Sun 25 Aug - Castletown, Scotland

Off to Orkney... 300 miles from Bergen, Norway... Apparently.

Big day. Big photo day. Correction, enormous photo day. We are doing a tour, an organised tour. After an early breakfast at 7am, we were soon on the road as we had been instructed to be boarding the Orkney ferry in John O'Groats absolutely not later than 8.45am. Not a long drive from Castletown to John O'Groats mind you, only 20 minutes or so.

We arrived early and took some photos around John O'Groats.

Di with our ferry on the background.

These 2 cyclists left John O'Groats for presumably Land's End with a bit of fanfare. After a number of photographs, they left to the bagpipe music of a lone piper..., dressed in a grey "tartan". Hmmm...

We took the opportunity to chat with the guy working in the outdoors clothing store who also provided stamps in the books for people completing the LEJOG or JOGLE (Lands End to John O'Groats or vice versa). He told us about scammers who tried to get a stamp after "cycling the distance in 3 days", hmmm... 1800 km, and others who could not even recall the route they took when he asked them.
 
We had a good laugh and thought that was poor. Perhaps for bragging in the pub...
 
Time to board the Pentland Venture, frankly not a very glamorous vessel, but pretty cool nevertheless.

Bye JOG...

A self portrait somewhere between Scotland's main land and the Orkneys.

Getting closer...

We have arrived at Burwick, Orkney Islands.

The Captain and his Ferry...

There is a big, luxury tourbus waiting for us... Hmmm, Hans has some mixed feelings about this...
Di explained to Hans that we were in the Orkneys, not the Shetlands...

Yep, Di was right.

Our bus driver, Brian, was also our top guide and he was excellent. He gave us some good facts and did not constantly chatter so we got to admire the landscape of the islands. He basically just drove - and dropped us at various locations for us to explore on our own.

Turns out this was the 1 day out of the last 7 days where you could see anything of the landscape. Brian described the Orkney weather as 2 days of sun, 3 days of mist then 20 days of rain. We hit the jackpot weather wise - Orkney was having a heat wave (21 degrees).

The 70 islands of Orkney are mostly uninhibited and many are only accessible by boat. Several larger inhabited islands are connected by 4 of these "Churchill Barriers" that were ordered built by Sir Winston himself to protect the British fleet anchoring in Skarpa Flow (a huge natural harbour) in WWII.

Italian POWs built the barriers but were initially refusing the work (under the Geneva Convention) until the locals convinced them they needed them as bridges between islands. The Italians liked the locals and did the work. More on them later.


Before the barriers were built the British government deliberately sunk old ships in the channels to Skarpa Flow - called blockships. Many still visible today.

Our first stop was a quick loo and coffee break at the main town called Kirkwall - we will be back for a few hours later in the day so no photos yet. Our bus driver asked us all to keep to strict return times and nearly of us did this without effort - but 2 Italian dudes sitting in front of us wandered along 4 minutes after we were due to depart. They did not look concerned or apologetic. They definitely had not rushed. Di muttered...

After Kirkwall it was on to Stromness, the second largest town, also known as Hamnavoe, which is a Norwegian name for "town on a bay". The Norwegians owned Orkney for centuries then gave them up to Britain as a dowry for a Norwegian princess to marry King James III. The locals don't think of themselves as British - they are 690 miles from London, and much closer to Bergen - they call themseves Orkadians.

We immediately liked Stromness. There seem to be almost no tourist shops or new development - just a very old harbour town. Not quite beyond belief but...

The harbour still has a small working fish co-op and some ferries and tugs. The town is settled between the shore line and up the hill a little way. It's not a big town which gives it its charm.

Very pretty ...Stromness of course!

What appeared to be the main hotel in town was right near the ferry wharf bit looked really cool and we wished we had stayed at Stromness for a few days.

Narrow crooked streets amongst old buildings. Yep, cars were allowed here too.

The upper parts of town are connected with lots of little passages and stairs - the Khyber Pass just had to be conquered. Di heads in.

We saw this sight quite often (no not Hans) but an edge of a building cut off to allow for a passage or road. Or a tall person?

This building made Di feel tall. There are really people more "short ass" than Di then...

What? a Michelin rated restaurant (4 years in a row) through this grungy old doorway?

The Hamnavoe restaurant is very obscure. It is in a seriously out of the way location in a small footpath area away from the main path or ferry wharf. Di checked out Michelin. Yep Hamnavoe was there with food described as a "Unfussy home cooking using fresh market produce; local, where possible." Yet is is fine dining according to the UK Good Food Guide. Too bad it was not open.

We kept bumping into another Aussie couple from the bus and they pointed out this plaque. We checked it out. An Australian link?

Fraser Island was named after Eliza Fraser - a shipwreck survivor who came to shore there. Wow - a touch of Oz in Stromness.

Looking across the very calm bay to another large, but uninhabitable island, called Hoy.

What can we say...we kept admiring Stromness from all angles.

Another Oz link (and Hans would be the other) with this fresh water well - our founder, Captain Cook filled up here. Might have been a different expedition else he was heading the wrong way.

We had 90 minutes of time in Stromness and used most of it wandering the streets. We grabbed a quick pre-made sandwich for lunch, ate quickly then hooped back on the bus parked at the ferry wharf.

One point to note - you have to pay to park in Stromness (fair enough as they have no road space) but it's not quite Sydney parking prices. Quite acceptable in fact...

Back on the bus...wait, where are the Italian dudes? This time 3 minutes late. Again no rush...Di muttered some more.

Our next big stop was only 15 minutes drive up the road to a place called Skara Brae. We had another 90 minutes here (definitely not rushed).

Skara Brae is a 5,000 year old Stone Age village.

Skara Brae is a major archeological find in Scotland in a sand dune. Yep, we stepped back in time... They had plaques along the path to show relative antiquity. This village is older than the Pyramids of Giza and the Temple of Solomon and Stonehenge.

A map of the village in the sand dune. Skara Brae was found because a storm in 1850 moved the dunes and exposed the village. The Laird of the land wandered around, took some artifacts and then did nothing for about 70 years, when later his son had the insight to bring in an archeologist who excavated and found the whole village. Skara Brae was donated to the public shortly afterwards.

It is fascinating. The roofs of the village huts have been lifted off (except for very delicate parts) and you wander along the top and look down.

The village is located on a lovely gentle beached bay. You can understand how Stone Age man ended up here - sheltered, good fishing, plenty of stone, nice grass and a mild climate - the temperature only varies in the year between 5 and 15 degrees. The Gulf Stream keeps it mild.
Today was a heat wave - we were in t-shirts and it was 21 degrees. Lovely.
A representation of what it could have looked like.
Passages link homes and a workshop.

The blocks of stone you are all had a purpose - shelf, bench, bed etc.

Each home was thought to have had a thatched roof and central hearth, with a "dresser" for storing food, pots etc. They have found lots of stone and bone tools and clay pots on site.

Amazing to see and imagine.
The encased rectangle areas are beds. They filled them with straw and covered them with hides from cattle that they farmed.

Hans takes a peek inside. Yep this is an original window.

A board explains the discovery and the later excavation by Gordon Childe.

A Laird still owns the land and a nearby manor house, called Skaille House, today.

They fly the Orkney flag, which is essentially the Norwegian flag but with yellow where the white would otherwise be.

Skaille House reminded Di of Mr Rochester's home in Jane Eyre. Not a welcoming look to it - all grey stone and without neighbors.

It was nice enough inside and even the Queen has been to visit. We did not explore for long but did like this library bookcase with its hinged secret compartment. Hans just had to try swinging it open a bit further and he can report that yes, it works, yes, it squeaks and yes, you were not allowed to do that.

The Laird seems to have a fondness for walking sticks. Or really bad lags or sense of balance.

Yes, this is a real Indian tiger skin, brought back by an ancestor who was based in India for a while. Not an ideal rug for relaxing...

The Queen's signature in the visitors book.

Back on the bus and the Italians seemed to have learned to read a watch as they made it on time - but this time a Scottish family just wandered on about 5 minutes late. They did look sheepish and apologised.

Onto the Ring of Brodgar.

Ring of Brodgar is older than Stonehenge and with the same unsolved mystery - nobody can say what it was used for. Again, a temple or place of worship was the favored explanation. At least here you don't pay and you can get up close and personal with the stones. Di - feeling any vibes yet?

The location of Ring of Brodgar is also far nicer than Stonehenge, which is in the middle of Salisbury Plains. Here the Ring is overlooking a loch and the hills. Very scenic.
Would be a nice souvenir... Nah, too heavy and clunky.

Our group were the only ones at the circle so we seemed to spread out and almost have a stone each. Di liked this one - no we can't take it home.

Further down the road is another example - these are called the Standing Stones of Stenness but they are on private property so the sheep get to enjoy them up close.

There are a lot of sheep and cows on the Orkney Islands. Approximately 110,000 cattle of which a third is dairy, contributing to famous Orkney icecream. The sheep and cattle are put in barns for the winter, not because its too cold but because it is too windy. Sheep can be blown off their feet - literally!

Back to Kirkwall at 4pm.

We were given a longer break here (not quite 2 hours) and after a lot of touring we felt we needed afternoon tea so went to a cafe we had bought coffee from earlier in the day for a substantial break.

