US couple's important engagement on Westray
(Story dated: August 7, 2003)

Romantic proposal...Laura and Michael who got engaged during a visit to Westray.

A young couple from Texas travelled all the way to Westray to get engaged and it was the myths surrounding the legendary King Arthur which brought them to Orkney.

Michael Stone (28) and Laura Holt (22) from Austin, the state capital, just graduated with degrees in mechanical engineering from the University of Texas and decided to celebrate by going on a European tour, ending in Orkney and getting engaged.

Michael told The Orcadian: "I guess I chose it to propose because I wanted somewhere beautiful and I knew that the Westray Walk was that. My first fascination came from reading about King Arthur and how his sister and her sons came from the Orkney Islands.

"It has always been fascinating for me from that standpoint. We've also heard that it's gorgeous here and it is."

The Texan couple arrived in Orkney last Monday and spent a day-and-a-half in Westray from Wednesday to Thursday and travelled over by ferry to Thurso on Friday, before heading off to London on Sunday, and then flying back to the United States on Tuesday (August 5).

Their memorable event of getting engaged took place overlooking a bay with puffins and other seabirds near the Neven o' Grinni at the north-west of Westray, roughly halfway through the Westray Walk.

Laura commented: "The people are just so friendly and everything is so beautiful. We've just enjoyed our trip so much."

Michael added: "It's peaceful here as well. It's not as fast paced as a lot of the places we've been to. It's been the perfect end to our vacation."

When asked if they have set a date for their wedding, it turned out that they will have to wait two years because Laura is about to join the UN Peace Corps serving in Central America and Michael is going to start postgraduate research in what the Americans call "graduate school" which will keep him busy for the same period.

"Maybe we'll come back here to get married. Who knows?" said Michael.

The tale of Michael and Laura's romantic engagement along the cliffs of Westray only came to light when Pierowall resident Michael Blair spotted the couple, looking fairly tired and dishevelled late on Wednesday night and gave them a lift back to the village and took them down to catch the ferry to Kirkwall the next morning.

He took them into The Orcadian Bookshop so that we could report on the event. He also presented Laura with a gift of silver earrings made by West-Ray Jewellery to commemorate the special Orkney connection.

Michael explained: "We only started out on the walk around 2pm and with all the time spent on the engagement and all, we had only got about halfway when Michael saw us and offered us a lift. We were so hungry by that stage, that although we still had about an hour of the Westray Walk to do, we decided to take him up on the offer and get a lift back to Pierowall. It was very kind of him."