Thursday 22 July 2010
We had booked a day-trip to Rousay and found our way to yet another ferry terminal early in the morning. To our suprise, all the cars already there were backed into the car lanes. Sure enough, Bill had to reverse onto the ferry. This was the smallest of the ferries we had taken so far and we didn't bother to get out of the car for the short trip. It was another nice day and we were very excited about all the various sites packed on the small island.
Our first stop was the Knowe of Yarso – a chambered cairn more than 4500 years old. It was up a hill overlooking the Eynhallow Sound and the Mainland. The location was stunning and the cairn itself had a special atmosphere.
Next we went to Blackhammer Cairn next – another chambered tomb of about the same age. It had a retractable roof over the top and it was quite humid and mossy inside. The views back towards the Mainland were stunning and we were enjoying our lesuirely exploration with hardly another soul in sight.
Our next stop was a walk down to the beach to see the Midhowe Tomb (housed inside a barn) and the Mid Howe Broch. We visited the cairn first – it was stunning despite its slightly surreal setting. It is the longest and largest cairn in the Orkneys and dates back to 3500 BC. Because it wasn't grassed over like the others, we could see the designs of the stones that made up the outer walls. The roof was missing and there were walkways above it so we could look down into the cairn (access into the cairn itself wasn't allowed). The walled “boxes” along the side were similar to what we had seen at the two other cairns – just a lot more of them.
Very close by, overlooking the beach, was the ruins of the Mid Howe Broch – an iron age building for people to live in. I was particularly impressed by this – there were hearths still on the floor, cupboards built into the walls and you could really imagine families living there.
On the other side of the cairn were a set of ruins from the times of the clearances. All of the village was just a set of ruined buildings stretched out next to the beach. With the sun shinning it was becoming one of our nicest days of our holiday.
We continued our drive around the island, passing many more deserted houses from the clearances. We stopped at Saviskaill Beach to see if we could see and seals and to our delight, soon spotted a group of the spotted Common Seals on the rocks with their pups. We stayed to watch for a bit and walked along the beach but decided to keep going before having lunch.
We had lunch on the side of the road with a stunning view out to sea. There was a large marble block sculpture in the field, but it was way too windy there for us to have our picnic outside.
Afterwards we drove to the Faraclett Peninsula to do the walk around the head of it. We were particularly looking for the standing stone called Yetnasteen which apparently goes walking for a drink every New Year. We were wondering if had gone walking and not come back as we couldn't see it anywhere and we'd virtually completed the walk before we spotted it in the local farmer's field. The walk itself was great with skuas dive bombing us repeatedly as we walked around the cliffs. The walk was longer and a bit more strenuous than what we'd anticipated, so when we got back to the car we simply chilled in the sun until it was time to back the car onto the ferry for the return trip.
We finsihed our day by having a rather mediocre curry in Kirkwall and then checking out the Ring of Brodgar again around sunset.
Showing posts with label Orney Islands. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Orney Islands. Show all posts
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Orkney Islands: Rousay
Thursday 22 July 2010
We had booked a day-trip to Rousay and found our way to yet another ferry terminal early in the morning. To our suprise, all the cars already there were backed into the car lanes. Sure enough, Bill had to reverse onto the ferry. This was the smallest of the ferries we had taken so far and we didn't bother to get out of the car for the short trip. It was another nice day and we were very excited about all the various sites packed on the small island.
Our first stop was the Knowe of Yarso – a chambered cairn more than 4500 years old. It was up a hill overlooking the Eynhallow Sound and the Mainland. The location was stunning and the cairn itself had a special atmosphere.
Next we went to Blackhammer Cairn next – another chambered tomb of about the same age. It had a retractable roof over the top and it was quite humid and mossy inside. The views back towards the Mainland were stunning and we were enjoying our lesuirely exploration with hardly another soul in sight.
Our next stop was a walk down to the beach to see the Midhowe Tomb (housed inside a barn) and the Mid Howe Broch. We visited the cairn first – it was stunning despite its slightly surreal setting. It is the longest and largest cairn in the Orkneys and dates back to 3500 BC. Because it wasn't grassed over like the others, we could see the designs of the stones that made up the outer walls. The roof was missing and there were walkways above it so we could look down into the cairn (access into the cairn itself wasn't allowed). The walled “boxes” along the side were similar to what we had seen at the two other cairns – just a lot more of them.
Very close by, overlooking the beach, was the ruins of the Mid Howe Broch – an iron age building for people to live in. I was particularly impressed by this – there were hearths still on the floor, cupboards built into the walls and you could really imagine families living there.
On the other side of the cairn were a set of ruins from the times of the clearances. All of the village was just a set of ruined buildings stretched out next to the beach. With the sun shinning it was becoming one of our nicest days of our holiday.
We continued our drive around the island, passing many more deserted houses from the clearances. We stopped at Saviskaill Beach to see if we could see and seals and to our delight, soon spotted a group of the spotted Common Seals on the rocks with their pups. We stayed to watch for a bit and walked along the beach but decided to keep going before having lunch.
