Qualla: Pentland Firth

Pentland Firth: Introduction

Sat, 30 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Bbinglis, CC BY-SA 4.0. Despite the name, the Pentland Firth is not a firth at all - it is a strait, a narrow gap of open water between the Atlantic and the North Sea, twelve miles across at its widest, with currents that can hit thirty kilometres per hour. The name comes from Old Norse *Petlandsfjörð*, meaning the fjord of Pictland - the Picts who lived in Orkney before the Vikings arrived and gave their old territory a Scandinavian label. Even older was the Pictish name itself: the Sea of Orcs. For nine centuries this strait has been the dividing line between mainland Britain and the Northern Isles, and for considerably longer it has been one of the most dangerous and most useful pieces of water in the British archipelago.

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Image: Bbinglis | CC BY-SA 4.0

Pentland Firth: Two Oceans, One Tide

Sat, 30 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Bruce Stokes from Coventry, CC BY-SA 2.0. Twice a day the Atlantic and the North Sea try to even out their levels through the Pentland Firth, and the volume of water that moves is enormous. Currents can exceed five metres per second - around eighteen kilometres per hour - and accelerate to over thirty in the narrowest ga...

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Image: Bruce Stokes from Coventry | CC BY-SA 2.0

Pentland Firth: The Merry Men and the Swelkie

Sat, 30 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Postdlf, CC BY-SA 3.0. Each major race in the firth has its own name. The Merry Men of Mey forms off St John's Point during the westbound tide and stretches northwest across the firth toward Hoy, building a moving wall of waves that can act as a natural breakwater for the calmer water behind it. The Sw...

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Image: Postdlf | CC BY-SA 3.0

Pentland Firth: The Saudi Arabia of Tidal Power

Sat, 30 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Ben Brooksbank, CC BY-SA 2.0. What kills ships also generates electricity, in theory. Currents of five metres per second mean kinetic energy on an enormous scale, and the Pentland Firth is widely regarded as the best tidal stream site on the planet. In 2008 the Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond called the ...

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Image: Ben Brooksbank | CC BY-SA 2.0

Pentland Firth: Crossings

Sat, 30 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Greg Willis from Denver, CO, usa, CC BY-SA 2.0. Ferries cross the firth from three places. NorthLink's *Hamnavoe* runs between Scrabster and Stromness, the oldest continuous route, started in 1856 as a continuation of the Highland railhead at Thurso. Pentland Ferries sail from Gills Bay to St Margaret's Hope on South Ronaldsay...

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Image: Greg Willis from Denver, CO, usa | CC BY-SA 2.0