20/06/2013 – After visiting Skara Brae and Maeshowe we were in the need for a leg stretch. The walk up Ward Hill is a pretty gentle 3 hour walk there and back. A nice way to send an afternoon above the stones and chambered cairns below.
There’s parking at the 113 spot on the OS map, on the minor road west of Orphir. A track heads over Gruf Hill to Ward Hill. It gets a little vague in places but not too bad. A couple of fences to cross but these are not a problem. The last bit of climb is steepish but short.
Very good views from the tumulus on the top of Ward Hill.
It’s worth walking the short distance north to Mid Hill (true top of Mainland Orkney, a few maps give it as Ward Hill). The view down to the land containing the great monuments of Stenness is fantastic. We did this walk towards the end of our week’s holiday and it was great to have a near aerial view of the sites below and their place in the landscape