Orkney Islands, Scotland

Our port on  Monday, May 16th was the Orkney Islands.  This port offered a birding excursion, so Ken and Don went on that in the afternoon while Ada and I went on another excursion around the island, and to see Stonehenge-like stones formations called The Ring of Brodgar.

First, are pictures from Ada's and my tour:

Most of the pictures are through filmy, reflective bus windows, so they aren't the greatest, but they capture the essence of this most interesting Scottish island.

The Ring of Brodgar was fascinating.  Much like Stonehenge, they are tall stones set in a circle.  Their purpose and origin are unknown.

We walked up to them to view them and get pictures.  It was very windy.  I guess it always is on the Orkney Islands.  It also is usually rainy, but we were blessed to only have rain at the end of our day there as our tour ended.

Blow wind, blow!

Our guide, teaching us what they know about the stones.

I googled The Ring of Brodgar to find an aerial view of the ring, a perspective we didn't have.   Isn't that amazing?

Back on the bus, we next visited the village of Stromness.

Stromness

Ada and I enjoyed walking around this quaint, little village for a few minutes.

The post

We found that pictures taken out the front window of the bus were less reflective than those out the side windows, but they had words on the windows to mar the pictures.

We next went out to the end of the island to view the Brough of Birsay lighthouse.

The tide was very low.

It was especially windy out there by the ocean.

The lighthouse

The low tide allowed this man from our tour to run over to the island and back.

It was so difficult to get a picture of this (this taken out the bus window), but one of the distinctive features of Scotland were their fences.  The grazing fields were surrounded by mostly stone fences.  Much like we see fences with barbed wire coils on top, most of theirs had spiky stones on  the top.  I wonder if the purpose was the same?

Don and Ken's Excursion

Following are words from Ken's journal about this day:

"On Orkney Island, there was a special ship-sponsored birding excursion that Kay and Ada let Don and I go on alone.  It provided a once-in-a-lifetime chance for me to experience various seabirds nesting on steep seaside cliffs.  

During our separate excursions on Orkney Island, we all had the chance to visit some prehistoric Stonehenge sites on the island.  They were very interesting and thought-provoking for me.  I would love to know more about the people that erected those stone arrangements and for what purpose."

Ken also took some pictures from the bus of the beautiful landscape

The farmers marked their sheep with colored paint.  Ewe and lamb were marked with the same color, helping the farmers match them up.

Windmills were a common sight throughout our trip.

Another example of a Scottish stone fence.

One of Ken's fondest wishes for this trip was to see Scottish heather.  I guess we did see it, but it was black and all dried up.  We were told you have to go to Scotland in August or September to see it in bloom.

Another good example of a Scottish fence.

This is Scotland.  Isn't it beautiful?

A tragic accident during WWI, a ship sunk.  Over 700 lives were lost, including a foreign diplomant Lord Kitchener.

Scottish cliffs

Memorial

Church and cemetery

Ken and Don's tour also took them by the Ring of Brodgar.

They also saw the Standing Stones of Stenness, as did we, but we didn't get pictures.  It's the same kind of thing.

Maeshowe Barrow- a mound, probably built for a tomb for a Chieftain family

Don shared with us some of the bird pictures he took on their tour:

Fulmar

Guillemot

Marwick Head

I took these pictures later that evening from our balcony.

I chose to read a book set mostly on the Orkney Islands.  I was reading it while we were there.  That heightened my enjoyment of this island.  The book describes in detail exactly what I was seeing.

It was a good book, reminiscent of Jane Eyre.

We enjoyed our day on the Orkney Islands.