To the Orkneys at Last!
Up this morning at 5 in order to make the ferry from Scrabster to Stromness at 8:45 am. Showered, repacked and downstairs by 6:30 in order to get gas prior to boarding the ferry. We found an open gas station in Thurso (about 15 minutes away) and then reached the ferry terminal at the very end of Scrabster, another five or six minutes after that. Checked in and got in our assigned place in line to wait for the boarding call. We both managed to fall asleep while waiting, waking up just a few minutes before our row went onboard the ship. The nice man boarding us actually had some idea that I was going to back up our SUV into a very tight space in the row next to ours – but sailors are all such gentlemen – I told him quite truthfully that I was fine going forward, but there was no hope whatsoever I could backup that vehicle into a small space from the “other” side of the car – and he said, not to bother, he’d find someone else to fit there! Yeah!! So, packed in as sardines, we all left the vehicles and climbed up a flight of stairs to the more comfortable decks – 5 and 6. We were able to get a cooked breakfast of sorts – certainly not up to the food we’ve had the past few days, and before we knew it, we were on our way! The only bad thing is that the ship has a small gift shop, and unfortunately, there are lots of things with puffins on them … I could be in real trouble, as I really do have a “puffin” thing – we probably have more puffins in our house individually than all the rest of the Arizona residents collectively state-wide! Hmmm…possibly I should do a “puffin count” of things that I purchase each day with puffins on them … it’s a thought… The trip took 90 minutes, and the North Sea was wonderfully calm … which was wonderful, as I had forgotten about taking any Bonine in advance, although I do carry it with me in cases of emergency! Fortunately, we didn’t need it today! Robert got a beautiful shot of the “Old Man of Hoy” – one of the most iconic sea stacks in the UK. It stands 137 m high and is quite impressive rising out of the sea!
We arrived in Stromness right on time, and within 10 minutes or so, we were driving off the ship. We made it!!! Can’t really believe we’re actually here! Set Emmy (our GPS) first, to get us to 1 Lynn Cottage, where we will be staying for the next week. We’re not scheduled to meet our landlady, Denise, until 1:15 pm today, but we thought we’d go by and find the place first, even though we’re early. We drove over the top of Scapa Flow, where the WWI German Fleet was scuttled, and the WWII British Fleet anchored. We’ll be touring there one of these days. Apparently it’s quite a place for scuba diving these days – the underwater wrecks are supposedly quite something – but honestly there aren’t enough wet suits in the world to get me into that water!! Brrrrrr…. Our plan was to meet Denise, our landlady, at 1:15 pm and then store our luggage at her place, which is next door to our place. Then, we can go to our tour of Maeshowe (a neolithic cairn) which is scheduled for 4 pm. After that, the plan was to return here, Denise gets home from work at 5, and we’d get our things and move in.
Got to 1 Lynn Cottage and met the cleaner, who was turning the place over after the couple who had left this morning. She was really lovely, and fun to talk to. The cottage looks really nice, and is a great location. We’re just hoping that it’s WARM!! Turned the car around and drove into the center of Kirkwall, the main town on the island, as we had about an hour or so to kill. We found a public car park and toured St. Magnus Cathedral, built in the 11th century. It’s a very impressive, stone cathedral, in lovely shape and in lovely grounds. Across the street are the ruins of the Bishop’s Palace and the Earl’s Palace. I hadn’t read anything about either of those places, so rather than tour them then, we decided to stroll through town a bit and do the ruins later in the week.
Truly (unfortunately!) some lovely shops! Lots of beautifully Orkney-made and Orkney-themed jewelry, and, as predicted, puffins EVERYWHERE!! You can get them on EVERYTHING!! R actually was able to find a seat in a tea room and get a cup of coffee while I looked at puffin-related items. Hats, scarves, aprons, tea-towels, glass cases, the list goes on and on … finally made our way back to the parking lot and up the hill to Lynn Cottage – and voila, the cleaner was finished, and we were able to check in early! Yeah! So, rather than having to make ourselves scarce in the early afternoon, we were able to really settle in, unpack and make ourselves at home! Of course, no real drawers in sight, but we were able to improvise a bit and get things unpacked.
Then, a quick run to the grocery store … interestingly, the three stores – Lidl, Tesco and Co-Op are all right in a row on the same street – separate parking lots. Of the three, I prefer Tesco, so that’s where we went. Lovely big store; wished we had more time to poke around, but we will have in the next day or two. Picked up essentials – including laundry pods (which are truly essential considering we don’t carry that many clothes with us!) - as well as some things for breakfast. We’ll see how it goes! Back to the cottage to off-load everything, and then back into the car and on our way for our Maeshowe Cairn reservation.
Now … that reservation. The two things that I was told needed to be reserved in advance were Maeshowe and Skara Brae. However, as I wasn’t sure until R’s passport actually showed up at our door that we were even going on this trip, I didn’t want to spend $$ unnecessarily. So, as soon as the passport arrived, I dug out my notes, and got on line. Well, Skara Brae, no problem! We’re going there tomorrow morning! Maeshowe? Now there was a problem! Even though this was two weeks ago, the only reservation times they had available were this afternoon – our first on the island – if we even GOT to the island – or not until the 22nd of May – at which point, we’d be long gone! And this was a MUST SEE sight!!! So! I booked the last tour of the day today – 4 pm. That’s why today was so convoluted! However, thanks to our lovely and speedy cleaner, it worked out MUCH better than expected, and we were able to get both settled, toured AND groceries! Wow!!
Also, about the time we headed to the grocery store, the sun came out and we realized that there was blue sky all around! And when the sun comes out on this island, it’s absolutely incredibly beautiful! The flowers – wild and cultivated – are everywhere – the gorse, the daffs and the tulips, and the hills and valleys are so green – and of course, being an island, it’s entirely surrounded by lots and lots of blue water! An amazing place! The stone on the older houses just glows! We are appreciating every minute of sunshine we’re getting, because we know the weather can change on a moment’s notice!
So … Maeshowe! This is a cairn – or burial mound – that is thought to have been in use around 2700 BC, though work may have started around 3000 BC. At its heart stands the great chamber, built of local sandstone. The entrance passage (which is VERY low); in fact, one gal on our tour found it too claustrophobic to get through, and spent her tour outside, which is sad, as it is fascinating inside!) is about 7 meters long, and about a meter (3 feet) high; think low crawl. The passage is lined with great stone slabs running almost its full length. The central chamber, which is corbelled, is 3.8 meters high, and originally would have been capped by a huge stone. Above everything is the turf-covered mound. (Unfortunately, photography was not allowed inside the cairn.) The most important date on the Maeshowe calendar is the winter solstice – December 21 – at which point the setting sun shines from the horizon above the hills of Hoy (the distant island to the west), across the top of the standing Barnhouse Stone, down the passage and onto the wall at the rear of the main chamber, where it illuminates the entrance to the back cell. As Robert pointed out, with the cloudy weather around here, it probably took many a year for those folks at the time to get the placement exactly right, because that kind of alignment did not happen by chance! The Norse originally discovered Maeshowe around 1100 AD and left runic inscriptions all over the inside, in several different runic scripts. As our guide pointed out – graffiti happened everywhere, not just during our time!
Me in line next to Rusty 
Old Man of Hoy 
Another shot (for Marge) of the Old Man 
Just off the boat on Orkney
Ancient Palace in Kirkwall 
Main Aisle of St. Magnus Cathedral 
St. Magnus Cathedral in Kirkwall 
Scapa Flow with Oil Rigs
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| Ancient Bishops Palace (a bit drafty now!) |
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| Me shopping! |
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| Our Cottage on the left |
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| Heading towards Maeshowe |
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| Mound of Maeshowe looking towards entrance |
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| Entrance corridor |
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| We were hungry! |
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| Starters of pakora and samosa |
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| Chicken tikka tandoori |
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| Prawn tiger surprise |
From Maeshowe, we were bused back to the Visitor’s Center, and soon we were on our way back to Kirkwall. As we hadn’t had any lunch at all, I suggested that we go directly to dinner, as we were both really hungry by this time! There is one Indian restaurant in town, and that sounded good to both of us – so there we went! And it was great!
Lovely restaurant, nicely furnished, with a nice variety on their menu. Great, warm papadum with a variety of sauces. No liquor license, but excellent sparkling water, so we were fine. We started with a chicken pakora and vegetable samosa. For mains, we had Chicken Tikka Tandoori and Prawn Tiger Surprise. Both were good, although the chicken needed a bit of salt. This came with basmati rice and garlic na’an, and that more than filled us up! While we had the restaurant to ourselves for the first 45 minutes or so we were there, the it was just about full by the time we left! Obviously a very popular place! And, I think, the only Indian place in town! A great change, though, which was fun!
Then, back to the cottage. It’s heating up quite nicely! R is sound asleep on the couch now, and I’m on the second load of laundry. I’m hoping it will mostly dry overnight, or I may have to investigate the laundromat and see about dryers. However, I just realized that we have the next best thing! A piping hot towel dryer rack in the bathroom!! So we’ll see how things go!! Undies are, of course, the first concern, and they’re already drying! I hate to wake Robert up to read the blog, but I think I’m going to have to! So … until tomorrow…lots of love!
m
xxx
PS – Puffin count today: One hanging plaque; three new tea towels; a rubber puffin for my bathtub…and I think that’s it…m
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