Author: patsy

patsy

Earl’s Bu and round church, Orphir, Orkney

One of the many Earl’s of Orkney, built a Bu (which seems to have been a fancy farmhouse with a massive drinking hall) and a round church in Orphir. He then got a rival Earl of Orkney drunk and murdered him as he left the church. That kind of thing seems to have been typical for the time. The locals are a lot more friendly these days.

When we arrived the weather wasn’t great, and as well as taking photos we planned to take a coastal walking, looking out to Scapa Flow, so we had tea and cake in the van while we waited for conditions to improve – which they soon did.

The car park was popular with people eating various things, but in some cases rather than doing that before sightseeing and taking a walk, like reasonable people, they did it instead. That’s cheating if you ask me!

patsy

Cuween Hill – and Wideford Hill Chambered Cairn, Orkney

After visiting the chambered cairn on Cuween Hill, we carried on up to the top, where we found some piles of stones, which were possibly a ruin recently rearranged, and some orchids.

After that, we returned to the van for a cup of tea and piece of cake whilst we decided what to do next – and decided to try finding another chambered cairn. We’d seen signs for one on Wideford Hill, but the final one pointed towards a narrow farm track rather than a road. I went in to the sheep shed to ask and was told (by the farmer, not the sheep) that we’d get our van up there ‘nae bother’ so off we went.
Following the farmer’s directions, we reached a tiny car park. As we pulled in a Rabbies coach went by with the driver gesturing for us to follow him. We did that and reached the very top of the hill, where he’d taken his group for a panoramic view of much of Mainland Orkney. After enjoying that for a while, we went back to the car park and set of for the chambered cairn.

It was, ‘quite a trek’ as the Rabbies guide had told us to expect, but worth it. With this one, instead of crawling through a tunnel you access it through the top by a modern ladder. Me climbing down ladders looks just like anyone else doing it, only slower. A lot slower, especially lowering myself over the edge to get started, so I didn’t film that.

We’d read there was some Viking graffiti inside. I’m not absolutely sure that’s what I found, but I photographed it anyway! After that we had another cup of tea as we decided where to spend the night.

patsy

Cuween Hill Chambered Cairn, Orkney

We’ve been doing so much I’m struggling to keep up with blogging about it all! After visiting Grain Earth House, and attempting to video the experience, we went to another, more impressive chambered cairn at Cuween Hill. If you know your archeology you may have heard of the aisle of dogs – that’s in this one, although I wasn’t sure which of the various chambers that referred to (it’s dark, there’s not much space, and I’m slightly claustrophobic, so I didn’t linger long). We had to crawl on hands and knees to get inside, but could stand up in the first chamber – I wasn’t brave enough to climb into the others!

I had another go at videoing this one. We took our own lighting – without which it would have been completely dark. Although the film doesn’t look more impressive than the last one, I did some slightly more advanced editing to create it. Here’s the result.

patsy

Earl’s Palace

There have been quite a few Earls of Orkney, with marvellous names such as Thorfinn the Mighty, Thorfinn Skullsplitter, Sigurd the Stout, Harald Smooth Tongue, Harald the Old, Harald the Young, Einar Wry-mouth… Inheritance rules meant that rather than the title and all the dosh going to the eldest son, all siblings got a share. All the lads became Earls, all the lassies were also considered of high status, although they only got half shares of land and wealth.

Lots of Earls meant lots of palaces. The one in these photos is the best preserved (of those we’ve seen anyway) and located in Kirkwall, opposite the Bishop’s Palace.

patsy

Broch of Gurness

A broch is a very old kind of big round Scottish castle structure, with immensely thick double walls whixh have a narrow passageway between them. Nobody seems to know what that’s for – it might be an early form of cavity wall insulation. People lived in brochs and it seems likely they were defensive structures.

We’ve visited quite a few brochs and like them a lot. The one at Gurness is unusual both in that it’s not isolated, but surrounded by smaller stone houses and other structures (a small village really) and in the fact that it’s divided up into rooms inside. There’s even a loo!

Lots of interesting items were found inside the broch of Gurness, including some amazing, and huge, brooches. These are in the museum in Kirkwall, which is fascinating. We spent hours there one rainy day – and didn’t photograph a thing!

patsy

A confession

The shells in Wednesday’s post were not, as I claimed, groatie buckies. I should have been suspicious when I found some so easily… Anyway, I have now found one – it’s the small stripey one, shown alongside one of whatever the others are to give an idea of scale.

patsy

Cake sheds, tea, and puffins

There are lots of mini sheds supplying cake, and sometimes lots of other food, drink and souvenirs too, on Orkney. They operate on an honesty basis – usually you leave cash, but some have the option to pay by card or other means. They’re always open (unlike the post boxes!) but if you arrive just after a walking group, there may not be much left.

The lemon drizzle and chocolate Brownie stars were very good – but I forgot to photograph them before there were only crumbs left.

We’ve been on the look out for puffins, and have seen some at a distance. They’re not very active at the moment. I suspect we’re at the period between nest building and hatching – hopefully we’ll get more sightings later in the trip.

There are no LPG pumps on Orkney and as we use that for cooking, heating, hot water, the fridge and making tea, that was something of a concern. We’ve solved the problem by investing in a portable gas stove. Each gas canister makes about ten pots of tea, we bought eight and plenty more are available here, so I think we’ll be OK for the next fortnight or so.

patsy

Wednesday word of the week – Groatie Buckies

Groatie Buckies is the Orcadian word for cowrie shells. It comes from John O’Groats (a nearby point on the Scottish mainland) and buccinum, which is Latin for shellfish, apparently.

I first heard the term when I spotted two young ladies clearly searching for something on the beach. Being a writer, and therefore nosy, I asked what they were looking for. I was told that local people are almost obsessed with collecting these beautiful little shells. I can understand that. As well as being pretty, they’re very tactile and said to be lucky.

Ooops – please also read this.

patsy

Skara Brae

The first, orangey coloured, photos are from a replica house, which visitors could enter to examine the contents. The rest are of the real thing which you’re not usually allowed to go into, in order to preserve the buildings – but can see very well from the surrounding paths.

There’s a lot I could say about Skara Brae, but I’m just going to focus on the fact that this village is over 5,000 years Old. That’s older than Stone Henge and the Pyramids. The people who built it lived in communities, traded with other countries, made jewellery and decorated pots. There’s a lot that isn’t known because the settlement is so old that very little other than stone survives, but it’s very likely they made art and music, and told stories. Their lives would have been very different from ours, but I can’t help thinking the people themselves would have been much like us.

patsy

Bishop’s Palace

The bishop in Kirkwall would have had a longer commute to work than I do, but not by much. You can see St Magnus Cathedral from his palace, and vice versa. Even I wouldn’t have needed a cup of tea on arrival if I’d had one just before leaving home – although I’m fairly sure tea wasn’t an option back then.

We’re very much enjoying Orkney. As far as we can see there are only two downsides – the wind (cold and doesn’t let up much) and the lack of an LPG filling pump. The van needs gas for heating, hot water, the fridge, cooking and, most vital of all, the kettle! It’s OK though as we have a cunning plan.

Some of the positives of Orkney include the beauty and drama of the landscape, very friendly people, loads of historic sites to visit, great campervan facilities and wonderful park ups, lots of wildlife especially birds, plenty of bakeries and tea rooms, great walks, a decent number of ships for Gary to photograph, loads of wild flowers… It’s amazing I’ve found time to write, but that short commute to work helps and I’m making progress with the novel.