We had lunch on the side of the road with a stunning view out to sea. There was a large marble block sculpture in the field, but it was way too windy there for us to have our picnic outside.
Afterwards we drove to the Faraclett Peninsula to do the walk around the head of it. We were particularly looking for the standing stone called Yetnasteen which apparently goes walking for a drink every New Year. We were wondering if had gone walking and not come back as we couldn't see it anywhere and we'd virtually completed the walk before we spotted it in the local farmer's field. The walk itself was great with skuas dive bombing us repeatedly as we walked around the cliffs. The walk was longer and a bit more strenuous than what we'd anticipated, so when we got back to the car we simply chilled in the sun until it was time to back the car onto the ferry for the return trip.
We finsihed our day by having a rather mediocre curry in Kirkwall and then checking out the Ring of Brodgar again around sunset.
We had booked a day-trip to Rousay and found our way to yet another ferry terminal early in the morning. To our suprise, all the cars already there were backed into the car lanes. Sure enough, Bill had to reverse onto the ferry. This was the smallest of the ferries we had taken so far and we didn't bother to get out of the car for the short trip. It was another nice day and we were very excited about all the various sites packed on the small island.
Our first stop was the Knowe of Yarso – a chambered cairn more than 4500 years old. It was up a hill overlooking the Eynhallow Sound and the Mainland. The location was stunning and the cairn itself had a special atmosphere.
Next we went to Blackhammer Cairn next – another chambered tomb of about the same age. It had a retractable roof over the top and it was quite humid and mossy inside. The views back towards the Mainland were stunning and we were enjoying our lesuirely exploration with hardly another soul in sight.
Our next stop was a walk down to the beach to see the Midhowe Tomb (housed inside a barn) and the Mid Howe Broch. We visited the cairn first – it was stunning despite its slightly surreal setting. It is the longest and largest cairn in the Orkneys and dates back to 3500 BC. Because it wasn't grassed over like the others, we could see the designs of the stones that made up the outer walls. The roof was missing and there were walkways above it so we could look down into the cairn (access into the cairn itself wasn't allowed). The walled “boxes” along the side were similar to what we had seen at the two other cairns – just a lot more of them.
Very close by, overlooking the beach, was the ruins of the Mid Howe Broch – an iron age building for people to live in. I was particularly impressed by this – there were hearths still on the floor, cupboards built into the walls and you could really imagine families living there.
On the other side of the cairn were a set of ruins from the times of the clearances. All of the village was just a set of ruined buildings stretched out next to the beach. With the sun shinning it was becoming one of our nicest days of our holiday.
We continued our drive around the island, passing many more deserted houses from the clearances. We stopped at Saviskaill Beach to see if we could see and seals and to our delight, soon spotted a group of the spotted Common Seals on the rocks with their pups. We stayed to watch for a bit and walked along the beach but decided to keep going before having lunch.
We had lunch on the side of the road with a stunning view out to sea. There was a large marble block sculpture in the field, but it was way too windy there for us to have our picnic outside.
Afterwards we drove to the Faraclett Peninsula to do the walk around the head of it. We were particularly looking for the standing stone called Yetnasteen which apparently goes walking for a drink every New Year. We were wondering if had gone walking and not come back as we couldn't see it anywhere and we'd virtually completed the walk before we spotted it in the local farmer's field. The walk itself was great with skuas dive bombing us repeatedly as we walked around the cliffs. The walk was longer and a bit more strenuous than what we'd anticipated, so when we got back to the car we simply chilled in the sun until it was time to back the car onto the ferry for the return trip.
We finsihed our day by having a rather mediocre curry in Kirkwall and then checking out the Ring of Brodgar again around sunset.
Labels:
Orney Islands,
Rousay Island
Monday, July 19, 2010
Thurso to the Orkney Islands
Monday 19 July 2010
We got up early so we could put our washing in the laundrette as soon as it opened and then drove a few miles back the way we'd come the night before to take some photos we'd missed the previous day. We'd gone past some old abandoned buildings, flagstone fences (very different from the usual drystone fences everywhere else) and a wind farm that looked interesting.
The wind farm was really interesting – massive big wind turbines that looked fabupous against the blue skies – we spent ages there. The sunshine was a welcome change & it was just the perfect way to spend the morning before returning to Thurso to pick up our laundry and then driving on to St Mary's Bay to catch the ferry to St Margaret's Hope in South Ronaldsay. We were early and just second in the queue of cars, but it didn't take long for much more traffic to arrive – including 14 motorcycles. The ferry arrived & the cars on-board were offloaded remarkably quickly. The motorcycles were put on first & then we were on ourselves – the fist of many car ferry rides we'd be taking. The ferry was a catamaran with the car deck open to the skies. There were two inside areas for passengers & small open decks as well. We started out on deck, and to our suprise as soon as the ferry moved a whole heap of car alarms went off. Also one car started to move – causing rather frantic requests from the captain on the load speaker for the driver to return to his car & put the hand-brake on. By the time the man realised he was the guilty party, virtually everyone on the boat was watching him return to his car to put the brake on. We retreated indoors quite quickly as the wind was very bitter. The trip went really quickly and we had arrived at St Margaret's Hope before we'd had time to get bored. We were off quickly also and decided to check in to our hotel first and then decide what we wanted to do with the rest of the afternoon.
