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Scotland – Part 2

With much delay due to a number of other activities, here is the second part of my recent trip to Scotland.

We took the scenic route from Skye to Scrabster, where we would catch the ferry to Stromness, on Mainland, in the Orkney Islands. It is not a long drive, but took us almost all day as we decided to stop whenever the view was nice.

We drove along the West coast, on a small windy road that was quite pleasant. Occasionally, the view got even better. There are ruins of a castle on a spit of land in the middle of a loch.

and there were nice flowering bushes in places as this is the end of spring.

Leaving Scrabster on the ferry – here is a view of the light house at the entrance to the bay. It looks like the keeper had a large wall-enclosed garden to take care of as well.

There were many birds on the cliffs as we were heading out. There were also many nests in the cliffs, but too far away for a good view.

We had a great day for the ferry crossing – bright and sunny but not too hot.

Hoy is the Orkney Island closest to the mainland of Scotland. We are going to Mainland, which is not part of the mainland at all, just the main Orkney island! On the side of Hoy there is a rock formation called the Old Man of Hoy – it is quite spectacular even though it is hard to see on this picture taken against the sun. I could not get the boat to move to the other side for a better shot…

This small fishing boat is just dwarfed by the large cliffs on this side of Hoy.

Here is a better view of the Man of Hoy after we have sailed by.

In Mainland, we arrived at Stromness. This is a typical street in this small town. After this, we headed for Kirkwall, the main city of Mainland.

One reason for going to Mainland are the many pre-historic monuments that have been found in the area. We started at Skara Brae, a place where several dwellings were found dating back more than 4000 years. They are extremely well preserved as they were buried for 3000 years or more.

Here is a house from 4000 years ago with stone furniture and a bed on the left.

The Ring of Brodgar is a Stone circle that pre dates Stonehenge. It has a large diameter and therefore, without any significant elevation nearby, it is impossible to get a good overall view, or photo.

You really need a photo from satellite to see the real ring – fortunately, there is a way to get one, using Google

While not all stones are still standing, there are series of several stones from the circle still together that offer nice details.

The Standing Stones of Stenness are just a little further down the coast. They all date from about the same time.

At Skara Brae, we found out that you could only access our next place of interest at low tide, and low tide was around 2 PM so we decided to go there early. The Brow of Birsay was a pre-historic settlement but became later a Norman settlement, long before they came to Southern England. Here are clearly visible foundations of Norman warehouses which probably date back to 700-800 AD. Maybe this was a camp where they came to spend summer vacation.

One of the stone in this ensemble is highly decorated with Norman art.

Many birds live nearby, with this Oyster Catcher not afraid of us at all.

We got a closer look at nesting Seagulls near the shoreline.

General view of the small island with the norman houses and the settlement in the foreground and a light house in the background

Our next stop was the Broch of Gurness. This is an ancient village with a large central building; we are not sure what the building was used for.

The original entrance of the village. Remains of many individual houses, in a style similar to Skara Brae, have been found around the central building

This is the only current inhabitant – it appears he is rebuilding his house within the ruins of a much older civilization.

We joined a walk in the Birdsay Moors, one of the protected areas on Mainland. The Orkneys are also known for their large and varried bird populations. About a dozen people joined the walk and we had a pleasant 2 hours in the hills. We had problems finding the link initially, so I provided it at the bottom of this note.

We saw many gheese and I was able to capture several in flight, including a large formation of 6 birds.

Bee on a flower, no another bee of course…

We saw many birds, a lot of which I cannot remember the names. On the first shot, the bird looks minuscule next to the wind mills – but these are a success story for the Orkneys who are self-sufficient in electricity and actually export electricity from Mainland to the mainland.

We were not done with old piles of rocks … Maes Howe is a buried monument on Mainland that on the inside looks a lot like the place I went to in Ireland 2 years ago – Bru Na Boinne, near Newgrange. The mound on this one is more discreet – and I could not take pictures inside…

We also went to visit the Italian Chapel, on the site of the Churchill Barrier built after a German U-boat sank the HMS Royal Oak in the Skappa Flow. The barrier was built by Italian prisoners of war who built this chapel in their spare time, with spare material they could find. The artistery is amazing. One of the artists was asked to return in the sixties to help restore the chapel.

Hole in the ground in East Mainland called The Gloup – I did not make that up!

Early morning in Kirkwall with spectacular sky as we await the ferry for Westray.

Watching me watching you! A seal in the water along the beach in Westray

Westray is known for its bird colonies. We had arranged for a tour with Westraak Tours. I was able to take several photos of Gannetts in flight.

On the cliffs, there was a huge gannett colony. At the right, you can see several gannetts ‘cuddling’ by rubbing each other’s neck.

Oyster catcher in flight

Bird high rise colony

The stars of the show here are the puffins – on the rocks and in flight. We did not see a lot of them, and they were far away, but still clearly visible the large orange beak and orange feet!

Natural bridge with darters

Darters drying their wings after morning of fishing.

Seagulls in flight – OK nothing special about a seagull, but I thought these were nice pictures, and not easy to take…

Old church on Westray – It was 1/2 buried by a sand storm over 100 years ago. Initially the doors were freed so that it could continue to be used but has since been abandoned.

We were lucky enough to go visit digs of ancient remains – one of the archeologists was kind enough to stay behind at the end of his day to describe what he is doing and what they are finding.

Graham, our tour guide – he was just great! I strongly recommend contacting him should you want to go visit Westray.

On the way back to Mainland, after a full day, we saw this seal island.

End of part 2. Part three coming on the mainland, not Mainland.

Practical Information:

We stayed at the Lynnfield Hotel, within whiffing distance of the Highland Park distillery. Very nice hotel, with an excellent restaurant, a little outside of the town, but that has advantages too. www.lynnfieldhotel.co.uk

We ate the the Shore Pub – had a very nice dinner there, right by the Kirkwall Harbour.

We also ate at the Reel Cafe, part music store, part cafe right next to the cathedral.

Highlight of the stay was the tour of Westray with Westraak Tours: www.westraak.co.uk Graham is full of great stories and local information. He can even arrange for rides to and from the walks around Noup Head.

We also did a Ranger Walk in the Birsay Moors. For info check ttp://www.rspb.org.uk/reserves/guide/b/birsaymoors/index.aspx

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2 thoughts on “Scotland – Part 2

  1. Thanks for sharing, Pierre. Great photos, and I know that bird photos are particularly difficult. I love the Italian church.

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