Sanday

Sanday is one of the Orkney Islands, northeast of Orkney Mainland. It's a thin low-lying strap, about 12 miles (20 km) long but seldom reaching a mile wide, flanked by sandy beaches. In 2011 the population was 494. There's nothing that amounts to a village, but Kettletoft is the main settlement - it was the ferry port until the pier at Loth was built in the 1990s to accommodate ro-ros.

Little is known of Sanday's early Pictish and Norse history, and archaeologists are still reeling from the discovery in 2021 of two 5500-year-old cricket balls.

Get in
By boat: Orkney Ferries sail from Kirkwall 2 or 3 times daily year-round to on the south end of the island. The ferry is a small ro-ro for vehicles and foot passengers; a day-trip gives you up to nine hours on the island. The direct sailing takes 90 min but some ferries are via Eday or Stronsay.

By plane: Loganair fly a triangle from Kirkwall and Stronsay, twice a day M-F and once Sa and Su. The morning flight is via Stronsay and the afternoon flight is direct from Kirkwall and continues to Stronsay. Residents have priority, and you can only book by phoning +44 1856 872494 or 873457 (lines open Su-F to 7PM, Sa to 6PM); you can't book online, see also Orkney Islands. The five-minute Stronsay-Sanday hop may well be the world's second-shortest scheduled flight, the very shortest being the two minutes between Westray and Papa Westray.

is a grand name for a cottage by a field with a windsock. It's in mid-island.

Get around
A minibus connects with the ferries. Hiring a bicycle is a good way to get around the island.

For a few months in 2006, Sanday boasted Britain's most northerly railway station, with a ridable miniature railway. It's unlikely to re-open, ever.

See

 * is a "tied island", connected to Sanday by a long tombola but no track. It's farmland; Broch of Wasso is an Iron Age broch, but is just a tall grassy mound. The tombola sandhills are worth strolling.
 * is a "tied island", connected to Sanday by a long tombola but no track. It's farmland; Broch of Wasso is an Iron Age broch, but is just a tall grassy mound. The tombola sandhills are worth strolling.

Do

 * Wildlife: bird life and seals are the main features, but always keep looking (including on the ferry), you never know what might come into view.
 * Night skies: Sanday is free of light pollution so expect starry skies and maybe the aurora borealis on any clear night Sept-April. In summer it's a lost cause as the sky never gets properly dark.

Buy

 * Sinclair's is the general store in mid-island, open M-Sa 9AM-8PM, Su noon-4PM.
 * The main Post Office at Kettletoft pier is open M Tu Th noon-3:30PM, F 3-6:30PM. There's another mid-island.

Eat and drink
Nothing was open in 2021, so you need to be self-sufficient.

Kimbland Distillery released its first whisky for sale in May 2023.

Connect
As of July 2024, the island has no mobile signal from any UK carrier.

Go next

 * You can reach Eday and Stronsay without returning to Orkney Mainland.
 * All routes eventually return to Kirkwall.