patsy

Broch of Gurness

A broch is a very old kind of big round Scottish castle structure, with immensely thick double walls whixh have a narrow passageway between them. Nobody seems to know what that’s for – it might be an early form of cavity wall insulation. People lived in brochs and it seems likely they were defensive structures.

We’ve visited quite a few brochs and like them a lot. The one at Gurness is unusual both in that it’s not isolated, but surrounded by smaller stone houses and other structures (a small village really) and in the fact that it’s divided up into rooms inside. There’s even a loo!

Lots of interesting items were found inside the broch of Gurness, including some amazing, and huge, brooches. These are in the museum in Kirkwall, which is fascinating. We spent hours there one rainy day – and didn’t photograph a thing!

patsy

A confession

The shells in Wednesday’s post were not, as I claimed, groatie buckies. I should have been suspicious when I found some so easily… Anyway, I have now found one – it’s the small stripey one, shown alongside one of whatever the others are to give an idea of scale.

patsy

Cake sheds, tea, and puffins

There are lots of mini sheds supplying cake, and sometimes lots of other food, drink and souvenirs too, on Orkney. They operate on an honesty basis – usually you leave cash, but some have the option to pay by card or other means. They’re always open (unlike the post boxes!) but if you arrive just after a walking group, there may not be much left.

The lemon drizzle and chocolate Brownie stars were very good – but I forgot to photograph them before there were only crumbs left.

We’ve been on the look out for puffins, and have seen some at a distance. They’re not very active at the moment. I suspect we’re at the period between nest building and hatching – hopefully we’ll get more sightings later in the trip.

There are no LPG pumps on Orkney and as we use that for cooking, heating, hot water, the fridge and making tea, that was something of a concern. We’ve solved the problem by investing in a portable gas stove. Each gas canister makes about ten pots of tea, we bought eight and plenty more are available here, so I think we’ll be OK for the next fortnight or so.

patsy

Wednesday word of the week – Groatie Buckies

Groatie Buckies is the Orcadian word for cowrie shells. It comes from John O’Groats (a nearby point on the Scottish mainland) and buccinum, which is Latin for shellfish, apparently.

I first heard the term when I spotted two young ladies clearly searching for something on the beach. Being a writer, and therefore nosy, I asked what they were looking for. I was told that local people are almost obsessed with collecting these beautiful little shells. I can understand that. As well as being pretty, they’re very tactile and said to be lucky.

Ooops – please also read this.

patsy

Skara Brae

The first, orangey coloured, photos are from a replica house, which visitors could enter to examine the contents. The rest are of the real thing which you’re not usually allowed to go into, in order to preserve the buildings – but can see very well from the surrounding paths.

There’s a lot I could say about Skara Brae, but I’m just going to focus on the fact that this village is over 5,000 years Old. That’s older than Stone Henge and the Pyramids. The people who built it lived in communities, traded with other countries, made jewellery and decorated pots. There’s a lot that isn’t known because the settlement is so old that very little other than stone survives, but it’s very likely they made art and music, and told stories. Their lives would have been very different from ours, but I can’t help thinking the people themselves would have been much like us.

patsy

Bishop’s Palace

The bishop in Kirkwall would have had a longer commute to work than I do, but not by much. You can see St Magnus Cathedral from his palace, and vice versa. Even I wouldn’t have needed a cup of tea on arrival if I’d had one just before leaving home – although I’m fairly sure tea wasn’t an option back then.

We’re very much enjoying Orkney. As far as we can see there are only two downsides – the wind (cold and doesn’t let up much) and the lack of an LPG filling pump. The van needs gas for heating, hot water, the fridge, cooking and, most vital of all, the kettle! It’s OK though as we have a cunning plan.

Some of the positives of Orkney include the beauty and drama of the landscape, very friendly people, loads of historic sites to visit, great campervan facilities and wonderful park ups, lots of wildlife especially birds, plenty of bakeries and tea rooms, great walks, a decent number of ships for Gary to photograph, loads of wild flowers… It’s amazing I’ve found time to write, but that short commute to work helps and I’m making progress with the novel.

patsy

Broch of Borwick

Yesnaby was so beautiful, there was more to explore, and the weather forecast for the next day was good, so we stayed where we were. I did a little writing before cooking our dinner. The following morning, after a pot of tea and writing a few more words as Gary sorted out the camera stuff, we headed for the Broch of Borwick.

There were many distractions on the route, including Northern Marsh Orchids and another sea stack. This time it was my turn to cling to a cliff edge for the benefit of a photo. OK, so there was a path down to almost sea level and the bit I had to negotiate was only a few feet above that, but you have to remember I’m not at all brave!

After visiting the broch we walked on to Skara Brae – but decided to visit that another day, as although the walk to that point was only a couple of miles we’d taken a long time doing it, and had eaten nothing and only drunk the one pot of tea before leaving the van three hours earlier.

patsy

Comet and Watch Stones

Both the Comet and Watch stone are located between the Ring of Brodgar and Stones of Stenness. It looks as though all the stones are part of the same extended monument, but apparently they were erected over a period of over 1,000 years.

The Comet (shown first) is relatively small – not even my height. The Watch stone is massive!

I like the fact that, although quite a lot is known about these stones and credible theories have been proposed, nobody knows for certain precisely why they were built, or how they were used.

The weather was a bit blurgh when we arrived, stayed that way as we drank a pot of tea and ate Empire biscuits and fruit slices respectively, and stayed that way after we’d had a good look and another tea break, so we plan to go back again later. It would be great to get sunset or sunrise photos, wouldn’t it?

patsy

Very old and quite new

We visited the Grain Earth House in Kirkwall, which turned out to be a mini adventure. First we had to collect the keys and find the place – not too difficult, even though it’s surrounded by an industrial estate. Then we had to open the gate and door, which wasn’t easy. Then we had to climb down some steps, which looked relatively modern, but might not have been. It’s hard to tell with solid stone. They lead to the underground tunnel or passageway, which was partly dug out of the earth, but the floor and lower part of the walls were cut into solid rock.

Next we had to do a weird crouching shuffle along the low and narrow passageway. It’s a jolly good thing we’ve been doing a lot of walking as well as cake eating recently! It was also a good thing the person who provided the keys warned us we’d need a torch, as it’s completely dark as soon as you turn the first corner. Once inside the chamber we could stand up. We’re not tall and only had an inch or so of clearance.

The souterrain was created around 2,800 years ago, making it very old. I made a mini youtube film of the experience – something I’m very new too! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKiALFtapfY

patsy

Yesnaby – and the ‘castle.’

We arrived at Yesnaby in the evening. The light was good, so we set out on a walk without even stopping for a cup of tea! (We’re getting plenty of sunshine and good photographic light, but the weather is very changeable, so we grab every opportunity we get.)

Yesnaby has a sea stack which, with an imagination as active as mine, does look something like a castle with a drawbridge. I’m not sure if that one has a name, but there’s another very close by which is called the castle – and looks nothing like one!

Gary did his taking a photograph whilst perilously close to a cliff edge thing, and I attempted to find the rare wildflower Primula Scotica. I think I did, but as it wasn’t yet in flower it’s difficult to be certain, so I’ll keep looking.

After that we went back to the van for a restorative pot of tea as we planned what to do next.