Today we left the Royal Hotel in Thurso at 8.00am to catch the ferry to the Orkney Islands. We had a brief stop at John O' Groats for a 'photo opportunity. Kate, our lovely tour guide, tripped and fell and hurt her hand and ankle, but she's a trooper and she said she was fine.
We then drove to Gill's Point to catch the ferry across to the Orkneys. The coach (it's not a bus) driver had to reverse the coach onto the ferry so that it could be driven off. Amazing skill.
It took about an hour to get across to the main island of the Orkneys. We landed at St Margaret's Hope and drove off the ferry.
We had to drive over the Churchill Barriers to get to our first stop on the island. The Churchill Barriers were built by 600 Italian prisoners of war during WW11 to protect the British navy. The navy fleet was anchored at Scapa Floe, the huge natural harbour of Orkney, but a German U-boat had got in and destroyed one of the ships, so the POW's were sent there to make and place huge concrete blocks up to 70 feet down to prevent any further U-boats entering the harbour. They also sunk ships in front and behind as additional deterrents. There are four Churchill Barriers and they are now used as causeways or bridges.
We arrived at The Standing Stones Hotel for lunch. It was all very nice. They had a huge trout trophy on the wall. It was 28lbs. I didn't know trout could grow that big!
After lunch we went to the Standing Stones of Brodgar which is a complete circle of stones which were brought from different locations all over the island and erected there. They are opposite a large burial mound. You van walk around the stones and touch them, unlike Stonehenge, where you can't get Clos to them. There is a ditch, or henge as it's called in these parts. The heather was just starting to flower around the henge. It's very pretty.
Off we went again, this time to Skara Brae, the 5000 year old community that was discovered in 1850 after a terrific storm blew the sand dunes away. It is truly amazing! There are only 8 houses and a workshop, but they are so well preserved. Everything is made of rock and stone. They are small but perfectly formed. You can only walk above them now and look down into them, so as to protect them. It is right on the beach but it is thought that originally they were further inland but over the thousands of years erosion has bought the beach closer.
After our visit to Skara Brae we headed into the capital of the Orkneys, Kirkwall. We visited the cathedral, St Magnus and the ruins of the Bishop's and the Earl's Palace. The highlight, however, was some dogs who were playing in the grounds. They were two Scottish Deerhounds and a grey hound. GG was in her element.
We then headed off to the Italian Chapel which was built by the Italian POW's while they were constructing the Churchill Barriers. It was built out of two old Nissan huts and is absolutely gorgeous. The men built it in their spare time so that they had a place to worship. When the POW camp was decommissioned this was allowed to remain. It is truly beautiful. It was built from scrap and bits of stuff no one wanted or needed. Truly amazing.
A long day, but a day well spent. We saw some absolutely fabulous things.
This will be a big blog if I can ever get it posted....... There is very little WiFi connection in the north or on the islands.
Today (Monday, 8.00 am) we left Thurso and the Royal Hotel, with all its quirks and foibles.It is an old fashioned place as you can tell from the shop windows.
We will be travelling along the northern coast to the most westerly town and then we'll head south to the island of Skye. Most of the day will be spent on the coach. We drove past the experimental nuclear power plant that was built in the 1950s and is now being decommissioned. Apparently that will take between 50 and 100 years.
We also saw some amazing scenery.....
There is an incredible amount of water everywhere. It was drizzly and wet today so there was water lying, flowing, falling, swirling and rushing everywhere you looked. There was cut peat laid out to dry, numerous sheep and even a letterbox and phone box placed in the middle of nowhere! Perhaps it was for the sheep.
We stopped for lunch at Ullapool. A very pretty fishing town. We went to the Seaforth hotel and had some very delicious fish and chips.
After lunch we continued to drive south. The rain cleared a little and we stopped to take photos of the castle of Eilean Donnan. This is where they filmed 'The Highlander'. Very picturesque.
We finally arrived at the Kings Arms hotel on Skye at 6.00 pm. We came over the road bridge rather than on the ferry. Tomorrow we will explore Skye.
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