Haggis Day Three - Exploring Orkney

Orkney views


We had the day free to ourselves to explore what we could of the Orkneys (see the navy blue lines on the map above - that's where we got to). We had been given a bus pass for the day but we wanted to see a bit more than the bus routes would allow, so we got together with the other kiwis Scott and Hannah, and hired a car for the day.

We started out from the biggest mainland town, called Kirkwall, and after a good stop at the tourist information centre to collect as many brochures as we could, made our way along the southern coast to the next biggest town, Stromness. We drove the car through the narrow little streets there which felt really strange, like driving through the middle-ages or something, because the streets are so narrow.

First stop was Maes Howe – an ancient burial mound. The Orkneys are thought to have been attached to the mainland at one point, so there are a lot of Neolithic remnants about the landscape. Also, there is a strong Norwegian influence present, as the people tend to have both Celtic and Viking ancestors. Unfortunately we couldn’t enter Maes Howe as the tours were all booked, so we went to a smaller mound nearby instead, and this one was free! Unstan cairn was just down the road, so we went and checked it out. Hard to believe that people were walking these same footsteps some 3000 years ago!

Hamish, Scott, Hannah and I (all kiwis) at Unstan Cairn

Next stop was just up the road at the standing stones of Stenness. Everyone knows of Stonehenge, but these stones are way older – about 5000 years old. I can’t believe how old they are, its almost ridiculous to be standing next to these massive slabs of rock that some Neolithic person/people struggled to excavate, transport and then stand up, 5000 years ago. The interesting thing about these stones is the area they are in. They stand at the start of a narrow strip of land between 2 lochs – Stenness loch and Harray loch.

Mish at the stones of Stenness

Stenness Loch on the left, Harray Loch on the right.

The strip of land leads up to the Ring of Brodgar, another famous circle of standing stones. Further on from that is another circle of standing stones. The three circles positioned along the strip are then enclosed in the landscape by the hills which form a circle around the strip.

We were lucky enough to be there when a local ranger was taking a free tour of the stones, so we got to learn a lot about the stones and their discovery. They’re not sure exactly what the standing stones are for, but a couple of days before we arrived they had just found another part of the Neolithic landscape; a stone wall. They were excavating it just below where the stones of Stenness are on the little map above; to sort of block off the strip of circles from the rest of the landscape. As there were lots of burial sites found around the circles, the current theory is that these were some kind of processional entry from the world of the living into the world of the dead. Fascinating to be there when they had just discovered this new wall.

Hamish and the heather at the ring of Brodgar

From there we moved up to the western coast where the Neolithic village of Skara Brae is. Its 5000 years old and was discovered in the late 1800s when a storm moved some of the sand that was covering the village. This village is older than the pyramids! The houses there would have originally had roofs, but only the stone walls and passageways remain. Again, fairly crazy thought to be walking around someone’s house built 5000 years ago!

The houses have bed boxes, shelving, fireplaces and even cement-sealed boxes for preparing fish bait. The village is now right by the sea, but is thought to have originally been a bit further away from the coast.

After checking out Skara Brae and the bay its in (Skaill Bay), we had a look at Skaill house which is the family home of the discoverer of Skara Brae. Then we headed up to Marwick Head to see if we could find any puffins!! But alas, the puffins had packed up and moved on about a week before we arrived. We spoke to some French-Canadian bird-spotters on the cliffs who told us that there had been a film crew there last week filming them, but the birds had since moved on for the season. Oh well. Next time I see a documentary on puffins in the Orkneys, I’ll know just where they’re filming!

We decided to drive around the rest of the coastline on the way back to Kirkwall, and went past the town of Twatt on the way. The locals look terribly bored when they see tourists stopping and taking photos with the sign that says ‘Twatt’.

Scott the kiwi at the twatt sign

In Orkney, you also have to watch out for Otters.

And pick-pocketing grannies.

There was celtic dancing on at the local church centre that evening, which we had a quick look at but were too tired to participate in. All in all a fabulous day!