Orkney, Kirkwall
The Orkney Islands are an archipelago of 70 islands, directly north of Scotland, of which 20 are inhabited. The largest is imaginatively called Mainland. The Orkneys have been inhabited for at least 8500 years, by Mezolithics (middle stone age, hunter-gatherers), Neolithics (stone age with farming), Picts (metal ages, roughly 300-800AD) until the Vikings (Norsemen) from Norway took over in 875AD. The archipelago became part of Scotland in 1472 after a royal marriage dispute. Placenames around Orkney reflect hundreds of years of Viking/Norse rulership. The Orkneys are a place to momentous history, from the stone ages through to the World Wars.
Adventure Canada appears to be another smallish expedition vessel that appeared to be following a similar itinerary to ourselves. [9227]
Cormorants overhead. [9234]
We called in at Kirkwall, the capital, on Mainland, for a city visit and a drive around Scapa Flow. Kirkwall port could accommodate the NatGeo Explorer, and we docked in incredibly fine weather, sunny and breezy, and we noted how amazed the locals were! We spent the day wearing sunglasses! Kirkwall is the home base of the Orkney shell fishing fleet (not going so well now, what with Brexit constraining ready exports), and on our dock, we were entertained by four fishing boats being raised from the water for presumably regular maintenance. Each boat came with a dog who appeared somewhat discomfited by their boats being out of the water!
Kirkwall, as seen from the NatGeo Explorer's dock. [9228]
Fishing boats hoisted out of the water in Kirkwall to have barnacles removed and receive a fresh paint job. [9240]
Kirkwall town is a pleasant place to walk, and thanks to the sailing itinerary of the NG Explorer, we were able to do so on two different days. Town was immediately adjacent to our dock. The town has done well by converting the main high street to a pedestrian mall. A highlight of the downtown area was the magnificent red and yellow coloured 850 years old St Magnus cathedral, originally built on the shoreline, but with multiple land reclamations, is now 100m back from it. The cathedral is named in honour of the murdered Earl of Orkney (believed to be religious but how does that make him a saint?) whose bones were later placed within. Next door was the ruins of the Earls and Bishops Palace which once belonged to the illegitimate nephew of Marty Queen of Scots.
Kirkwall's main downtown street has been converted to a pedestrian mall. [9289]
The truly stunning interior of St. Magnus' Cathedral. [9308]
Memorial to the HMS Royal Oak inside St Magnus Cathedral in Kirkwall. [9315]
Out of town, on a bus tour guided by Jane (who was an incredibly good ambassador for Orkney tourism) and accompanied by naturalist Steve off the Explorer, we visited the pretty waterfront hamlet of St. Margaret's Hope, with its two main roads being called Front Rd and Back Rd. A pretty walk, not much open, except for a corner store. The town is thought to be named after Margaret, Maid of Norway who was the 'queen-designate' of Scotland around 1290AD. She may have died at the location of this town on the southern Orkney island of South Ronaldsay.
Cute as a button, the town of St Margaret's Hope in the south Orkneys. [9257]
Almost midday, but the town of St. Margaret's Hope is almost deserted. [9267]
Larraine, a happy immigrant from London, has settled into retirement at St. Margaret's Hope. [9271]
The main feature of this out-of-town drive was Scapa Flow (the name being from old Norse meaning 'bay of the long isthmus') a huge natural harbour wrapped around by Mainland and other Orkney islands. Vikings found refuge here for their longships more than a thousand years ago, but Scapa Flow's fame arises from being the UK's main navy base during both world wars because of its strategic location with respect to defending German shipping channels to the Atlantic Ocean. The US Navy based here in WW2. After a German U-Boat penetrated defences in WW2, sinking the HMS Royal Oak with a loss of 833 lives, Churchill closed several extrances between islands with so called Churchill Barriers built, it seems, with the labours of Italian POWs captured in North Africa, including Tobruk. We could see the green coloured buoy marking the war grave that is now the Royal Oak, and we also visited the impressive hand-painted chapel that the Italians were allowed to build into two Nissen huts in their off-work time under an apparently benevolent prison camp environment. After Italy surrendered, the POWs were free, but could not go home, the war still raging, and many settled here. The chapel deteriorated but was refurbished by the same Italian families, and is now kept in good order by the community.
