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| Mainland Orkney |
We awoke to a beautiful clear blue sky. We had pretty much decided to rent a car for our last two days sight seeing on Orkney because of the bad weather. But it was such a beautiful day we decided to continue cycling. We had booked two nights at a B&B on the north west coast of Mainland, about 20 miles from Kirkwall. It turned out to be an idyllic cycling day - smooth roads with very few cars through green, gently rolling hills, under a bright blue sky.
It was also our Neolithic day, visiting four different archeological sights from that period.
The first was Maeshowe Tomb, a 5000 year old chambered cairn. Historic Scotland runs 45 minute tours of the tomb. It is small inside, so only about 20 people can be on a tour. We arrived early in the day, and so didn't have any problem. The construction of the tomb, out of large, heavy stones, is quite impressive. It surprised me how smooth and squared off the stones were. A "recent" addition of runic Viking graffiti from about 1200 provided additional interest. Some are written in the runic alphabet itself, and some in a "twig" code representing the position of the character in a 4 x 4 block.
We cycled a mile or so to Gerri's Ice Cream parlor where we had sundaes made with the delicious Orkney ice cream, and then went on to the Standing Stones of Stenness. This is a henge, from about the same time as Maeshowe, with originally 12 large stones up to 19 feet tall, of which 4 are still standing. These stand in a field at the entrance to a narrow spit of land between two lochs, and there were beautiful views of the lochs, the Island of Hoy, and the farm covered hills.
A short distance on is the Ring of Brodgar, a larger henge with originally 60 somewhat smaller stones of which many are still standing. We timed our arrival to be close to the start of a ranger guided tour. The day was so lovely that the guide and audience were all delighted to be outside, and the guide told us many facts and stories about the history, and also the wildlife and flowers.
About 5 miles further, on the coast at Skaill Bay, is the most famous site in the Orkneys, Skara Brae. This is a neolithic village of eight linked houses, again from about 2000-3000 BC, that was protected buried in the sand dunes until a storm in 1850 uncovered it. Although there is really not all that much to see at Skara Brae, particulary because the most complete house is closed to visitors, you come away with a completely different impression of what life was like 5000 years ago. Because, of course, people back then were just like us, with the same needs and wants. The amazingly well preserved remains of the houses show this, with the same sort of contents we have today, but made of stone, for example bedsteads, storage cubby holes, and a dresser to store knickknacks, all made from stone.
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| Stones of Stenness | Meadow, Ring of Brodgar | Ring of Brodgar | Heather | Skara Brae |
We had to cycle just 1 mile to find our bed and breakfast, Hyval B&B. This was situated on a beef farm on a headland with good views of Skaill Bay and the cliffs beyond. The location was beautiful and the solitude peaceful - but there wasn't anywhere nearby to find something to eat. We ended up cycling 5 miles each way to a pub in Dounby for dinner. I had Skate for the first time - it took me some time to learn how to separate the flesh from the cartilage at the center, but it tasted good - and Lynn had scallops.
This was the only day in the whole of our month long trip that was sunny the whole day long!
Elevation
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