“It looks like someone stabbed the island with a knife,” said Stewart, our guide on this three-day tour of the Orkney Islands. He was referring to this collapsed sea cave known as a gloup. 

The gloup does look like a large earth wound, and the North Sea rushes in from the back end, making it gurgle and growl.  Though it was a warm day for these climes (closer to Norway than London), the temperature of the surrounding water is in the upper 50s. I wouldn’t want to fall in.

Stewart was born here, and his grandparents are Orkadians, so he knows the hidden jewels of this faraway place. Tomorrow, he’ll show us more of them.