One of the Churchill Barriers in Scapa Flow, built by Italian POWs, to safeguard the harbour. [9254]
The Italian Chapel, built by Italian Prisoners of War with no funds, using matertials donated or sacvenged. [9277]
Jane, one Orkney guide, explains the skills of Italian craftsmen who built the WW2 Chapel. [9281]
On a separate outing in Orkney with another guide, we visited the Ring of Brodgar and (the archeological highlight of this entire trip!) Skara Brae, both Neolithic constructions dating back about 4-5000 years. The Ring is on Mainland about 16km west of Kirkwall in a natural amphitheatre, on a peninsula between two lochs, and consists of an almost perfect circle of (originally 60) stones surrounded by a ditch (a henge) up to 3m deep and 9m wide. The circle diameter is over 100m, making it the third largest in the British Isles. Our guide strongly pointed out that the henge is more significant that the circle, not only because it would have required much more effort to excavate and mould. In the vicinity of the Ring are numerous henges, cairns, burial mounds, other standing stones, suggesting that this area was an important cermonial site, but for what purpose?
Panorama of the 100m wide Ring of Brodgar in rural Mainland in the Orkneys. Jane explained that the ditch is much more significant (but significance unknown) than the circle of stones. [9966]
Wildflowers in the henge at the Ring of Bodgar. [9993]
But it was Skara Brae which took our breath away: it's a village of 10 stone houses (each 40m2) in a tight cluster about 16km west of Kirkwall, the houses separated by narrow, paved lanes. Maybe 50-100 people lived here. The houses are now unroofed, but visibly all are of similar design with central hearths and, amazingly, furniture! There are stone structures which are clearly beds, dressers, cupboards and secret compartments. There are doors. There are toilets and drains, one in each house! This is a mind-boggling place of incredible significance (but our guide openly deplored visitors who still found the rabbits nearby more interesting). Skara Brae is the most complete Neolithic village in Europe, and, proudly pointed out, older than Stonehenge and the Pyramids of Egypt. No mortar supported the walls, but they were deliberately buried/sheltered by the occupants in midden, sand, peat and refuse. At the end of its 600 year life, the village was abandoned in haste by the Neolithics, no certain reason, and was quickly enveloped in sand, being adjacent to a windswept beach. Being so buried for 4,500 years, the village has been preserved, and wasn't discovered until a giant storm in 1850 exposed it. William Watt of Skaill, the son of a local laird and an amateur geologist, excavated the site soon after the storm, but it was then neglected and occasionally pillaged until 1927, after another storm, when Australian archaeologist Professor Gordon Childe (1892-1957) from the University of Edinburgh undertook the first professional and comprehenive evaluation of the site. The ocean is encroaching on Skara Brae, and a sea wall has been built to protect it.
A modern replica of one of the Skara Brae houses shows the roof structure and how the walls were encased in midden. [9997]
Near the Skara Brae visitors' centre is a replica showing what a non-ruined house might have looked like. [0046]
The Skara Brae village is now threaded with walking tracks so that visitors can better appreciate this amazing place. [0021]
So close to the Atlantic Ocean and very prone to the storms which revealed it, this Skara Brae house shows its hearth, beds, storage nooks, and cupboards. [0035]
In the presence of Neolithic magnificence, some visitors paid more attention to the rabbits, to the disgust of our passionate guide. [0024]
Orkney is home to many Scotch Whisky distilleries (and other spirits) and, thanks to our two visits, we twice enjoyed tasting evenings from Highland Park staff who joined us on board the NG Explorer. Everyone sampling these fine whiskies, encouraged by entertaining descriptions of the manufacturing process, including the use of once-used Bourbon casks from USA, was quite jolly for the rest of the evenings. Luckily, the captain and crew did not participate in the tastings! Seems there is quite a trade in used port, sherry and whisky casks in this business.
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