Cuween--Dr. Seuss-ville

On the heights directly across the Burn of Rossmyre from Wideford Hill is Cuween cairn.  Cuween enjoys a more substantial car park at its trailhead on the base of Cuween hill.  It is fenced, graveled (room for four or maybe five vehicles) and within sight of Old Finstown Road with directional signage featured on the road. 

Grimister & Damsay from Cuween car park April 11, 2022

As to visitors, Cuween cairn probably receives  significantly more visitor traffic than does Wideford cairn, since Wideford is a bit more difficult to reach over a longer and more difficult walk.  During our tour of Cuween, two other groups pulled up from the highway.  That same number was true for Wideford too; so any conclusions about which site you would most likely have to yourself are uncertain.

Before starting the walk, we checked the informational sign posted just north of Cuween car park. It points out two islets in the Bay of Firth--the Holm of Grimbister and Damsay.  Having read the Orkney Sagas prior to our 2022 Easter trip, Darla was surprised at the location of the islets...one of them is featured in the sagas. 

Holm of Grimbister & Damsay, Bay of Firth April 11, 2022

Present day, a causeway exists from Holm Point linking Mainland to the Holm of Grimbister (population 3 on 40 acres of farmed ground).  We did not go down to Holm Point to cross the causeway to the islet.  From the OS maps, it may be a tidal islet.  In retrospect, it probably would have been worth exploring.

The Holm of Grimbister's companion islet in the Bay of Firth is Damsay.  Slightly larger at 44 acres, Damsay is however unoccupied, although it is currently farmed.  Damsay is not connected to Mainland.  Underwater archaeologists claim that a causeway of uncertain date did once link Damsay in current day shallow water and over skerries (partly submerged rocks) to Mainland Orkney. 

While the Holm of Grimbister (Grim's farm) had a less eventful history, Damsay's was turbulent.  Recorded in the Orkney Sagas, Damsay was the scene of the killing of Erlend Haraldsson, Earl of Orkney in 1154 AD. 

Passageway into Cuween cairn--April 11, 2022

Competing Viking co-rulers, Earl Rögnvald Kali Kolsson and Earl Harald Maddadsson, had been warring with Erlend over claims and control in Orkney and Caithness.  Trimuvirate rule is generally a risky affair...as Pompey, Crassus and Caesar discovered at the end of the Roman Republic (60 BC - 53 BC), which resulted in the rise of the Roman Empire.  

Back in the days of the Vikings (a thousand years after Caesar was "e tu'd" by Brutus) one dare not let down his guard then either, not even momentarily as Earl Erlend would discover.  

Cuween cairn by flashlight

According to the sagas on the night of December 21, 1154, Erlend, who apparently was too deep into Yuletide drink, retired to his longship on Damsay's beach to sleep it off.  Damsay at the time had a Norse hall on it...a combination of a drinking establishment and a stronghold of sorts.  

Erlend met his fate on Damsay, killed in a surprise nighttime raid by Earl Rögnvald and Earl Harald's forces allegedly under a full moon...or so saith the Sagas.  

A check on the Moon phase for that date in 1154 puts it at waxing crescent.  So, a slight discrepancy in the telling of the tale.  Waxing crescents normally set before midnight.  That would've been more conducive to a nighttime surprise attack than a full moon anyhow.  

For those more "zodiac minded" than I, it may be worth noting that on December 21, 1154 AD the Moon was in the sign of Gemini--two.  So, third man (i.e. Erland) out.  

Cuween cairn, the way out--April 11, 2022

If stones are sentient, and I do not presume them to be (but neither am I new-age wiccan), Erlend's death was witnessed by Cuween cairn from its heights above the Bay of Firth.  The cairn had seen many moons ere the deadly winter solstice in 1154 that claimed Earl Erlend.  Cuween had also seen much violence over the millennia.  We'll get to that violence here in a bit.  

Cuween cairn, by the time of Earl Erlend, was already some 4,000 years old, having been built at least by 3100 BC.  Locally called "Fairy Knowe," Cuween was once assigned by folklore to the realm of the fairies.  The cairn's passageway was the door to the fairy kingdom underground, or at least according to those more pagan or more hocus-pocus minded than I.  

Something for everyone, it seems.  

For the more irreverent among us (and admittedly I may belong in this distinguished group), Cuween has recently been referred to, tongue-in-cheek, as the "Tomb of the Beagles"...a satirical play upon the "Tomb of the Eagles" cairn which is located on South Ronaldsay and currently attached to Mainland Ornkey via the Churchill Barriers causeway.  

Curbed side cell inside Cuween--April 11, 2022

Tomb of the Eagles is a privately owned site.  We did not visit it, and not because a fee is apparently charged, nor the fact that many cairns in Orkney are simply free to access.  We did not want to drive down to South Ronaldsay when we were uncertain whether they still permitted visitors at the site, what with the Covid restrictions still being in place at that time.

