Considering the luggage didn't have to be out today, we got up crazy early. My husband K and I were up at 6 and down to breakfast at 6:45. We sat with Robbie and Pam from North Carolina. Some staples were on a breakfast line and I chose to get porridge, of course.
The bus departed at 7:45 and a mere 31minutes later, we arrived in John O'Groats, which we were told is the northernmost point on the British mainland. In fact, that point is Dunnet Head. And, if you are looking for the farthest point from Land's End-some folks do like to hike between the two-it is really nearby Duncansby Head. However, there's a signpost with the distance to Land's End, so what are you going to do?
Our destination was Orkney. Most of the time, you'll hear "Orkney Islands" or "Orkneys", but neither of these is really correct, as "Orkney" means "Seal Islands". So, another "islands" would be redundant and it is already plural. One of the reasons we chose this tour was that it got us out to a couple of island groups and this is the first. The Orkney are actually closer to Norway than to London. They had belonged to Norway, but when Denmark did not pay the dowry to James III for his marriage to Margaret of Denmark in 1472, they became part of Scotland. So, the Orcadians aren't really into clans or kilts. There are about 70 islands, 18 of which are populated. The main industries are agriculture and tourism. We would be taking the ferry to the island called South Ronaldsay, where we would board a different bus, thus giving Alastair the day off. We would drive up to the largest island called The Mainland.
We had some time before the ferry, so I popped into the souvenir shop and got cards and a pin. When I joined our group in the line for boarding, there were quite a few other people waiting, not all of whom were tourists.
Many of our group decided to ride over on the top of the ferry. Granted it was chilly, but it gave us a chance to look for whales. We saw none, of course. The passage was fine, although Roseanne had warned us it could be rough here where the Atlantic meets the North Sea. We sailed at 8:45 and arrived on Orkney at 9:38. There we found our bus and driver, who would also be our guide, John.
As we drove along, he told us about the Orkney. Most of which, I've already mentioned. The landscape had relatively low hills, no trees, farmland.
At 10:17, we stopped in the capital, Kirkwall (pop. 9000) for a pit stop at the bus station. We were off again at 10:35. Thirty-five minutes later, we reached our first destination-the Ring of Brodgar. The bus parked across the road and we all hiked up the hill to this Neolithic site. Many of us walked all the way around the circle, which is as wide as a football field. There had been 60 stones, but only 25 still stand. The ring or henge (like Stonehenge) is surrounded by a moat that was 30 feet wide and 20 deep. Really amazing to be near something this old that was done by man.
Here's a photo of the landscape to show just how empty of people it is, as well as some of the lovely wildflowers growing there. The whole place felt just a little wild-and rather lonely.
We were back on the road again at 11:40. We were really out in the middle of nowhere. There were houses now and then, but no town. So, you may ask, where did you stop for lunch, and well you may ask. Conveniently, however, just 15 minute away, although it looks farther on the map, was The Orkney Brewery, which is a microbrewery in an old schoolhouse. They just happen to have "The Tasting Hall Café", as well.
When we arrived, we were split into two groups. The first went off for a tour of the brewery. The rest of us went into the café, which was in the old schoolroom. It was long and had wooden tables and chairs. There were a couple of tall tables on top of old barrels. The fireplace on the side wasn't lit. At one end was a bar. At each place on the regular tables was a flight of three ales for tasting. They were Northern Light, Dark Island, and Orkney Cliff Edge IPA. While I tasted them all, I am not a fan of dark ales and I passed that to K. We were also given a very tasty lunch of sandwiches and a tomato soup that was really delicious, and I don't even like tomato soup. Also, we could help ourselves to water.
When we finished, I went into the shop, which had bottles you could buy to take home, and other such things. The tour started in there, while I found 5 postcards for Ł 2.50 and a pin for Ł2.65. I finished my purchase and hurried after them, because they'd moved on. They weren't hard to find.
We've been on plenty of brewery tours before and the method of making beer doesn't really vary. However, K loves these things- and the product. The tour guide let us see and smell the mash. Really yeasty.
After the excellent tour, we still had some time. I'd seen desserts at the bar and went back and got a chocolate chip shortbread, because this is Scotland, afternoon. The girl just had to wrap it up in a box, which seemed wasteful. We wound up just opening it up and scarfing it down.
As we went out to the bus, I got this shot of the flag of Orkney.
The coach departed at about 1:15 for the ten minute ride down to the Bay of Skaill. It rained a little on the way and we caught glimpses of the Atlantic Ocean and a solitary cemetery.
Our destination was the Neolithic village of Skara Brae and Skaill House, the 17th century mansion, whose owner owns the land on which the village was found after a storm in 1850. There were other buses and cars there, when we arrived. We went in the visitor center first to see the video introduction. Having a feeling that I wouldn't have time later, I did my shopping before we took the long path out to the cliff above the beach. It was a lovely walk, especially since we haven't yet been to the ocean back home. At least, we get to see the Atlantic here.
Skara Brae, which means "village under hills", is just that- a village under the hills. The houses and workshops were below ground level and people used tunnels to get in and out and between houses. You first get to walk into a reconstructed house, which is not only helpful, but fascinating. Check out the pit in the floor for keeping sea creatures alive. Beds were built next to or into the wall. They even
had a cool storage unit built of stone.
