Day Eight,

a full day going over to the Orkneys by boat,

an early start, and what a great start, blue skies, the sun was out,

I had to have a play with this huge boulder, it must have weighed over 50 kilos,

but with my daily exercises it was child's play to pick up!

a quick pose,

and I was back down to the harbour with the infrared camera,

looking along the coast hardly any waves, which bode well for a calm crossing,

we made our way to the ferry,

I carried on snapping away,

the crew making ready,

to get underway,

the ferry reversed out of the harbour to the boarding dock,

looking back to the inn, just a small thing if you are planning to do the ferry crossing book ahead if you want the coach tour when you leave the ferry on the island, also it is a summer only operation, so if you want to do your own thing and bring your own car in the winter, ferries can, and do get cancelled due to bad weather in winter,

yes it was bright but cold,

we neared the island of Orkney,

on the coach this was the tour were were going on,

with a map on the reverse,

and off we went,

the weather could not have been kinder,

we scouted the coast,

it was all so nice,

we passed a group of divers, suiting up to explore the wrecks of Scapa Flow,

used by the Royal Navy as a safe anchorage,

but proved to be not as safe as was thought,

we were told by our driver that many of the North Sea oil rigs could be anchored here as there were permanent moorings on the seabed to facilitate maintenance and decommissioning,

lots of long haired cattle, 

steaks tonight!

we are getting close to,

Kirkwall, our first stop of the day,

so shopping it is then,

the High Street,

 a Smart car,

with a unique paint job,

St Magnus Cathedral, made from local red sandstone,

we were told of a secret garden, so we had to look for it,

and here it is,

hidden behind the museum,

naturally I was soon busy with the infrared camera,

coffee break and a small breakfast, it was so hot in the cafe,

that we sat outside,

a latte 'Cheers!',

back on the coach,

we passed the oil rigs,

on our way to our next stop,

 Scrabster Ferry Terminal and dock,

I had to have a pose,

in the dock a few fishing boats,

and seagulls,

we were told when we come to this statue of Dr John Rae, stop walking or you will end up in the sea, and look for a pub or cafe, the statue commemorates Dr John Rae who was an Orcadian Arctic Explorer who unfortunately for him told the truth, and was ostracized from society for doing so, he lived between 1813 and 1892, He worked for the fur-trading Hudson’s Bay Company in Canada and despite discovering new passages though wild places he never received the same recognition for his achievements as other Arctic Explorers. This was because Rae discovered the fate of the Franklin Expedition, concluding that the missing sailors had been forced to resort to cannibalism. The British establishment condemned Rae’s findings and questioned his integrity. In 2013 Stromness celebrated Dr John Rae’s 200th Anniversary by unveiling this statue,

so into the pub it was then,

where I saw something I have never seen before,

a plank of ale,

 three brews of local beer, served in a plank of wood, 

it is the only pub I know of that gives patrons the means of getting drunk and an instrument to back up an argument! then off,

to Skara Brae,

a 5,000 year old settlement,

inside one of the houses,

they were a lot shorter,

in those days,

even Diana,

has to duck to get in, 

or out,

I just had to pose,

then I was off,

with the infrared,

taking a few photographs of the shoreline,

then into the main part of the site,

which was discovered when a fierce storm removed huge amounts of sand and exposed the site,

one of the many amazing things is how advanced the settlement was,

we tend to think of the Romans bringing plumbing to civilization,

but it is not so,

here at this site running water was channeled in, 

and wastewater channeled out,

also small man made pools were found, it is thought that these were used to keep crustaceans and shellfish fresh,

a truly amazing place,

and apparently, 

so ahead of its time,

next stop Skaill House,

it is a historic manor house in Sandwick parish on Mainland, the largest of the Orkney Islands, 

the infrared again!

inside the collection of artifacts is amazing,

and priceless,

like this dinner service from the ship of Captain James Cook, c1780,

back to the coach,

and on to the,

Ring of Brodgar, it is a Neolithic henge and stone circle about 6 miles north-east of Stromness on the Mainland, the largest island in Orkney, 

consisting of a massive stone circle, originally consisting of 60 stones, 36 survive today,

not again!

well just a few,

one thing I have not commented on yet,

heather, there was plenty of it here and a nice color,

just a couple more,

a short rideaway there is another standing stone site,

the Stones of Stenness,

just a few now remaining, after Captain John Mackay who was a tenant farmer at the Barnhouse farm near to the Stones of Stenness Circle and Henge took a dislike to them,

stories state that he was frustrated by having to plough around the stones on his land, it is also thought he hated people trespassing on his land, so it is alleged in 1814, using explosives he destroyed the Stone of Odin and toppled another nearby standing stone, 

to the outcry of the locals, who apparently according to the coach driver burned his home down to stop him, 

well he must have been a stubborn man as he had to be burned out 3 times before he left!

the legend,

on the move again, you have to have good eyes to see them,

they are sheepigs, 

known as Mangalitsa pigs, like a normal pig but with the wooly coat of a sheep,

there are two of the Hungarian pigs on the island, 'Giant Haggis' as someone wrote of them,

our last stop of the day, the Italian Chapel, it is a highly ornate Catholic chapel on Lamb Holm in the Orkney Islands, it was built during World War II by Italian prisoners of war, who were housed on the previously uninhabited island while they constructed the Churchill Barriers to the east of Scapa Flow,

inside the two converted Nissan huts, the interior was boarded in plasterboard and painted,

in the style of trompe l'oeil, meaning to fool the eye,

the walls look as if they are tiled,

but if you look very carefully you can see tat the 'tiles' are in fact flat and you can make out the heads of the plaster nails holding the plasterboard to the wall,

the altar is another work of art in itself,

especially when you consider the shortage of art materials in wartorn Britain at the time,

what a lovely way to round off our trip,

I mentioned that the POWs were helping to make Churchill Barriers, to impede German submarines,

as well as the barriers block ships were deliberately sunk in the approaches,

but many were moved by Mother nature in storms, we were told that this in fact was one ship that had been torn in half in a storm,

many are still visible,

and can be visited,

out of the coach and on to the ferry,

 it was so cold on the way back to John O' Groats on the ferry, and after the walk from the harbour to our room,

and a freshen up, over to the hotels main building for our evening meal, as it happens Diana did not want a starter, 

  I settled on a seafood platter, salmon, herring and prawns,

 for Diana's main course a curry,

 gammon ham for myself,

 and we both shared a bowl of onion rings,

  'Cheers!', we were so full we decided to skip the dessert, so we were off to bed.