Wild, barren, windswept, and amazing!
The Orkney Islands history dates back millennia. You can find neolithic remains including the Ring of Brodgar, which predates Stonehenge and the Pyramids. This stone circle and henge is an enormous ceremonial site dating back to the 3rd millennium BC. Of the original 60 stones, 36 survive today. There are at lease 13 prehistoric burial mounds and a large rock-cut ditch surrounds the stone circle.
Ed and I each chose separate excursions today as I wanted to hike and he felt his new knee might not be up to the challenge of that walk just yet.
Ed’s excursion, entitled Viking HIstory & Ancient Pastimes was right up his alley. He visited several archeological digs, one of which showed three individual rooms of what they believe would have been a small house. The other one was the remains of a horizontal water wheel, although the water has long since dried up. This site is still being excavated. Then they visited the remains of a circular church that was located within a graveyard.
His day culminated with his two guides (Mark and Mark), dressed in Viking gear and cooking some Viking Stew over the fire while regaling the group with stories of how the Vikings lived, the beginning of the Viking Gods, and how they utilized everything available to them (i.e. plants and shrubs) to survive.
Betsy’s excursion was a hike from Yesnaby to Skara Brae. The cliffs on this island are all spectacular - the Yesnaby cliffs located on mainland Orkney, are one of the best. The layers of rocks sculpted by the erosion are fascinating along with the birdlife and the famous Yesnaby Seastack.
This scenic coastal walk (over 10,000 steps on my smartwatch) was amazing and, at times, quite demanding. We were up and down hills, over barbed wire fences (a hand-built step ladder was at each crossing), fighting the strong wind off the sea (where the Norwegian Sea meets the North Sea), heading down rocky stepping stones, and finally weaving our way on a narrow path lined with ‘stinging nettle’ plants (I’ll get to that in a bit).
As we approached the first barbed wire fence I wondered how the heck we were getting over that, but then the handbuilt ladder came into view and we went up and over without issue.
This land is farmland and we would see sheep and cattle and cows in the distance. Orkney is rich with cows for dairy production, cattle for beef production, and sheep for their wool. We would attest to the dairy later in the day when we had some of their island ice cream. Yummy!
Stinging Nettle: As we approached the end of our hike when we would reach Skara Brae, we were on a very narrow path with vegetation on either side and somehow I misplaced my foot and down I went (so embarrassing); however, my hands landed on the ground on top of what I would late realize was stinging nettle. Almost immediately my hands were stinging even though I couldn’t see anything on them and no rash appeared. I looked up the plant once back on the ship (using my phone) and sure enough, the symptoms I had were exactly what the information said and it advised they would be gone within 24 hours. It was more like 12 hours but what a strange feeling it was. Thankfully nothing else except my pride was injured.
Skara Brae - our final destination - is a stone-built neolithic settlement consisting of ten clustered houses, made of flagstones, in earthen dams that provided support for the walls. The houses included stone hearths, beds, and cupboards. They had even devised a primitive sewer system, with “toilets” and drains in each house. Water was used to flush the waste into a drain and into the ocean. Unfortunately as we arrived, so did the rain and wind. So I quickly took some pictures and hurried along to the visitor’s center so as not to get too soaked. I would have liked to have spent more time exploring these ruins.
This site was only found in 1850 after a severe storm hit Scotland causing widespread damage. After the storm a local resident noticed something different about the shape of the land. The storm had stripped the earth from a large irregular knoll known as “Skara Brae”. Found was the outline of a village consisting of a number of small houses without roofs. Unfortunately the site wasn’t secured until 1924, so an unknown quantity of artifacts had been plundered in the years between. It was still pretty impressive. Who knows what’s lurking under the ground just waiting to be revealed.
Another amazing day on this amazing adventure we are on!
A Personal Note to Bob and Trudy from Maine!
I never got to share our contact information with you so if you are reading this blog, here is my email: [betsyaras@gmail.com] Please reach out so we can stay in touch - hope you arrived home safely!
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