Orkney, archaeology and being a tourist

Stromness is lovely.  People smile and say “Hello”.

First things first.

Albatross was leaking in the bog department. We needed some valves.

The Master Boat Builder not only supplied us with all the spares we needed but also gave up half his morning  showing us the beautiful wooden boats he was making.

We explored the narrow paved streets of Stromness, found the Co-op, fixed the loo and greeted Al at  the ferry terminal.  Newcastle to Stromness by public transport, it appears, it only slightly less worrying than Troon to Stromness in the boating equivalent of a Renault 5 (aka "Albatross").

Stromness .. from the ferry

Thursday 4^th April

We took a bus to the Standing Stones of Stenness.

This is part of the World Heritage Neolithic site on Orkney. 

Truly wonderful.

The Standing Stones of Stenness

Half a mile up the road lies The Ring of Brodgar.

4500 years old.

Awesome.

We joined a wonderful  (free) tour.

The Ring of Brodgar

Supper in the Ferry Inn.

What a good day !

Friday 5^th April

It was sunny as usual.

We took the ferry to Hoy.

Hoy is beautiful, very sparsely inhabited, mountainous, great for walking.

Walking on Hoy

We walked over to the other site of the island.

This school on Hoy wasn't shut till 1953.

We walked back through a different valley and past Dwarfie Stane.

Dwarfie Stane

This is a 5000 year old megalithic tomb. Apparently carved out of a single block of stone by Trolls.

Dwarfie Stane ... this is the view from inside the stone

Ferry back to the boat.

Fish and chips for supper.

Saturday 6^th April.

We hired a car.

First stop  Maeshowe. A Spectacular Neolithic Chambered Cairn built 5,000 years ago.  

Outside Maeshowe (no photography allowed inside)

Eat your heart out Ramesses II,  this  was built nearly 2000 years before your time in Egypt.  

Remarkably, Maeshowe contains genuine Viking graffiti, carved in the stone by a group of marauding visitors who took shelter there one winter about 700 years ago.

Next off, Skara Brae.

Skara Brae

Orkney’s (well, northern Europe’s, actually) oldest Neolithic settlement.  Complete with stone beds, stone kitchen dressers and well, .. stone most things.  We had a look around the visitors’ centre, the local stately home and then off to The Brock of Gurness.

Al and Jean explore The Brock of Gurness

The Broch of Gurness is an Iron Age broch village on the northwest coast of Mainland Orkney in Scotland overlooking Eynhallow Sound.  It was discovered in 1929 by an artist whose stool leg penetrated  through the sand, revealing the structures below..

We wandered through the village. Quite amazing (again)..

Done in after fascinating day of Orkney Archaeology we headed back to the boat, where I fixed the loo (again) and Al cooked the supper.

Sunday 7^th April

We drove down to the southern tip of Orkney.  

Several of the islands are joined by “Churchill Barriers”.  These were built in 1939 between the islands in an attempt to keep the German U-boats out of Scapa Sound where the British fleet was parked.  

We had a wander on South Ronaldsay, then drove up to St Margaret’s Hope, which has a pub. 

Jean looking south to Scotland from South Ronaldsay

St Margaret’s Hope, with a population of 550, is Orkney’s third largest settlement.  

It wasn't crowded.  

The pub, its food and its beer were excellent.

Next stop, the magnificent cathedral of St Magnus and the Bishop's and Earl's Palaces (all in Kirkwall).

St Magnus Cathedral

Home again, but via Kirkwall Marina (to suss it out for future adventures). 

Kirkwall has a Tesco’s so we went there. 

It was pretty to similar to most other Tesco’s really..

Monday 8^th April

The Stromness Museum (excellent).

A walk along the coast to The Citadel and Brinkie’s Brae. 

Some bird watching. 

Dinner in the Stromness Hotel.  All excellent ... of course.

Tuesday 9^th April

We all went home.

Coming soon “ How to get home, a guide to bus travel in Scotland”.