I had the day to myself.
I drove across the Churchill Barriers to southern end of South Ronaldsay and decided to visit the Tomb of the Eagles where there is a chambered cairn (the tomb) and what is thought to have been a workshop building adjoining a “burnt mound” which in this case is the rubbish dump from the workshop – Stone and Bronze Ages.
A German Red Cross ambulance caravan, used as storage for the workshop site. No explanation given as to how it got here. Was it salvaged from the scuttled German fleet?
Remains of the workshop building above.
Tomb of the Eagles below.
The Tomb of the Eagles is privately owned so it is a bit more hands-on. Similar to Maes Howe it has a narrow entrance and three side chambers off the central chamber but in a much smaller scale. To get inside you have to either don knee pads or lie on a skate board. Again the roof has gone and been replaced with a concrete one. One of the side chambers has some skulls.
They think that the bodies were left outside on a plinth and, when the bones had been fully picked by the birds they were then placed in the tomb. It is called the Tomb of the Eagles as a number of talons from White Tailed Sea Eagles. A couple of miles along the coast another similar tomb has been found where, instead of Eagle talons, otter skulls were found. I went there but didn’t visit the tomb as it was lunchtime and on the menu at the farm’s Bistro was a very attractively sounding sea food platter of local specialities – and it was excellent.
Off again, this time towards Hoxa, one of the headlands passed on the way into Scapa Flow and still bristling with WWII gun emplacements.
A surprise by the side of the road to Hoxa Head.
I didn’t go to the gun emplacements but to the Gallery of a tapestry weaver – her work was fabulous. She takes bespoke orders but her current waiting list will take 5 years to get through. I stopped in St Margaret’s Hope on the way back up to Kirkwall, this is where the ferry from Gills Bay comes into (the one I caught from Caithness). An attractive village, probably typical, the houses sideways onto the waterfront
Then for the Churchill Barriers. Some ships were scuttled to stop the Germans (or to help with the work), a lot of the stone was quarried from the southern end of Lamb Holm. There are a lot of concrete blocks and, on the south end of the 4th barrier, topped with mini concrete houses – what’s that about? – and the 3rd barrier now has sand dunes on the eastern side. There are still wrecks but they are used for fishing.
However, stopping at the barriers I got out the binoculars and the most exciting thing was that I saw another bird, just like the one Helen and I had seen earlier in the week and this time the sea was calm and it was a Great Northern Diver.
Vehicles are warned about crossing the barriers in heavy seas – not because of the winds – the great problem is the big waves coming over can do a lot of damage. Also they were closed because of ice in the big freeze last winter.
Mini houses on Barrier 4
Next day we all joined up again and we went east of Kirkwall to Deerness. The geology is very different there. The satisfaction for me was I saw lots of Black Guillemots, at last. But, alas, not photogenic. At least now I know where to look for them – they do not group together like Common Guillemots and they don’t burrow like Puffins – they are solitary and seem to nest in dank places. And I saw the inside of one of their mouths – it’s amazing what people will get excited about.
So that was Orkney, for the time being. It was nice to be fed – and watered – in the evening and good to have company but I must move on north.
I haven’t done all there is to do in Orkney so I might spend a few days more on the way back from Shetland. When Simon and I came to Orkney in 1996(?) we just came for 4 days, 2 spent in Kirkwall (Ayre Hotel, fire alarm went off in the early morning and we all had to decant into the car park in our pyjamas (or whatever!) – fortunately it was a false alarm or if not nothing dramatic), 2 days spent on Hoy – we went to what was then called the “Tank Museum” – we both thought how odd that they had tanks here thinking they were vehicles. The tanks turned out to be oil tanks for refuelling the fleet in Scapa Flow. It was – and I’m sure still is – an excellent museum on the war and I might try to go back there on my way back to mainland Scotland. We also had a lovely walk along the west coast of Hoy past the Old Man of Hoy. So Hoy is worth a visit.
Ferry arriving
The ferry which goes to Lerwick via Kirkwall leaves Aberdeen at 7 pm (ish) and arrives at Kirkwall at 11
An oyster catcher’s nest on a pile of gravel next to the ferry loading bays.
So farewell to Orkney – for the time being…
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