Orkney 2007 - Day 3

Wednesday 27th June - Earl's Palace, Brough Head, Kitchener memorial and Skara Brae

We started today by heading out to Birsay, the area at the north western tip of the mainland, but on the way we stopped for photo opportunities at one of the Churchill Barriers.  The road to Birsay then included fabulous scenery looking out to Eynhallow and Rousay.  Our first stop was Earl's Palace, which had been started in 1569 by Robert Stewart, the illegitimate son of King James V of Scotland, who had been given the Earldom of Orkney; his rule was fierce and he was eventually jailed for it in Edinburgh in 1575, but them seemingly returned and carried on the same (read more here).

After the palace, we headed out onto Brough Head, a small but beautiful outcrop linked to the mainland by a causeway that can only be walked along two hours either side of high tide!  Here there were the remains of an old settlement and a beautiful lighthouse, but the main feature was the tremendous scenery out over a perfectly flat sea; the cliffs were wonderful, with many birds soaring about them, including a few puffins!  

After lunch we checked out the Kitchener war memorial, which was accompanied by even more impressive cliffs than Brough Head, but no puffins.  Once that was done, we hit the archeological front in a big way with Orkney's most significant site, the well-preserved neolithic village at Skara Brae.  It was quite interesting to imagine an entire community living and working in these buildings some 5000 years ago.  It is unclear why the village was abandoned, but it could have been the encroaching seafront, which today is right alongside the site.  My only criticism was that by the time we got there the little hut to hire your putter and ball from was closed...

While we were in this region, it was to the pleasent little town of Stromness and The Ferry Inn for a quick draught pint of Dark Island, an Orkney beer that I drink back in Aberdeen for a nice way to end the day.

Photo of people reading Churchill Barriers history, wow!

Our main area for the day, note Twatt at the bottom right:

The Earl's Palace after a particularly heavy night:

Looking to Hoy from the Brough Head causeway:

The lighthouse at Brough Head and a rather shy Sonia:

See!

Looking south from Brough Head:

Kitchener memorial, and impressive cliffs:

Looking north:

Looking to rain over Hoy from Choin:

The particularly tricky hole 4...

Orkney 2007 - Day 1

Friday 22nd June 2007 saw the Soniamost hand in her PhD thesis, and what a wonderful day it was;  glorious sunshine accompanied this rite of passage, as did Theakston beer from The St Macher's Bar where I met her after work!  Congratulations to the full to my little bright cookie.

The hand-in was a release of many kinds, for we were now on holiday. Not only were we off to the Orkney Isles on the Monday, but the Saturday saw us tripping over to Corpach (home of Neptune's Staircase), Fort William for the marriage of Sonia's friends Catherine and David, but only after my exhaust fell off just outside Aberdeen forcing us to drive for over 2 hours a la Spitfire.  Some unorthodox notes on marriage by the minister, including stories referring to joint credit card accounts not being misused, lead to the knot being duly tied and the congregation milling about on midge-lawn out front, savouring views of Ben Nevis (when not being bitten).

(L-R) Paula, Catherine and Sonia getting midge-bites:

A great reception followed that even saw me dancing with the bride (after a pint) and, even more proudly, correctly guessing Highland Park from a blind buy!

After an action-packed Saturday, Sunday was mostly taken up with the mission to buy a new exhaust, which we managed to do in Oban, and buying me a new coat, which we did back in Fort William, and all that lead to...

Monday 25 June - Kirkwall and St Magnus Cathedral

The Orkney Islands consist of 70 separate islands, 20 of which are inhabited.  A trail of these islands to the southeast of the group are connected by The Churchill Barriers, built during the second world war, to protect the British Fleet from U-boat attack.  We were due to stay on the southernmost of these, South Ronaldsay.

The Orkney isles at the north-eastern tip of mainland UK:

After chasing Team A (Alison, Andrew R and Andrew L) up the A9 and A99, we arrived at St Gills Bay (our start point to cross The Pentland Firth) before them, due to the nose of The Leach bizarrely seeking out a Costa in John O'Groats.  After introductions, Sonia, a marine biologist, was asked if we were likely to see any dolphins or whales on the crossing.  To which she confidently replied in the negative.  To which, in turn, a group of massive killer whales passed the boat about a half hour in exciting everyone on board!

(L-R) Andrew R, Alison and the Soniamost:

Upon arrival, we were very grateful to find that our accommodation for the week, Lower Cara cottage, was wonderful, and ideally placed with fabulous coastal views all around.  Once the rooms had been assigned and bags dumped within them, the whisky was cracked open as Alison announced she was four months pregnant!! She'll be driving from now on then! Congratulations Alison.

A brief shopping trip and introduction to Kirkwall saw us back and cooking-in before returning to town and the impressive St Magnus Cathedral for a great performance by Viktoria Mullova as she played Bach's Partita in E major and Partita in D minor as part of the St Magnus Festival, which our visit happily happened to coincide with.  An 11pm finish did not mean the sun was even fully down at this time of year as we drove back to fine views and the close of the first day.

St Magnus Cathedral; not your average venue: