Orkney Island- 10th till 14th October

Just after Helen and Josh's one week "Van-aversary" we decided to leave the van behind for a few days and travel to the Orkney Islands.  We left the van in the middle of a farm with a lovely lady named Connie and bordered the ferry at Scrabster.  Unfortunately, due to a combination of winds and tides, the crossing was a wee bit rough and I (Jane) spent the trip acquainting myself with Caledonian Macbrayne's fine toilets!

Also, note the photos - glorious, unbroken sunshine.  Yay!!!

The views of Stromness as we arrived in Orkney almost made the ferry ride worthwhile.  Orkney is an incredibly beautiful place and unlike anything I've seen.  Unlike the rest of Scotland it's very green - and it takes a few minutes to realise it looks a bit odd because there are absolutely no trees.

See - NO TREES!

Still no trees.

It is quite surreal to head through the wilderness of Northern Scotland, catch a ferry to a windswept island, and find a dense, busy town.

Stromness waterfront

Stromness town

Yay we made it!

We stayed in a lovely house that was within walking distance to Stromness and, more importantly, very well heated!  Keys (when we arrived) and money (when we left) were simply left on the table inside the open house- it's that kind of place.  The people were lovely and obviously not accustomed to seeing tourists at this time of year.

Stromness is a small town but big enough to have good pub food and a hairdresser, where the beard was finally tamed (although not vanquished).

To all the guys reading this - you are lucky I am a billionty miles away or else all your women would be mine.

Stromness art gallery.  A very cool building overlooking the port.

Our house, Ivydene.

Our lounge, otherwise known as the Dominion Room. That's actually a card game, not some sort of pervy couple swapping sex thing. We don't have any photos of that.

View from our front door.

Josh making awesome, awesome hash browns.

We also visited Kirkwall, the largest town on the island, which has a very nice Cathedral and the Highland Park Distillery.  We visited both of course.  Morgan, Josh and I did the Connoisseur's Tour at the distillery which included a private tasting session of their 12, 15, 18 and 21 year old whiskies.  While it's not my favourite whisky it was great fun and very informative.

St. Magnus Cathedral in Kirkwall. All of the place names (and Saints) are from the Vikings.

One of the church doors

They are quite proud of the fact that they still do traditional floor maltings.

So shiny. And warm. And they smell like booze.

Whisky tasting fun.  The main flavour I got was whisky, and drunkeness.

Pre dinner cocktails at The Foveran Hotel.  The guy made a pretty good margarita considering I had to tell him how!

Nom nom, chocolate fondant....  Unfortunately I don't have a photo of the star of the meal, the main of Mutton four ways.  A seriously under-rated meat.

Even cars can't resist his new beard trim.

We spent a lot of time on the island playing cards, eating, drinking and sleeping.....so in an effort to be better tourists we hired a car and hit some of the big sites (the town of Twat, whilst amusing, was not one of these).  The biggest draw for me was Skara Brae, a stone built neolithic settlement on the west coast.  It was occupied between approximately 3180 and 2500 BC but was only unearthed in 1850 after a storm stripped the earth off the roof of the cluster of ten houses.  It was just incredible to see how advanced they were- they had beds, hiding spots for valuables and even dressers for displaying prized objects.  Very cool.

A replica of how the houses would have looked.

A replica of how the inhabitants would have performed their mating rituals.

There were several houses and a 'workshop', and all the streets connecting them were underground also. Given some of the weather we had in Scotland, the idea of an underground, completely sheltered settlement makes heaps of sense.

An almost perfectly preserved 5000 year old house. In the bottom centre of the floor is the hearth, against the back wall is the dresser with shelves, in front of which are storage bins for food and water. Against the left wall are the beds, which would have been full of heather and covered with animal furs.

The home of the family who discovered Skara Brae on their land....

....it had some interesting design features.

We also visited the Brough of Birsay, an island accessible from the mainland only at low tide.  Basically it's just incredibly beautiful.

The Brough of Birsay

The grass was really, really green and blown into these gorgeous waves by the wind.

We also visited the Ring of Brodgar, a smaller version of Stonehenge.

For our next album cover.

We had an absolutely fabulous time on Orkney.  It's definitely one of the most amazing places we've been.  You'll be pleased to know that the return ferry was a much smoother ride!

The Old Man of Hoy, viewed from the ferry. 450ft tall.

Awwww, so cute!