We had it in mind that we wanted to travel to the Orkney Islands and that a day bus trip was the way to go as we had heard from a couple of friends that it was well worth it. Initially Stephen had been keen to camp at John O'Groats and bus from there but it is a long drive, the weather was less than favourable so we compromised by camping in Inverness ( where it was a little more sheltered) and took the bus from there. It was a very long day - 7am start which for us was quite an effort, and we were returned back at 9pm. But it meant Stephen could enjoy the day without worrying about driving and we also got a commentary about the sights on the way.
We had about 25 minutes in John O'Groats before the ferry, for a look around, and some food if we wanted it. We took the obligatory photo beside the iconic signpost - one to add to our collection of the one at Lands End and Bluff. Just as we were about to board the ferry we found another signpost and this one did indeed have Bluff on it saying it was 12 875 miles. We also spotted the camping ground and yes there were a few hardy souls braving it, mostly in campervans but there were some tents too! It was a fairly wind swept site.
The ferry trip took 40 minutes and was relatively calm. Our bus was waiting for us and we were quickly loaded and we set off for Kirkwall. On the way we travelled over the five Churchhill barriers that were built during WW2 to stop the German submarines entering Scapa Flo (the sea surrounding some of the Islands). They are an amazing feat and now provide causeways as seen in the photo below.
Our first stop was Kirkwall, the main town. It actually has city status because of the cathedral. We had an hour to browse around and unfortunately this part of our day was quite wet and made walking around unpleasant. I was keen not to be sitting in wet clothes for the rest of the day. We went in to the cathedral and had a good look around. It is hard to imagine how these giant sized buildings were built over 800 years or more ago. Stephen also got himself an Orkney Island icecream, a must we were told as it is made with double cream. I think we are some what spoilt in NZ for ice cream, especially our Deep South brand, as he didn't think this one was anything out of the ordinary.
Next stop was the Neolithic site of Skara Brae. This underground village was discovered in the 19th century after a storm blew the sand away that had been covering it for over 3000+ years. The cluster of ten houses were built of stone, into the ground and showed very detailed evidence of how these bronze aged people lived up to 5000 years ago. There were stone built furniture such as sleeping boxes, shelving like a dresser! and a communal living area. It is hard to believe that people have been living in these areas for so long. Further down the road is another site, that we only passed by, and it is yet another archeological site thatis currently being excavated.
The stone circles The Ring of Brodgar was our next stop and they are similar to Stonehenge. Scotland has many of these circles and standing stones and we saw several more in the trip back to Kirkwall.
Our last stop was The Italian Church. During WW2 there were a large number of Italian POWs on Orkney. They were treated by the British and when they requested somewhere to worship they were given a couple of Nissan Huts. A group of prisoners transformed them into an amazing church, using only the materials on hand. The art work is fantastic and shows what can be done even without the necessary materials. Recently family of the prisoners returned and have had the church restored.
The weather was forecast to deteriote later in the evening so it was back to the ferry and squeezed on with all the tourists on the island for the day. It was to be the last sailing for the day as high winds were expected. We managed a seat but some passengers had to stand. The early part of the crossing was not for the faint hearted though we never saw anyone being sick.
Our bus trip back to Inverness was quiet as we all reflected on our day's outing.
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