Cuween cairn profile--April 11, 2022

To enter Cuween, the Tomb of the Beagles, one must do so on all four.  That said, Cuween's passageway is a good bit roomier than others found in some of Orkney's cairns.  We didn't have to belly crawl at least.  While it was still wet, thankfully the passageway was not overly muddy.

As to the "beagles" part of the pun, that alludes to the many (24 identified) canine skulls and skeletal remains discovered in Cuween cairn.  

Some speculate that the dog was the totem of these local Neolithic people.  Indeed, it is even said to be so as if it were established fact.  And in other cairns, remains of deer are more prevalent; hence, deer must've been that local people's totem.  Elsewhere, sea eagles; thus theirs and so on.  

Perhaps.  Personally, I am skeptical in assigning religiosity here, if only because the canine remains were evidently put in the cairn about 2500 BC, late Neolithic time in Orkney, which is to say canine remains were introduced long after (many centuries after) the local Neolithic people built Cuween cairn. 

Those builders likely were from the Neolithic settlement just below Cuween cairn at Stoneyhall.  That too is speculative, but more ascertainable in fact than presuming too much regarding Stone Age religious beliefs. Point in case, several Neolithic "figurines" have been discovered in various sites in Orkney--at Skara Brae, Westray and so on.  These invariably are considered "goddess" totems.  Perhaps they are; but they could just as easily be a toy doll made for the stone age daughter and not a religious item at all.  Again, ascribing "religion" to this prehistoric age is...speculative at best.       

Holm of Grimbister and Damsay--April 11, 2022

Stoneyhall was excavated over a six year project beginning 1994 AD.  It was then recovered with earth to protect the site.  Stoneyhall settlement established around 3100 BC was continuously occupied throughout the Neolithic.  Thus, these are the likely builders of Cuween. 

Animal remains were put into Cuween, infilled from the top apparently, prior to the deliberate closure of the tomb in the early Bronze Age perhaps about 2000 BC.  This pattern of infilling and closing cairns is seen across the Orkney islands.  Rock debris was first dumped into Cuween cairn.  The top most layer was infilled with animal bones.  These proved poorly preserved in the cairn's environment.  Then Cuween was sealed.  A first class midden.  

Rather than totem worship, given the speculation here, it is possible that a Bronze Age group took control, and in a final act of subjugation of the local population, these new people desecrated the cairns of ancestors by dumping in rocks and filling the rest with animal parts and sealing it...thereby putting an end to what was, to the local Neolithic rituals and ancestors.  A forced new regime perhaps. 

In any case, speculate is a mighty big word.  Too big it seems.  

As for Cuween cairn and the violence it has witnessed, evidence exists of "ritualistic" killings there.  The problem is much has been lost to archaeological context by how Cuween has been "investigated".  The cairn was "casually explored" by Orkney antiquarians in June of 1888.  They reported skeletal human remains in side cells, as well as worked stone tools and animal bones.  But the condition of human remains was not recorded in detail.  Neither was the 1888 breach the first at Cuween.  Apparently, the original roof to the cairn's main chamber was already removed sometime prior to the 1888 "exploration".  

Cuween cairn side chamber--April 11, 2022

The cairn was then more "formally" excavated in July 1901, which found the main chamber filled with stony debris and animal bones.  Over the course of the excavations at Cuween, a total of 8 human crania were discovered.  5 human skulls were notated in 1901 in such a poor state of preservation that 3 of them crumbled when touched.  

Two crania bore tell-tale signs of ritual execution, which paleo anthropologist Elizabeth Crozier (University of Aberdeen) calls "very significant injuries" which she speculates "based on the consistent position that they may have been inflicted as part of a, possibly ritual, execution. I do think that if you have two crania, both with injuries in the same place, in the same tomb, from the same time period, that this is more than simply interpersonal violence."    

The "Stone Men" of Cuween--April 11, 2022

Without more archaeological evidence, however, the nature of this Neolithic violence remains unclear.  Evidence may exist in the waters of the Bay of Firth, oddly enough around the islet of Damsay with its turbulent history.  

Underwater explorations (2008) in these shallow waters identified Neolithic stone features, including courses of stones, apparent entrances, circular feature that is possibly a cairn and a massive stone slab "table" on upright columns of rock.  These are well-preserved, and the only examples of Neolithic structures found anywhere in the waters of the U.K.

During Mesolithic and Neolithic ages, the Bay of Firth was dry land, thus Holm of Grimbister and Damsay were part of Mainland Orkney until the low lying area was inundated roughly in 2000 BC...in the Bronze Age.  How much may be hidden in these shallow waters below Cuween must await future investigation and...funding.

The Dr. Seuss thinga-ma-jigs--April 11, 2022

Walking up to Cuween from the car park, the most striking feature is not the cairn.  The cairn is far more inconspicuous.  It is almost a part of the heath landscape.  More striking are the curious shapes on the ridge line.  

