BRITISH ISLES
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Scotland's surprisingly sunny isles
Flying from Spain to Scotland, I'm no longer chasing the sun; unexpectedly, the sun chases me. It follows me for 10 days of sailing around the Hebrides, Shetland and Orkney islands in the North Atlantic Ocean. The crew of Aurora Expeditions’ Greg Mortimer can hardly believe we don't need to cancel any visits in this wild, remote location.
Our first port of call, Iona, reveals a coastline of sand as white as the Whitsundays, with yachts bobbing near the wharf. And the clearest azure sea fills a long crescent beach where we step ashore to explore the Jarlshof Prehistoric and Norse settlement.
Papa Stour has the most vivid landscape of multicoloured cliffs and caves. Inside one of the caves is the brightest turquoise water I have ever seen. Like a rocky rainbow, the walls glow in shades of pink, purple, green, red and yellow. Stunned into silence, we spend three hours exploring this magnificent maze of tunnels and arches in Zodiac boats. The 330-metre Hol o’ Bordie passes through the north-west tip of the island and emerges into a colony of seals.
We see whales and dolphins, but none of the otters that breed in the area. Back on land, we find Shetland ponies and hairy Highland cows with shaggy fringes down to their noses. At the UNESCO World Heritage Site of St Kilda, primitive Soay sheep vastly outnumber the 35 residents.
This region is one big breeding ground for millions of seabirds, which nest
