‘Coming into Hell’s mouth’: Walter Mowat speaks about life by the Pentland Firth in new film
A John O’Groats stalwart has shared his lifelong experiences of living beside the mighty Pentland Firth in a new video filmed in the village.
Walter Mowat, owner of the First and Last Shop and chairman of John O’Groats Development Trust, described the almighty noise as waves crash onto his shop in foul weather.
“It really can be terrible, and I mean terrible,” he tells BBC Radio Orkney producer/presenter Howie Firth in the film, for the Orkney International Science Festival project. “The waves can hit the First and Last Shop and you hear this almighty crash and then you wait for the next one.”
The video, Living by the Pentland Firth – Tides, Storms and People, is the third in a series filmed on location and produced by Selena S Kuzman.
Walter goes on to say: “In the day’s of the sailing ships, the sailors, when they were approaching the Pentland Firth here, they always said they were coming into Hell’s mouth. And some sailors have said that it’s worse going through the Pentland Firth with a bad tide than it was to go around Cape Horn.
“We get 6000 ships passing through the Pentland Firth on average every year, from all over the world. They will go through the Pentland Firth because it’s better than going through the English Channel - it’s not as busy.”
He said that he has witnessed a few shipwrecks in his time. “There have literally been hundreds in the Pentland Firth, and that’s why there are nine lighthouses visible to try to help the boats navigate through the firth here,” he says.
The interview was recorded during the filming of The Making of the Pentland Firth, which went online towards the end of last year as part of the science festival project to highlight northern landforms and earth sciences.
The ongoing project also includes the development of the Caithness Landscapes website by Dr Adrian Hall and the late Dr John Flett Brown.
The filming included a day in Stroma, which resulted in a second film, Stroma – Island of Storms and Tides, which is now also generating much interest online.
The interview with Walter was filmed in a room made available by the John O’Groats Hotel.
The 15-minute film is freely available to view on the science festival’s YouTube channel.
The production of the group of three films was made possible through funding from Thistle Wind Partners.
Howie said: “I much enjoyed speaking with Walter and he has so much knowledge and is so interesting to listen to.”