There was a forecast short period of light NE winds on June 9/10 so we made an overnight 110 mile passage from Loch Laxford, around Cape Wrath and then NE to the Orkney Islands arriving at the western end of Eynhallow Sound at 11:45 just as the tide turned favourable to carry us the final 15 miles through the rather tortuous channel down to Kirkwall, the principle town in the Orkney's. The following day the wind piped up again...15-20 knots from the NE. Southern U.K. has been lashed by rain and strong winds for the past month as one low pressure system after another comes up the Channel or the Irish Sea. Meanwhile, the north of Scotland has had reasonably fine weather and NE winds.
It has been thirty years since we were last in the Orkney's and much has changed....for the better. The rich soil of these low windswept islands have always yielded a good farm living. Much better than in nearby stony, rather barren, Scotland and Norway. The Pict's from Scotland took over the Islands from 500AD to 800AD only to be conquered by the Vikings from Norway and Denmark who settled here and used the islands as a base for annual raids down the west coast of Scotland and around Ireland. The islands are rich in archeological sites. The most famous is Skara Brae, a collection of interconnected low stone houses dating back to early Neolithic times (3100BC). It was partially uncovered by a big storm in 1850 that swept away the sand dunes covering the village and surrounding middens. Subsequent excavation revealed a treasure-trove of stone and bone implements. We took a bus trip out to Skara Brae on the western side of the Main Island and on the way back we took a tour of Maes Howe (2900BC), a burial mound, 24 feet high and 110 feet across. The large central chamber is capped by stone slabs, some weighing up to 30 tons. The whole structure was covered in water-proofing clay and then grass sod. The entrance is positioned so that sunset on the winter solstice shines a beam of light up the narrow low entrance tunnel and into the main chamber. A 40 minute walk away is the Ring of Brodgar, 60 standing stones (only 36 now standing)in a 310 foot diameter circle created around 2500BC, five hundred years before Stonehenge!
Kirkwall is dominated by the huge, red stone St. Magnus Cathedral built in 1137 and still very much in use. Nearby, an excellent museum traces the occupation of the Islands through Neolithic to Bronze and Iron Ages and on to the history of the feudal control by a succession of Scottish Lairds after the gift of the Orkney's to Scotland when James V of Scotland married a Danish Princess.
There is a strong connection between the Orkney's and Canada. In the 18th century the Hudson Bay Company ships stopped here to take on crew and employees who signed on to work five year stints in the Company's trading posts across the Canadian north. John Rae, the famous explorer and the man who found the fate of John Franklin came from here.
Yesterday we moved 3 miles to a lovely sandy bay on the south side of the island of Shapinsay to sit out a nasty low that is tracking up the North Sea and will give us Force 6 NE winds tomorrow. In southern England several famous outdoor annual mid-June festivals have had to be cancelled. The land is too sodden!!
The Orkney's are rich in birds, both nesting and migratory, so today we took a long walk to one of the many RSPB R.e.serves to do a little birding. Along the way we got talking to the locals about farming. Shapinsay is famous for its Aberdeen Angus cattle. They fetch good prices in the UK as attested to by the substantial farm houses and new cars on the island. We plan to visit other Islands many of which we have been told also have well-to-do farming communities. All the islands are now connected by ferries and all have good community facilities, schools etc.
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