Orkney Mainland Day 2

We made a quick shopping trip at the grocer's for lunch and breakfast provisions then headed north to the Brough of Birsay - a Norse stronghold built upon a Pict settlement likely built upon another culture's settlement.

Accessible only at low tide we tumbled out of the rental car into the fierce wind blowing from the north.

The purpose built causeway spans the divide between Mainland and Birsay. We are heading for the remains of the settlement just to the right of the small building near the center of the photo, then up to the lighthouse on the horizon.

Video from the causeway looking north.

Even on a grey day the color of the stone and waves is amazing.

This settlement clings to the edge of Birsay, facing the fierce northern winds. Thornfinn Sigurdson, one of the famous Earls of Orkney with a charming history of fratricide, pillage and murder, eventually converted to Christianity and had a "minster" built at Birsay (Orkneyinga Sagas), perhaps here.  This is a photo of the remaining walls of a church building at the settlement.

Stone lined and lidded drainage ditch from the settlement to the edge of the island.

A Pictish standing stone was unearthed in the cemetery and now is displayed in the National Museum. This is a replica.

A very windy walk led up to the lighthouse. I didn't get a photo of the lighthouse itself; rather, I let it break the wind's fierceness and enjoyed a respite in its shadow.

As always I am fascinated  by ocean beaches and the detritus created and left behind by the mysterious tides and ocean. These rocks have beautiful patterns on them, reminiscent of water and birds.

After a quick visit to the 16th century ruins of the Earl's Palace, we headed to Scara Brae. This ancient community was buried under sand for millennia and unearthed in the 19th century. Pre-dating the Pyramids by 1,000 years these stone dwellings were all built similarly with a central hearth, a "dresser" on the wall facing the entrance, and sleeping compartments along the sides. Joined by narrow passageways, sometimes covered, the people who lived here were farmers and fishermen.

Our last stop of the day was to the Ring of Brodgar. This site is near the Stones of Stenness that we visited yesterday and is contemporary with those stones. The circle once contained 60 or more standing stones; today there are about 30, with half of them repositioned to standing from where they had fallen.

We were unable to touch the stones as the weight of tourist like us damages the pathways nearest the stones.

Not much to say about this place as it left me speechless.

Orkney Mainland Day 1

We made it to Kirkwall Mainland Orkney today. The plane from Inverness was delayed for an hour and we thought: Good Golly, will we never get to Orkney?

The car hire staff picked us up, and once we signed the paperwork, we were on our way. Blue took to left hand driving as if he were a pro and before we knew it we were on Wideford Hill walking to Wideford Cairn.

The photos are deceptive; the wind was fierce making the day much cooler that it should have been.

This cairn was built above ground with three concentric circles. Archaeology shows that it was never covered with earth. The original entrance shown at the lowest level is secured now with a gate.

Blue climbed down into the cairn through the entry hatch in the roof created in the 1880s by the first archaelogist. The space was quite tight, and after getting down there he decided not to get on hands and knees and crawl into the burial cists.

Across the valley you can see Cuween Cairn - its the green lollipop shaped spot in the middle hill of black heather.

This is the Cuween Cairn entrance which faces Wideford Cairn across the valley. We did crawl into this one and it was worth the wet muddy knees on our jeans.

There are four burial chambers in this cairn with entrances at the ground floor. We could see these by the flashlights we carried in; and thank goodness for cameras with flash! The drystone walls are testament to master craftsmanship. To place these in time, the two cairns we visited today predate the pyramids in Egypt.

Above the cairn modern people have built their own stone towers from rock in what looks like a quarried area. It was a cool site; however the wind would have blown us away had we not hunkered down behind a few of them to take photos. I added some stones to the top of a couple of them, a nod to the human desire to create monuments.

Next we drove to the Stones of Stenness. It is hard to get a photo to represent the mass, the presence, the time and age of these stones. Erected 5,400 years ago, these are older by 1,000 years than any of the circles we've seen yet in our travels.

When I stepped into the circle I was met with winds strong enough to blow me backward; I thought perhaps the spirits of the place were trying to communicate a message to me as there was no shelter there from the wind. 

After this we walked to Barnhouse, a recently discovered community just off the Stones of Stenness. What is there now is a reconstruction as all the archaeology was reburied after its analysis. This is how the people of the area and in the time of the Stones of Stenness built their homes and gathering halls.

Orkney is described as the "land between the sea and sky" and this view across Mainland to the Isle of Hoy represents this exactly.

We took a slow circuitous route back to Kirkwall and checked into the hotel. We will be back to Stenness tomorrow to take in the Ring of Brodgar, another stone circle at the same site.

Resting in Inverness

This was a very low key, low energy day in Inverness. The time and weather caught us and shook us up some. Regardless we managed a few kilometers walk up to "the Calz" as the locals call the Caledonian Locks. 

The locks are part of the Caledonian Canal built between 1803 and 1822 in an effort to create a water way between the two coasts of Scotland.

We dined at the Kitchen Brasserie just next to our hotel. It was a great decision to get reservations there. The food was excellent, the beer delightful and the company just right. 

