We left Thurso on the 8:30 am train to Glasgow, a 7- hour, 276 mile ride that required two train changes. The leg that ended in Inverness was uncrowded and new to our eyes. Snapping photos through the train window while hurdling through space was giggle inducing for us old Americans.
Thurso to Glasgow
Sanday to Thurso
We began the 2-day trip back to Glasgow today, and the day started with a setting moon, glorious sunrise, friendly chicken farmer at the ferry and smooth sailing to Kirkwall.
The tweed hatted farmer was on his way to Mainland for new poultry stock as he supplies Sanday with most of its eggs. The global avian flu pandemic has touched this Sanday farmer, and he is trying to bolster the health of his flock.
Orkney - Isle of Sanday 2
This last true day of vacation was gloriously sunny and full of white sand beaches, blue ocean and skies and the firecracker shots of rocks rolling in the surf.
Whitemill Beach is in the northern part of Sanday. The color is astounding. If I didn't know it was a bit cool, I would think this is in the tropics.
Cata Sands and Tressness in the east. We only made it about halfway of the six mile walk.
Stark Lighthouse in the northeast. It is possible to walk to the lighthouse at low tide; we elected to not do this after last evening's tramp to the Holms of Ire. You can see the tidal race between the mainland and the lighthouse. Another beautiful white beach leads to the lighthouse.
After this we went back to Bill MacArthur's studio for a chat and to settle our bill for the seascape paintings and shipping.
Sanday has been a treat. With 530 residents on an island with 98 square miles of land this place has been welcoming and full of surprise. We stayed at a hostel which was once a byre (attached cowshed) to an old farmhouse.
Orkney - Isle of Sanday 1
We headed for our last island on the early ferry. The day started rainy and cold in Kirwall, so the ferry ride seemed a bit "swayish" to me, with the ferry tipping and dipping its way north.
Sanday is aptly named as this island features white sand beaches, sand dunes, sand spits, sand roads, and all things sand. Our first adventure was to the studio of artist Bill MacArthur on the Norwa', the last point of inhabitation on Sanday, where we gabbed with the artists and purchased orignal art work to be shipped home.
Then, you guessed it, Quoyness Chambered Cairn, our last cairn on the trip. The walk out to Elsness Peninsula was glorious with curious seals keeping us company the whole way.
Orkney - Day 7
We planned to attend Easter services at St. Magnus Cathedral this morning; however, the Covid-19 restrictions in place (proof of vaxx, contract tracing info, limited to the first 100 people) seemed too onerous so we drove up to the Broch of Gurness instead.
Yesterday on Rousay we visited Midhowe; just across Eyenhallow Sound sits Gurness. This broch is different in that it includes the village of houses and workshops that surrounded the broch, the defensive ditches, and a Pict dwelling.
Orkney - The Isle of Rousay
Happy Easter 2022! We met this pair in a churchyard near Midhowe Broch on Rousay yesterday. The little one was still wobbly kneed.
For all the churches closed on Friday, it was a strange contrast Saturday that all the Neolithic sites were open. I suppose not so many people enjoy crawling around in burial cairns, or perhaps, they are simply better cared for because so many people DO like crawling around in them!
We visited four Neolithic Stalled Cairns on Rousay, all of which were accessible. They are stunning examples of the ingenuity, creativity and drive alive in humans since the dawn of time. All the cairns were constructed 3,500 years ago and consisted of "stalls" where bodies were laid, ashes were placed and bones collected over the millennia, a testament to the honor and care of ancestors and deceased.
Some photos: