks (local bread).
• Bere bannock is created using beremeal, a type of flour milled from an ancient form of barley – bere. It is served with farmhouse cheese and a glass of local wine or beer.
• The Orkney Fossil and Heritage Centre gives you a glimpse back across hundreds of millions of years.
• The museum’s founder, Leslie Firth, discovered fossil fish in the layers of stone at his family’s quarry.
• The landscape here was once a large lake.