Rampant Scotland Directory! The sites included on this page relate to Orkney and Shetland, the northernmost islands of Scotland.
If you are planning a trip to Scotland you may wish to use a specialist company offering guided tours. Rampant Scotland has teamed up with Go Scotland to provide quick access to a one stop shop for a very wide range of tours in Scotland. Go Scotland offers tours from a number of recommended tour guide companies in Scotland with sightseeing tours from Edinburgh, Glasgow and Inverness.
Click the graphic to see what they have on offer:-
Use the Go Scotland Tour Search to find a tour departing on your desired time frame. If you can't find what your looking for contact them and they'll find it for you. Go Scotland Tours also arranges private driver guided tours and customised itineraries with tailor-made bespoke Scotland tours.
There are other separate pages for sites covering all of the Highlands and the following regions:
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Where indeed? The northernmost islands in Scotland, nearer to Bergen in Norway than Edinburgh. Pages set up by Zetnet are encouraging a new cottage industry in Shetland - based on telecommunications, of course. There are a number of "Special Interest Groups" using Zetnet including enthusiasts who have set up beatufully illustrated Web sites on aspects of Shetland nature such as Shetland Wildlife Pages including Sea Turtles, a checklist of Shetland Birds (including Where to Watch Birds) and Insects including Butterflies.. Within Shetland, the District Council of the island of Fetlar has set up a Web site on the bird life and Viking history of the "Garden of Shetland". Shetlands Islands Tourism provides useful pages on getting there, moving around the islands, wildlife and where to stay. There are also sections on Shtland's past including the Vikings in Shetland and archaeology on the islands. Virtual Shetland has Thousands of photographs of Shetland including photographs of Lerwick and virtual maps. Also a Shetland features section is available and a virtual tour of Lerwick/Scalloway area. Holidays in Shetland Böds is an illustrated guide to this alternative form of accommodation. The Braer oil tanker which ran aground on Shetland in January 1993 is the subject of a wewb site which covers not only the shipwreck itself but also the oil polution and the effects on the wildlife in the area afterwards. The Cutty Sark Tall Ships Race will start from Lerwick in 1999 and Sail Shetland provides the details, plus information about Lerwick irself. Located between the Orkney and Shetland Islands, this remote and sparsely populated island is known around the world for the stranded colour knitting with horizontal bands of geometric patterns known as "Fair Isle". The site has information on that and also a nicely illustrated description of the island, how to get there, accommodation, agriculture, arts and crafts, history, environment. The official website of the island of Unst, the most northerly populated island in the British Isles (with a population of only 900). The tourism section on the site has an option of taking the virtual tour of Unst. The Festival section contains information on the upcoming events and the Services section contains links to all the service providers, including accommodation. This is a large site which provides a range of links to sites associated with Orkney, Shetland and the Western Isles. There are links to wildlife sites, local councils and tourist attractions. The links to specific places in the Orkney and Shetland Islands include: The Internet Service Provider Orknet has a series of delightful Tourism and Community pages covering history and tourist attractions in Orkney, based on an active map, including Old Man of Hoy, and the islands of North and South Ronaldsay; North Ronaldsay has the tallest lighthouse in Britain. There are pages also on Papa Westray and Sanday. Based in Orkney, Charles Tait, a professional photographer, has used his skills to provide some excellent graphics to accompany his descriptions of a number of aspects of Orkney. Starting with a report on the New Year Ba' Game in Kirkwall on 1st January each year he moves on to Maeshowe, a mound with an inner tomb of stones of slabs set together and finished - in 2750BC. Then there are the archaeology pictures of Orkney and Caithness Western Isles. While there are other sites covering these wonders, the illustrations by Charles Tait bring them alive. And don't overlook Charles Tait Calendars with 12 illustrations of the current and previous year's productions and the highly acclaimed The Orkney Guide Book with everything you need to know about Orkney - 256 pages in full colour - over 500 photographs and maps. After a virtual reality visit to Orkney via these pages you may be encouraged to visit these northern isles for real! A beautifully illustrated site providing a comprehensive picture of these islands. Sigurd's Portfolio of Orkney is excellent, and with around 40 of them, there is a lot to see. The site also includes a Map of Orkney and a guide to The Royal Burgh of Kirkwall and its Ba' Game as well as some of the Folklore of the Orkney Islands. There is also an Orkney Timeline and a section on Orkney Facts and Figures.
And last, but by no means least, there is an extensive illustrated coverage of Orkney historical sites including : Nobody can "Buy Orkney" - it's priceless! This site does an excellent job of illustrating why these islands are so unique. First of all, it is putting online the "Orkney Guide Book" by Orcadian Charles Tait, a publication that has convinced many folk that they must visit the places he describes. It's accessible free - you just have to register. Not content with that, the BuyOrkney site has its own set of illustrations of many aspects of the island as well as links to a large number of Webcams on the island. There is also an extensive shopping area for products available from Orkney as well as an extensive databases of businesses and accommodation. Lots of detailed information for tourists, virtual or otherwise. How to get there, a photo gallery, accommodation once you are there and an extensive set of pages on all the individual islands and the (few) towns in Orkney including: Robert and Ian Rae (and their young daughter) have created a gallery of some of their photographs from Scotland, with a particular focus on the Orkney Islands. Some of the photographs were taken up to twenty or so years ago, others are more recent, so they have "progressed" from traditional SLR film cameras to digital. In addition to providing acommunity directory and events calendar there are individual sections of this site on specific elements of Orkney including North Ronaldsay Trust, Thorfinn Football Club and East Mainland Gardeners. And of course there is an image library - though you have to log in with your e-mail address to access it. Papa Westray or Papay is an island in the Orkney group. The site provides information on how to get to Papa Westray, its archaeology and birdlife, where to stay and ideas on what to see and do on Papay. Lots of attractive illustrations. Peter Maxwell Davies founded the St. Magnus Festival, which takes place annually in the Orkney Islands, off the north coast of Scotland, in 1977. The festival, which runs for six days at midsummer each June, invariably includes the summer solstice (21 June). As the Orkney Islands lie in a very northerly latitude, during this high summer period there is light for almost all of the 24 hours. All of this gives a very special atmosphere for the activities within the festival. This site, which is part of an extensive site devoted to Peter Maxwell Davies, gives a detailed background to the event. |
Where else would you like to go in Scotland?