Culloden Battlefield and Inverness

The day broke blustery and cold with moments of glorious sun. We took a nice stroll through the older part of Inverness, walked through Victorian Market and gloried in the river views.

Victorian Market is the 19th century equivalent of a shopping mall. Featuring lovely cast iron supports and wooden roof this is a covered version of the traditional open aired markets in most market towns.

View of the Ness River and Inverness Castle; our hotel is on the right, the modern stepped building.

We caught a bus out to Culloden Battlefield. It is a moving experience to visit a battlefield where so many men lost lives in such a short amount of time. And when we realized that our visit was nearly the same day in April as the battle (April 16, 1746), it added to the haunting atmosphere.

Articulating the impetus for this final battle in the Jacobite uprising in Scotland is a challenge; what I understand is Queen Anne died without an heir and the next in line for the throne was George, a Hanoverian, not a Stuart. Some of the Scots, backed by France, wished to see Bonnie Prince Charlie, a descendent of King James of the Stuart line ascend to the throne. Those who backed a continuation of the Stuarts (James' line) were call Jacobites.

In an hour of fighting, 9,000 British troops fighting for King George, took on 5,400 Jacobites leaving 2,000 or more Jacobites dead or wounded.

Today Culloden is a war memorial with all of the dead buried on site, gathered into mass graves by clan where possible and a variety of monuments designating the graves and erected in honor.

It is hard to imagine 14,000 men fighting hand to hand in this heather moor with the noise and carnage and loss of life. The small house on the right, below, served as the field hospital for wounded.

The weather was crazy windy, cold, sunny and rainy mixed with snow, so after a few hours of that we picked up the next bus back to town and enjoyed a nice hot cuppa and our picnic lunch in the hotel room.

The sun broke through in the afternoon and we headed up to Inverness Castle and a stroll up the river along the Lady's Walk to the Islands in the Ness.

I'm unsure how my camera caught a photo of where the seagull was heading ... ???

Flora MacDonald and her faithful dog forever looking to the West for the return of Bonnie Prince Charlie. Flora helped the Prince escape after the Jacobite Rebellion was quenched. Later she emigrated to Nort Carolina and surprisingly backed King George in the US War for Independence against England. This choice led to her losing her land and property in America and so she had to return to Scotland.

Inverness Cathedral.

Inverness Castle; you can see the Flora MacDonald statue on the right. Currently under construction with plans to be a museum and event center, we were unable to enter the premises.

Idaho to Inverness

It is unquestionably a long way from Idaho to Inverness - both in time and space.

It took us 28 hours to travel the 4,924 miles from our driveway to our hotel situated on the banks of the River Ness. That's 175 miles per hour, slowed down of course by layover times in airports. No wonder I am tired!

Our flights were uneventful, thankfully. The train from Glasgow to Inverness was beautiful once we were north of Perth and into the Cairngorms. The scenery was beautiful. I tried to snap photos from the train - not very successful. I managed a couple of seconds of video at the Drumochter Summit area as our train passed by the sign, not over the summit. That is for a future Highland Scotland Trip.

The train crossed the famous River Spey where the Speyside Whiskies are produced, and we espied Tomatin Distillery on our way by.

One summit the train did ascend was Slochd Summit at 1,300 foot elevation. I have no idea on the pronunciation. 

We took a quick 15 minute break once we reached the hotel then headed out to a pub around the corner for a pint, to the grocery Tesco for breakfast and lunch provisions for Saturday's adventure, a quick dinner in the hotel restaurant, and then hours of blessed sleep.

Orkney 2022 - 5 Days

Brass plaque on a sidewalk in Oban,

uncanny affirmation that we were where

we needed to be.

It is just five days until we head out for our long-delayed Orkney trip. At "T minus 14 days" I was still hoping, not hoping, that we could take off. Not fully committed at that time I still laundered the gaiters of their Prairie mud, the Idaho baseball cap of summer sweat, counted the t-shirts and bought good sturdy socks.

Now I am all in on this trip, fully committed, and putting it out here, hesitant to say it out loud, bravely doing so regardless.

The final leg of our trip home is the only one so far to have been changed - and for the better. Our final flight lands us an hour earlier making our last few hours' drive home somewhat less harrowing as we both try to stay awake after a long day of travel through both space and time.

Lots to do this weekend - tidy the house, laundry, lists of don't forgets, pre-packing the backpacks. Like our other excursions we plan a trip to "Launderama" in Kirkwall about halfway through our stay which lightens our packs and covers any slips and slides, falls and failures in the cairns and moors, beaches and mud we plan to encounter. 

Weather predictions at this point look glorious, but then any weather anywhere on vacation is just that. On our first trip to Scotland, we were greeted with a skiff of snow, and it is predicted for this landing as well. Once out on the islands, however, the meteorologists claim the sun will shine; we will let you know if they guessed correctly.

So we are going, following the clear direction of our hearts and heads, yearning for adventure, understanding, rejuvenation and new colors for weary eyes. Enjoy this trip with us if you want by following us here on The Chair Outside. I will try to post something each day with pictures and narrative.