The Real Food Cafe (in blue) was excellent - good tea (known as Tea Pigs), nice carrot and sweet potato soup for Di and a smoked mackerel pâté for Hans. This counted as early dinner as we knew we would not be back in time for food at our hotel. We sat for not quite a hour, edited some photos and relaxed. We noted quite a few of our bus mates thought the same thing and were in the same cafe.

Around 5pm we did a bit more exploring. This is the ruins of the Earls Palace. The sign said we were supposed to pay £4.50 to get in but it also said it closed at 5pm. We just wandered in with our Orkney Icecreams, read some boards and admired the ruins. Forget paying!

500 years ago this was supposed to be one of the finest buildings in the northern isles. The ruins looked impressive so we believed them.

The palace was located across a courtyard from St Magnus Cathedral, founded in 1137 and hence the Scandinavian name. It was also part of the Trondheim diocese until the Orkneys were given to Britain. The place is huge, having undergone a few extensions over the years.

We doubt there are enough people on the main island of Orkney to fill this.

Inside St Magnus Cathedral as usual in these very old cathedrals, they have various grave markers. This one seemed particularly apt - a skeleton, an hourglass run out of sand, and what looked like a spade.

Where you were to start reading was indicated with a pointed finger - Di demonstrates just below.

During the day we had heard of the sinking of the battle ship Royal Oak, at Skarpa Flow, during WWII by a German U-Boot. The ships bell is in the cathedral as a memorial.

A sad story - 800 odd lives could have been saved as the first torpedo hit the anchor chain and woke the men. They ignored this sound and went back to bed. The second torpedo hit midships and sunk them in 15 minutes. This loss of ship and life prompted the building of the "Churchill Barriers" from earlier in the blog.

Back out on the streets for a wander In Kirkwall.

The colur scheme of this car was so... different that Di couldn't look.

We finished off our wander by checking out Kirkwall's harbour. Not as nice as Stromness but Hans was...

Back on the bus - and a few minutes late again as those Italians were still on...Fiji time...?

Our last destination for the day was the Italian Chapel, built by Italian POW from the Second World War.

The storyboard told the amazing story of how the chapel came about.

The chapel is essentially two decorated and connected pieces of Nissen shells or huts.

The image in the centre is of the Madonna of the olives, replicated from a picture that one of the Italian POW had with him. He actually stayed on after the war ended to complete it.

St George slaying the dragon in concrete outside the chapel was the first contribution to the site that the Italian POW did.

Many Italians POW remained in the Orkneys after the war, found themselves local brides and made a life for themselves there. Interesting.

Brian told us a funny story on the way back to our ferry about the Midsummer Night golf Championship on the Main Island. On Midsummer night, where they have no darkness they start the golf competition at midnight. It is sponsored by Highland Park distillery and the players where crash helmets - you can see trouble brewing... Yep, as each player completes a hole they drink a free dram of whisky. 18 holes in all...we figure the crash helmets are for the back 9 holes...

We were back at the ferry terminal a little bit ahead of time and had to wait for our ferry to arrive. And there it was rounding the corner after negotiating the breakwater.

Bye Orkney, it was a great day and we wished we would have stayed there a few nights. Next time...

Di was dressed for the occasion.

Hans tried his best balancing act, which wasn't that easy on a moving boat in choppy waters. The waters are often choppy as the tides of the North Sea and the Atlantic meet here.

There was some fantastic sunset scenery as we approached John O'Groats. This is Dunnet Head, mainland Britain's most northerly point where Hans was the day before.

Houses on the hill. The camera battery was running out there, so this pic came about after the 3rd attempt.

Back at Castletown Hotel, we decided to have drinks for dinner (supplemented by some crisps) and went directly to the pub. We also started the process of uploading all these pictures on the iPad.

Di had a gin and tonic, and was given a miniature tonic bottle of 150ml. Airplane size.

We had a few other punters in the bar tonight, including an older couple talking to their friends at a nearby table. They seemed to be Scots who had emigrated to Australia and returned for a visit and were telling their companions all about Oz. We could only shake our heads at some to it and laugh at others. Then they got into Superannuation and the GFC and Hans was shaking with laughter as Di did her best to hold her tongue. It seemed they had retired from Australia Post...

Unfortunately, wifi is anything but speedy here, and as more punters connected during the evening, uploads got real slow. We stopped, and Hans did a a later attempt around midnight and it was much better then.

Tomorrow, we are off to Isle of Skye. To get accommodation there had been tricky to say the least as it was either sold out or very expensive. So what chose a real crap hotel (based on online reviews) and paid a low-ish price.

Note - tomorrow night on Isle of Skye - our next hotel does NOT have wifi so we may not be able to upload any blogs the next 3 days or so. We will upload if and when we can. Apologies for any inconvenience.

 

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