Today wasn’t quite as warm and sunny, but we had our
destinations in mind and by 10 a.m. we were on the road. Our stops today:
The Broch of Gurness – Dan is fascinated by the
brochs in Scotland (not found elsewhere).
They show creative genius on the part of the people of old. This broch & the village around it date
to the first millennium BC and was in use into the 5th century AD,
Pictish times. The double-wall
construction and massive size (probably 40 feet high) amaze me. The use of stone (only material available) is
practical… and because stone survives, gave us a view into Neolitic and Pictish
life. The double wall and low entry helped
keep them warm and provided protection. There are numerous small ruins around the broch which suggest a village with many homes.
Just north of the broch we saw a beach that we
figured we’d check for sea-glass. No
luck, but some lovely visuals.
A must on Kathy’s list was The Woolshed, a place
she hadn’t know about prior to the trip and found through the listings of the
Orkney Craft Trail. She was very happy
to find some more yarn to take home .
She specializes in North Ronaldsay sheep, a primitive breed from N
Ronaldsay island.
Along the way, Dan saw on the map “Swanny
Brewery” so we stopped for a look. It’s
a new brewery that is making a name both in Scotland and elsewhere. I bought a bottle of brew to bring home.
Brough of Birsay
-- The word Brough has many meanings, depending on where it’s used… it
can be a village, a castle, stone buildings, a broch… here it refers to an
island with ruins of the Pictish and Viking eras.
This island is connected to the mainland by a causeway one can walk
across… when it is low tide. Now at noon
the water was still covering the walkway, so we left to get some lunch and wait
for the tide to go out.
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| Shows the island in the distance. |
Orkney Brewery – The main brewery on Orkney, it
has been around for a while had has quite a few good beers… a nice café
provided us a very good lunch. (We are
forgetting to take photos of our food!!! )
St. Magnus Kirk – In the village of Birsay is a
church that is dedicated to St. Magnus, 1080-1115, who was killed by his
brother. His body was buried here; later
people started experiencing miracles when praying in the church or through
Magnus. He was canonized in 1135 and his
body interred at the new large cathedral in Kirkwall which had been built to
house his remains.
Palace of Earl Robert Stewart – Also in Birsay
this large palace was built using forced labor by Robert Stewart and his son
Patrick, cruel oppressors of the people of Orkney, and who were later found
guilty of treason and executed. Built 1569-74;
it was in ruins by 1700.
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| Artist's rendition of what it probably looked like. |
Then back to the Brough and causeway… it was a
different place! Dan went across and
looked at the ruins of a Viking village, including a church and monastery. The
most amazing thing about the Viking village was that a drain system was
incorporated underneath the homes… you can see the line of stones covering it
in this photo. The Picts must have lived
in the area before the Vikings arrived, because artifacts have been found with
Pictish carving, including this large stone… the meaning of the carvings is not
known.
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| Dan heading toward the now clear walkway to the island. |
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| Artist's rendition of church and monastery |
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| Church nave, looking toward altar area |
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| Ruins of Viking homes |
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| Shows drain |
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| Drain open in foreground, continues under row of stones |
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| Pictish stone with carvings (rather faint) |
We then headed to Kirkwall for last stops, but
TomTom was giving us weird directions, including having us enter a street that
appeared to now be a pedestrian area with no exit; we were tired so gave it up
and headed back to our lodging. It seems
like a long day and so many stops, the distance traveled, however, was not that
much. According to Google Maps we put on
less than 100 miles. Thankful to be
here, grateful for the opportunity to walk where ancients have walked, and to
enjoy the stunning beauty of Orkney. We
have hundreds of photos to share!!! Such as:
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