8:07 am
I’m on my way to the Orkneys!!! The Eastern coast of the Highlands is lush and green, very fertile, I’m told. This area is known the ‘Black Isle’, only it’s a peninsula, not an island. The guide says that, being so close to the sea, it snows very little, if at all, here.
It’s the North Sea…
8:34
I’ve just left Ross for Sutherland
8:40
Dunrobin Castle. Early 14th century, longest continually inhabited castle in all of Britain.
So many sheep!
11:38
Orkney is so beautiful!!! She looks a lot like Scotland, but even more rugged. There’s no heather as far as I can see. The North Sea is deep blue, but near the shore she’s pure turquoise. The voyage here (by ferry) took exactly 45 min, the water was relatively calm and it was freezing. Luckily, I was appropriately dressed!
The water is patchy, some turquoise, some dark blue. Several beaches look like they should be in the Caribbean! They are pure white sand leading to turquoise infinity!
12:17 pm.
Skara Brae. Lots of heather here. Still, it’s obvious somehow that we’re no longer on the ‘main land’. The islands are for the most part uninhabited, but you do get the occasional fair sized village. In Kirkwall, for example, there is a cinema and a fancy car dealership (why ‘dealership’ and not ‘car store’?)
1:33 pm
I’m so far from ‘home’! (As I walked through the wind and ocean swept cobblestone streets of Stromness, Orkney, the incessant buzz of a ‘strange’ accent in my ears, I came to the realisation of how far away I was from Canada.) Yet, not so far away. I mean, I found a shop that had ‘Backstreet Boys’ memorabilia on the window ! I enjoyed a delicious vegetable broth (90p) at a tiny café. I figure that any place where the soup is ‘always suitable for vegetarians’ is worth encouraging! (and I discovered another use for barley!) I had some kind of delicious chocolate iced cake for dessert (35p). For dinner tonight, I’ve ordered sandwiches offered by the tour. (£2) Stromness is beautiful, all stone and cobblestone. You wouldn’t know driving streets are driving streets until you saw a car carefully inching its way down past pedestrians. The accent here is almost incomprehensible. It took me a while to get lunch ordered!
2:15 Ring of Brodgar
Older than Stonehenge. Nice pile of rocks. Tried to tip a few over. Didn’t work! Up there, it feels like the top of the world. I can easily imagine thousands of half-clad men performing some ritual over 5,000 years ago. Very beautiful ring with a mat of heather in the centre.
Swans!
Orkney—a self-contained world?
A house with a boat as a roof! (The hull of the ship was used to roof the house. Supposedly, it’s rather common in fishing communities in the islands.)
Honest to goodness street sign: ‘otters crossing’!!!
2:48 pm.
Highland Park Distillery—northernmost in Britain. I prefer their whisky to that of Edradour. Here, it’s actually kind of smokey. Sure warms up the insides! I think that last big sip went right to my head, which explains the worse than usual writing!
4:07 pm
My wildest medieval related dream/fantasy has come true!!! I have walked freely through the ruins of a mostly early 12th century castle!!! By freely, I mean I had access to every part of the castle/palace that wasn’t a public danger. I climbed the equivalent of 4 flights of narrow, twisting, flagstone stairs to the top of a watch tower. But, that’s not all!!! I also wandered even more freely through the ruins of an early 16th century palace/castle. This one had plaques indicating the purpose of each room, one room was tiny and unlit, but I could see a plaque. ‘It’s probably the latrine closet’ I thought gleefully as I pulled out my handy flashlight. I was right! It was so cool wandering through ante-chambers, kitchens, dining halls, great halls, bedrooms, latrine closets, narrow winding turret stairs, etc. And it only cost £1.50 pound for both. Oh, and I also wandered through an early 12th century cathedral!!!!!!! As a medievalist, this made my whole Orkney tour ‘worth it’ !
7:11 pm
I’ll never regret this day, but I don’t know if I’d do it again, it’s a hell of a lot of travel ! I mean 2 ½-3 hours to John O’Groats, exactly 45 min ferry ride, then the grand tour of Orkney for the trip home. Whew ! ! However, I think this trip was an excellent compromise between getting to Orkney on my own and missing out on other ‘stuff’ in the south and not going to Orkney at all. I could live there, it’s not the barren isle I thought it would be. The Orkney archipelago has several bustling towns and all the modern conveniences on several of her islands. My favourite quote of the day by our guide: ‘To the left, the North Atlantic. Next stop: America.’!!!
Tomorrow: Skye.
(This entry conveniently leaves out the part where I almost got seasick from too much whisky on an empty stomach while crossing a choppy North Sea!)