Note: the events described on this day were actually on the 16th of August 2012.
The day started cloudy and with a fine misty rain, but around 5:30pm, the sun came out and the clouds disappeared to reveal blue skies. Yes, they actually are blue
And with the sun I actually began to see that it could be summer in Scotland.
But with the wind, the clouds would cover the sun as soon as it emerged. It was like watching a time lapse animation in real time.
We headed up toward Brough of Birsay, but took a middle cut across the island to Evie on the B9056 or the “Hillside Road” and visited some sights around there, as we were early.
The beauty of the Broch of Gurness is not the Broch itself, but the surroundings. The sound of waves and birds, the blustery wind. It’s the sound of the wind in Shetland and Orkney that I recall most.
Visited the Earl’s Palace at Birsay and the nearby St. Magnus Church.
Earl Robert Stewart was apparently one cruel Earl who made everyone’s lives miserable. But apparently records show that he was more kindly than the son he begot, Patrick. (In a couple of days we’d visit the island of Westray, where Robert Stewart also took over Nortland Castle.) His son, Patrick, later built Kirkwall Castle,which to me, is quite an impressive castle and showed the younger Stewart’s artistic vision.
You can only reach the Brough of Birsay on foot about 2 hours before and after low tide.
We crossed over the causeway which was a great deal of fun. The walk was better than the stacks of stones outlining the remaining structures of the chapel, houses and etc there that was occupied by Norse settlers.
The fun part was after looking at the remains. We practically walked the whole perimeter of the island.
I found dead bodies of rabbits. It was just about to start, the spotting of dead birds and rabbits.
And the cliffs were lovely.
Why do people feel compelled to always stack stones like this? It’s very annoying.
Headed on to Skail House but it was closed by 5pm and it was 5:30pm. Since the sun was out and nothing specific to do, I decided to go take photos at the Ring of Brodgar and Stones of Stenness.
As usual, the sun went behind the clouds the minute I arrived there.
It was fun to see these standing rocks, older than Stonehenge. Taking photos of it was not so easy, however.
And yes, that photo is actually out of focus. I forgot in my hurry that I had gone with the Voightlander lens which makes photo taking almost completely manual.
The Standing Stones of Stenness are older, taller and more magificent than the Ring of Brodgar, but there are fewer of them.
And when you are driving from the Ring of Brodgar toward the Standing Stones of Stenness, there is one big flat slab of rock at the side of the road. As if announcing you are entering a special place. And it did feel special. I mean, no one knows why these rocks are placed there in such a way. Cut at that angle. We only guess.
That night, we had some live crab that we got from Jolly’s in Kirkwall. Two large crab cost us only 2.90pound. The crab is big but I find not as flavourful as our local crabs. And my cullen skink, considering I don’t even know how to make it, was pretty good.
More photos at my gallery.