I wish I had had longer than one day in the windswept Orkney Islands, north of Scotland.The day I did have was halcyon and perfect. We were chasing deep time—standing stones, Skara Brae and more recent time—the Churchill Barriers, and the beautiful Italian Chapel but for somewhere so steeped in time, I needed more of it to peel back the layers of history.

We’re taught that the Viking Age ended in 1066, when Harald Hardråde fell at Stamford Bridge. But if you look to the Orkneys, history tells a different story.

The Norse came to Orkney in the late 700s — maybe even before the infamous raid on Lindisfarne in 793. The best preserved samples of runes are their grafitti in Mae’s Howe. These islands became a vital Viking outpost: a launchpad for raids, a safe harbour for ships, and eventually, a full-blown Norse earldom under the rule of Harald Hårfagre himself.

And while Europe moved on, Orkney didn’t, it seems. Norse earls ruled here for centuries. The people spoke Old Norse. They carved runes, followed Norse law, and passed down stories that became the Orkneyinga Saga — one of the most dramatic and bloody sagas of them all.

Even as the medieval kingdoms rose and fell, Orkney remained culturally Norse — well into the 1200s. They built the magnificent St Magnus Cathedral in Kirkwall, which we very briefly perused. In fact, it wasn’t until 1472 that Orkney was officially handed over to Scotland.

So technically?

Yes — you could stretch the Viking Age in Orkney from the 700s to the late 1400s.

In Orkney, the Viking world didn’t vanish.

It faded — slowly, stubbornly — into stone, wind, and saga.