A small car park on the edge of Inganess Bay, just a short run out of town and adjacent to Kirkwall Airport. Suburban street fades to single track with passing places.
Bruni at InganessIn the car park at Inganess Bay
Inganess Bay is just on the edge of town and the car park is skirted on one side by the sea, on another by a small area of loch and wild ground, and the the third rubs up against Kirkwall Airport.
The car park is very busy, being in constant use by people coming to walk dogs here. Kayakers also park their cars here before heading off for a lengthy paddle.
Bruni at InganessWell kept surroundings, right by the beach - with cliff and inland walks starting here
No passing traffic at night and there are no night flights. Only small craft use this airfield and so noise levels are not high. Flights are infrequent. The bird-scaring Land Rover makes more noise than anything else.
LochView from the car park at Inganess
An interpretation board by the car park details walks from this point and you can choose to go inland up the burn or turn around and walk along the cliff between the sea and the airfield.
Walking outOne of the walks from the car park at Inganess follows up the burn to cross the road near the airport and passes into a wood
A very well kept site with a small garden area but no formal picnic table and no toilet facilities. The beach has a narrow shingle margin, then sand. A wreck provides visual excitement.
WreckWrecked boat in Inganess Bay. The tanker Sprucol was built for the Admiralty by Short Bros., Sunderland in 1918. She had two screws and was powered by two Bolinders 8-cylinder oil engines, which gave her a speed of 9.5 knots. She was renamed Juniata in 1920 when acquired by the Anglo-American Oil Co. Ltd. In July 1934 she was sold to the French company Ste. Auxiliare de Transports, but in 1936 Anglo-American Oil bought her back again. On 17 April 1940 she was sunk as a blockship in Water Sound, as part of No.4 Barrier, east of the Churchill Barrier linking the islands of South Ronaldsay and Burray. The wreck lay in the northern part of the channel, in the shallows of Burray, and remained there until July 1949, when she was raised for scrapping. It was found that her condition would not permit towing her to a shipbreaking yard, so she was towed to Inganess Bay and beached.
Some scrapping work seems to have been carried out there, as the stern section has been separated from the wreck, leaving only the bow section still visible above the surface, only a short distance out from the sandy beach off the end of the main runway at Kirkwall airport.
Inganess MorningFriday dawned fine and dry
Overall verdict - a very pleasant spot to stay and ideal if you need to be close to town for an early start on the ferry. It is barely ten minutes from here to the North Isles ferry queue. Child and dog safe. Litter and poo bins.
