190. Glimps Holm

One of the things that is unavoidable on Orkney, even during a short visit, is the palpable sense of an island shaped by conflict. Of course you could go back as far as the Vikings to see why, but as the home base of the Royal Navy fleets in both world wars (far away from a prying enemy) the island and its waters have become synonymous with 20th century warfare. It is here, in Scapa Flow, where the impounded German fleet was scuttled by its own crew in 1919.  Scapa Flow is also where HMS Royal Oak was sunk by a German torpedo in October 1939 with the loss of 835 men and boys. And it is here where Churchill ordered the eastern approaches to be ‘blocked’ by giant stone barriers connecting the islands or South Ronaldsay, Burray and Glimps Holm and Lamb Holm. These barriers – Churchill Barriers 1-4 – are now causeways linking the islands. The construction of the barriers has totally changed the tidal system over 80 years, enabling new dune networks and even beaches to form.  One of these is Glimps Holm, whose lovely beach runs alongside Barrier 3 between the road and the turquoise sea. The wreck of the blockship (a ship deliberately sunk to block potential incursions) SS Reginald still lies alongside the causeway – one of many naval wrecks littering the seas around the islands.