Haggis Day Four - Orkney to Ullapool

First order of the day was to check out a few things in the south of Orkney that we had missed the day before. This included the Italian chapel, and the Tomb of the Eagles. And a stop for a photo at the Highland Park whisky distillery; what Kenny says is the best single malt Scotch.

The Italian chapel was built out of a tin shed by Italian prisoners of war who were being held nearby. They did an amazing job with the materials they had, and it became a symbol of peace.

The Italian chapel

Inside the Italian chapel; the bricks are just painted on but you wouldn't know from this photo!

We then had a rrreally quick visit to the Tomb of the Eagles, which is a Neolithic and stone age tomb site. Unfortunately we didn’t get to see the tombs as we had to run for the ferry (the tombs looked really neat though, and you had to slide in on a skateboard to get into them!), but we did get an intro from the tour guide about some skeletons and tools found in the area.

Neolithic skulls

We were lucky again with a still ferry crossing, and arrived back on mainland Scotland having seen whales and dolphins.

One of the best parts of the whole tour was the drive along the north coast of Scotland, its really lovely.

We stopped off at Dunnet Bay beach where some of the more crazy folk had a swim (it was nice weather but freeeeezing cold, we just settled for a paddle and a game of frisbee on the beach).

Further along we stopped off at the town of Tongue, for stickers and t-shirts that say “I love Tongue” haha.

Being cheap backpackers, we decided to spell out “I heart Tongue” with ourselves and capture the moment.

We then drove through the mountains and lochs of the highlands, to our hostel in Ullapool on the west coast. The scenery was stunning.

Ullapool is well-known for its fresh seafood so we went out for a meal. Hamish had some lovely scallops and I had fresh haddock – delish!

Also, we met real haggis for the first time. It’s traditionally heart, liver, kidney and lung offal encased in a stomach, but is rarely actually served in a stomach these days. Lots of haggis doesn’t even have a fake skin on it these days apparently. Haggis in a can still makes me laugh. It tastes actually really good – like a spongy sausage with lots of stuffing in it.