We were booked into Sands Hotel on the island of Burray which is connected to South Ronaldsay by causeways you can drive over. The hotel had a fantastic location and our room was by far the nicest we had stayed in so far. After a quick cup of tea, we headed out to see the Tomb of the Eagles which is at the southern end of South Ronaldsay. We got there quite late, but we were still able to catch the explanation of the discovery of the tomb and what had been found inside. Unlike most “museums”, here they let you touch and handle many of the artifacts which made it much more engaging than it might have been. After we'd listened to the entire spiel (we'd walked in somewhere in the middle & simply left when she got back to same point again) we set out to walk to the tomb. First we checked out a Bronze-age site along the way and then we walked out to the cliffs to see the 5000 year old tomb. The location was absolutely stunning & the tomb itself didn't disappoint either. To get into the tomb though the small opening, we had to drag ourselves along on a wide “skateboard”. It was a chambered tomb, so the inside had little “rooms” off the main part. There was a torch you could use & of course our digital cameras could take flash photos in the dark spaces to show us what they looked like also.
We walked back along the cliffs and enjoyed the wild-flowers and the blue butterflies that were seemingly everywhere. As we got towards the end of the cliff walk, we saw nesting sea birds & the antics of the adults flying in to deliver food to the chicks. It was a very magical afternoon. We made a few more stops on our way back to the hotel – the scenery was stunning and the light was really beautiful too.
After dinner we caught a rainbow over the bay the bay and then later, a stunning sunset. We couldn't have asked for a nicer start for our Orkney adventure.
We got up early so we could put our washing in the laundrette as soon as it opened and then drove a few miles back the way we'd come the night before to take some photos we'd missed the previous day. We'd gone past some old abandoned buildings, flagstone fences (very different from the usual drystone fences everywhere else) and a wind farm that looked interesting.
The wind farm was really interesting – massive big wind turbines that looked fabupous against the blue skies – we spent ages there. The sunshine was a welcome change & it was just the perfect way to spend the morning before returning to Thurso to pick up our laundry and then driving on to St Mary's Bay to catch the ferry to St Margaret's Hope in South Ronaldsay. We were early and just second in the queue of cars, but it didn't take long for much more traffic to arrive – including 14 motorcycles. The ferry arrived & the cars on-board were offloaded remarkably quickly. The motorcycles were put on first & then we were on ourselves – the fist of many car ferry rides we'd be taking. The ferry was a catamaran with the car deck open to the skies. There were two inside areas for passengers & small open decks as well. We started out on deck, and to our suprise as soon as the ferry moved a whole heap of car alarms went off. Also one car started to move – causing rather frantic requests from the captain on the load speaker for the driver to return to his car & put the hand-brake on. By the time the man realised he was the guilty party, virtually everyone on the boat was watching him return to his car to put the brake on. We retreated indoors quite quickly as the wind was very bitter. The trip went really quickly and we had arrived at St Margaret's Hope before we'd had time to get bored. We were off quickly also and decided to check in to our hotel first and then decide what we wanted to do with the rest of the afternoon.
We were booked into Sands Hotel on the island of Burray which is connected to South Ronaldsay by causeways you can drive over. The hotel had a fantastic location and our room was by far the nicest we had stayed in so far. After a quick cup of tea, we headed out to see the Tomb of the Eagles which is at the southern end of South Ronaldsay. We got there quite late, but we were still able to catch the explanation of the discovery of the tomb and what had been found inside. Unlike most “museums”, here they let you touch and handle many of the artifacts which made it much more engaging than it might have been. After we'd listened to the entire spiel (we'd walked in somewhere in the middle & simply left when she got back to same point again) we set out to walk to the tomb. First we checked out a Bronze-age site along the way and then we walked out to the cliffs to see the 5000 year old tomb. The location was absolutely stunning & the tomb itself didn't disappoint either. To get into the tomb though the small opening, we had to drag ourselves along on a wide “skateboard”. It was a chambered tomb, so the inside had little “rooms” off the main part. There was a torch you could use & of course our digital cameras could take flash photos in the dark spaces to show us what they looked like also.
We walked back along the cliffs and enjoyed the wild-flowers and the blue butterflies that were seemingly everywhere. As we got towards the end of the cliff walk, we saw nesting sea birds & the antics of the adults flying in to deliver food to the chicks. It was a very magical afternoon. We made a few more stops on our way back to the hotel – the scenery was stunning and the light was really beautiful too.
After dinner we caught a rainbow over the bay the bay and then later, a stunning sunset. We couldn't have asked for a nicer start for our Orkney adventure.
Labels:
Orney Islands,
Sands Hotel,
Tomb of the Eagles
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