Orkney Tourist Guides Association

Hi my name is John and I moved onto Orkney in 2012 to work as a Nurse on an outer island, retiring in 2016 due to ill health.

 

I had worked as a Nurse in the National health Service for 34 years but having recovered my health, I wanted to return to work, but this time doing something completely different.

 

So I combined my love of History, the natural world and Orkney, with my 48 years of passion of riding Motorcycles to set up the Orkney Trike Tours Business.

 

Its been an adventure, learning to be self-employed, getting up to speed with social media and websites, the pathway to getting an operating licence never mind buying a trike from Germany and building a garage to keep the Orkney weather at bay. So after only 10 months I started offering tours in July 2018.

 

I realised I needed to consolidate my knowledge and tighten my guiding skills so over the winter of 2018/19 I under took the Scottish Tourist Guide Association’s Orkney Green Badge Tourist Guiding Course.

 

So now I’m fully up and running and qualified with a years’ experience of guiding around Orkney  on top of 60 years experience of life in General.

 

I offer different types of tours, some that are pre-set, which concentrate on specific themes, such as Neolithic Orkney, Viking Orkney, Orkney at War being the most popular ones. I also do “bespoke tours” tailored to your specific interests, so please don’t hesitate to contact me via email or by phone to discuss your ideas. Of course there are some who just want to ride the trike and you are just as welcome to enjoy the “Whole Orkney Atmosphere” when on the trike. I am also an advanced Driver and rider, having been trained by the ambulance service and having over 10 years’ experience driving “Fast Response Vehicles”. I don’t drive fast anymore but I do drive safely.

 

My Trike is a “Boom Mustang family trike” with a 1500cc Peugeot engine powering it. I provide waterproof leg coverings, Fleece hand warmers and crash Helmets, there is two way intercoms in every helmet.

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I also do “step on” guiding if required, as well as walking tours of Kirkwall and Stromness if you want to incorporate that into your day.