Signs of life on Papay

The last Great Auk (a tall puffin-like bird) in Great Britain was shot on the isle of Papa Westray in 1813, but when I arrived by ferry from nearby Westray I felt like the last Great Auk myself. There were Arctic Terns about, but not another of my species in sight. From the pier I walked in the evening sunshine with all my bags for two kilometres, to the Papay hostel. Even though I didn’t see a single human being, I saw evidence of five thousand years of human life: just a hundred metres from the hostel stood The Knap of Howar, which had been occupied by Neolithic farmers around 3500BC and is the longest-standing house in Northern Europe; Holland Farm, which was the home to the lairds of the island for three centuries from the 1700s to the 1900s, stood right next door; through binoculars I saw a water mill last used for milling oats about 100 years ago and, as the hostel door was open, with clean sheets and towels on a nice big bed, I detected the scent of hospitality within my lifetime. But it wasn’t until mid-morning the following day that I met a person, the lass managing the hostel, and asked if I could please spend the night before.