Every beach in Orkney must be a viking beach. Just as every pub in Glasgow is a stabbing pub. They are one and the same. You can’t find a non-viking beach just as you won’t find a pub in Glasgow that hasn’t had some point had someone say “R use looking at ma pint!”

But just beside Scapa Flow, you can find the titular Viking Beach itself, a name that stuck out on the map when I was looking for somewhere to swim and with a beach that looked decent, at least on the satellite view.

My mistake though was to drive past all the calm seas and other beaches on the way and to still swim in this one despite the strong breakers on the shore.

Orkney has hundreds of beaches, and, around Scapa Flow, you can chose many that are either side of the island and only minutes apart. Yet I still carried on with the one that had the strongest current.

The beach was shallow and I was never in any danger. I remained entirely in areas where I could still stand up. But it was a tough swim and I was glad I also had Mrs TwinBikeWife onshore as a spotter.

An important lesson for today’s swim: if the conditions look dicey, just change location. Or don’t swim.

And an important reminder: don’t swim alone.

REVIEW

Ease of Access: There’s a small car park next to the beach with room for 6 – 8 cars. The car park also has a toilet block, which is handy for getting changed – and for washing sand from feet in the sink!

Water quality:  There’s also plenty of room to swim before the beach starts to drop away.

Swim Quality: I imagine it would be great on a good day, see above.

Other People: Despite it being a sunny evening, no one else was around.

Would I go back: Yes but I would check the waves first.