Stromness Harbour
On the west side of Mainland Orkney you will find the picturesque town of Stromness. With its narrow winding streets and lanes and numerous private piers and slipways Stromness waterfront is an excellent town for a leisurely stroll. Gift shops selling arts and crafts and local food retailers can be found along the main street and the award winning Pier Arts Centre is home to a nationally important collection as well as an on-going programme of exhibits, is always worth a look. The Stromness Museum, among other things – too numerous to mention, houses an excellent collection of exhibits relating to the local fishing industry, relics of the German High Seas Fleet (scuttled in Scapa Flow in 1919) and numerous items relating to the "Nor' Wast" - the 19th century links between Orkney and Canada, involving the Hudson's Bay Company.
St Magnus Kirk Green, Kirkwall
The new Kirkwall webcam is located in the centre of the ancient capital of the islands. Broad Street is one of the main thoroughfares in Kirkwall and shops purveying Orkney's fine jewellery, food, and knitwear nestle alongside The Town Hall where the camera is located. The Orkney Museum is a little further up the street and occupies a 17th century town house. Much of the time the camera will be looking at The St Magnus Cathedral’s main entrance. The 12th century St Magnus Cathedral, built by the Viking Earls who ruled Orkney for hundreds of years, in memory of St Magnus who was martyred attempting to bring peace to the islands in 1115. Just behind the Cathedral, to the right, are the Earl's and Bishop's Palaces. From time to time the camera will be looking northwards along Broad Street with the Kirk Green on the right. Kirkwall is the main centre of industry and communications, with a population of around 7000, and it bustles with activity all through the week. This webcam is kindly hosted by Judith Glue. The camera is located outside her shop in Broad Street. There is also a camera inside the shop and can be seen on her website: www.judithglue.com The webcam page updates itself once a minute but the Kirkwall cam will more or less give you a new image each time you click the refresh button on your internet browser.
Kirkwall Airport
The Kirkwall Airport webcams are located in the airport building and look east over the apron and across Inganess Bay. The top image looks over the area where the inter-island aircraft loads and unloads its passengers and freight en-route to the north islands of Stronsay, Sanday, Eday, Westray, Papa Westray and North Ronaldsay. This is the service which has the shortest scheduled flight in the world between Papa Westray and Westray, less than two minutes when the wind is in the right direction. You will receive a certificate on completion of this flight when you return to Kirkwall. The lower image again looks east showing the control tower and the area where the planes from Shetland, Inverness, Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Glasgow come and go. This camera gives a good idea of the weather at the airport. Both cameras put up a new image every 5 minutes so although not exactly live, they do give an accurate view of the visibility at the airport. A big thank you to Neil Thain at Kirkwall Airport for allowing us to use the cameras. Webcam images are Courtesy of HIAL