Most of the structures they found are houses, but one is definitely a workshop. K was quite taken with the age of the place. I was impressed that they had a sewer system and did everything without metal tools. They mounted giant stone slabs on pivots, allowing them to open and close like a door-amazing!
As I walked around, dodging other tourists, I was really grateful that it had stopped raining, once we got off the bus. I also enjoyed looking at the bay/ocean. Rick Steves noted in his book,
Scotland, that used to be a freshwater loch and the village is only about 1/3 the size of the original. And, to top it off, I spied a bunny.
There wasn't a lot of time left, but the ticket did include Skaill House, which was in the general direction of the parking lot anyway. So, I followed the long path up to the mansion. It is really huge!
It turned out that this was the back of the house, and, of course, the entrance was around the front. The interior doesn't seem to have been updated since the 1950's. It is self-guided. For all the sprawl outside, the interior was rather cramped and the rooms seemed small. Rather like the inverse of Hermione's bag.
It was an interesting house and I definitely flew through it. K found me outside and we hurried over to the visitors center to be able to use the restrooms before boarding the bus. On the way to the bus, I spied some locals.
The bus departed at 2:40 as planned. Thirty-five minutes later, we were back in Kirkwall. This time, we were given time to explore. K and I headed off for St. Magnus Cathedral, an unusual cathedral, because it belongs to the town, not to a church. The Romanesque church dates from the 12th century and is made of red sandstone. Its stained glass is quite nice.
Outside the church, a sign advertised a craft fair in the town hall across the street that would close at 4, which wasn't far off. I saw a couple of women from our group that had talked about crafts and told them about it. Inside, the elevator was out of order unfortunately, so I had a painful climb up the steps. I made a circuit once around the room, as per usual for this sort of thing. Then, on my second turn, K arrived, having taken longer in the cathedral. I found several nice items to buy and was really thrilled to be buying things made by Orcadians.
After the show, it was time to roam down the street a bit to see if there were any shops of interest. There were certainly no buildings worth photographing. The shops really had nothing I wanted.
Remembering Roseanne's suggestion, we stopped back in the bus station to use the restroom. I noticed a shop in the other part of the building and ducked in. I kept looking at a fold-up backpack made from recycled bottles that was purple with thistle on it. I decided that it might turn out to be helpful for trips such as the one my older daughter and I would take next month and I bought it. It was only Ł14.99.
We were on the bus at 4:26 and it left at 4:28, 2 minutes early. We really are doing well with that.
On the way back to the ferry, we saw lovely scenery and crossed the Churchill Barriers on Scapa Flow. This area has lots of shipwrecks and we could see some. Many of the ships were sunk on purpose during World War I to block the gaps between the small islands. At the end of the war, a fleet of 74 German battleships surrendered at Scapa Flow. Just days before the Treaty of Versailles went into effect, the British admiral took most of his ships out on what Rick Steves calls "a victory lap". While they were gone, the German commander ordered all his ships scuttled, rather than turn them over. When the British got back, 52 ships had sunk. The British opened fire and the 9 Germans who died were the final casualties of the war. Many of the ships were salvaged for scrap, but 7 are still at the bottom. At the beginning of World War II, a U-boat slipped in and sank a fully loaded British warship that is still on the seafloor. To prevent more of this, Churchill, then First Lord of the Admiralty ordered sturdy barriers built. The roads on top-on which we drove- opened days after V-E Day. Also, we drove past the Italian Chapel, built by Italian POW's for their own use. We didn't stop, unfortunately.
We arrived at the ferry port at 5:03. The driver had been good, so K tipped him Ł6. Before we boarded the boat, I had a chance to take a couple of photos. I found the use of concrete sort-of connectors to preserve the embankment quite ingenious.
When we boarded the ferry, K decided to sit downstairs in the cabin. I wanted to try once again to see wildlife, so I went up top. I figured that if it rained or got too cold, I could go back downstairs. I wound up staying up there the whole time talking to Brian, our seating companion. I totally enjoyed it and didn't even mind the chill.
As we approached John O'Groats for our 6:05 docking, I took photos of the most colorful buildings we'd seen so far on our trip.
When we got off, I really wanted to find a restroom. Roseanne helped me find the only one around that was still open. Supposedly there was a charge, but the woman coming out said it opened for her without paying. So, free!
At 6:46, we arrived back in Thurso, where it was 57 degrees and raining. We put our stuff in the room and came back down to the dining room in time for 7 pm dinner. Tonight, we sat with Ray and Jean W from Australia. Ray, in particular, was quite thrilled to hear K is a classical musician. They are quite the music lovers and had lots to talk to him about.
For his appetizer, K ordered tomato and basil soup, in spite of the fact that we had tomato soup for lunch. I ordered egg mayo, which turned out to be a really weird salad with hard boiled egg and mayo on the side. I ordered the roast pork and he got salmon. As they had done last night, but I failed to mention, the wait staff brought out bowls of vegetables for the table. It wasn't a bad meal. For dessert, I had to choose the locally-made chocolate ice cream, which was quite good. K ordered the apple pie, which was good, too.
Ray and Jean liked talking to K so much, that it was 8:20 before we headed back up to the room. There, we had to once again pack to move on to a different hotel tomorrow.
The app says I walked 9,461 steps for a total of 3.1 miles. The totally insane thing is, it claims I climbed 19 floors!
No comments:
Post a Comment