These are rock cairns, that more properly should be called sculptures, or thinga-ma-jigs?  They have been built in modern times (and very likely continue to be built as we speak).  Stones for their construction, incidentally, are everywhere about.  They are being taken from ancient sandstone quarry pits, or scalps, on Cuween's hilltop. 

These features are now referred to as the "Stone Men" of Cuween.  Actually, if one wishes to keep with the lore of the place, perhaps they should be styled as the "Fairy Stone Men".  If we were to spin the yarn, they could be men turned into stone by the fairies beyond that passageway at Cuweeen cairn.   I leave the invention of tales to the more artful. 

For my own part these, whatever they are, certainly take on the look of a Dr. Seuss invention, something extracted from The Lorax or similar tale. To what end they were built, or by whom, is also a mystery beyond the obvious...these are simply peevish constructions driven into existence from boredom, likely by young'uns with too much time on their hands.

 

Wideford--a leaning wind

Weather in Scotland over Easter is rarely boring.  It keeps you guessing.  Sometimes minute by minute.  

Wideford Hill silver lining--view toward Scapa April 11, 2022

Having now been to Scotland four Easters, we have come to expect that during the first couple days in country we will experience bracing winds  bearing sporadic squalls of sleet.  But just as invariable, after near gales in the first few days of our trip, we are blessed with positively glorious Spring weather the remainder of our tour.  Mostly. This was again true in 2022. 

"The diversion" (forced on us by a construction closure of the Kirkwall to Stomness road at Finstown) led us to Wideford Hill cairn.  We had not intended to walk Wideford Hill for another day or two.  Our preference is to orient the landscape first, before setting off on an over country hike.  But "the diversion" more or less pushed us onward.  

As it turned out, the delayed Inverness to Kirkwall flight, plus the road construction detour, moved the Neolithic marvel on Wideford Hill into the lead off spot in our 2022 lineup.  By moving Wideford up on the schedule, it changed how we would visit the more famous "Heart of Neolithic Orkney"--the Stones of Stenness, Barnhouse, Brodgar Stone Circle and Skara Brae. 

Wideford Hill viewed from Cuween Cairn--April 11, 2022

Thankfully, "the diversion" also prompted us to take in Wideford's neighboring cairn on Cuween Hill.  We had initially short-changed Cuween, penciling it as a "maybe see".  But these two Neolithic features, with their chamber passageways directly facing each other from the opposite highlands that rim the Burn of Rossmyre dale, are something like "bookends".  Now having seen them in situ, my recommendation is visit both if at all possible.    

Leaning winds on Wideford  April 11, 2022

On Wideford Hill, an intrepid spirit was certainly  necessary upon stepping out of the car hire in the small  parking area (room for two vehicles) cut into the trail head.  

Intrepid...and a solid grip on the car door, lest the wind modify your car hire into a doorless Baja rig.  Yes, the wind was that strong. 

The massive North Atlantic wind fetch is something to experience.  Half the planet's atmosphere under motion.  Its momentum is extraordinary.  Nothing disrupts it for 2,100 miles between St. John's in Newfoundland and Orkney in Scotland.  We've got wind here in Idaho, but not like this. Its power is magnified on heights...like Wideford.  

The Wideford walk itself was maybe 3/4 mile one way.  It is considered a medium difficult trail.  In all honesty, it was an easy enough rough country hike, though muddy in many places.  We began the Wideford Hill hike about noon, which is to say just about as soon as we landed on Mainland Orkney and picked up the car hire and got "the diversion" straightened out.  The trail flanks the hill across heath land which proved muddy and slippery at times.  Trail work on some of the steeper and wetter places has armored it with stones.  These varied in effectiveness, though. 

Armored trail section on Wideford Hill  April 11, 2022

For our part, experience dictates that we also don gaiters for our rough walks in Scotland.  Plus, we keep our Keen's well oiled.  Wearing gaiters is not due to a middle class aversion to getting dirty.  We get plenty dusted up here on The W in Idaho.  It's just that we travel very light (by most modern travel standards).  We each operate out of our own small carry on that stows under the aircraft seat.  

We take two pairs of jeans--those that are on us, and one in the pack.  Gaiters keep us presentable in the pub afterwards...and extend the wear.  Now we do set aside time for laundry during our sojourn.  It is catch as catch can--roughly, we dedicate a morning about in the middle of our visit for that.  The key is finding a laundromat.  [Kirkwall, incidentally, has a nice token operated laundromat conveniently located on Albert Street.  We  recommend it.]   

Bundled on Wideford Hill Cairn revetment--April 11, 2022

According to the dashboard, when we got out on Wideford Hill the temperature was 42°F.  It sure didn't feel like it.  On heights, winds lift, creating adiabatic cooling.  Cold mist pushed against us with what the Beaufort wind force scales call a "fresh breeze".  It's fresh alright...with "near gale" gusts.  Skin exposed was spanked. 

During our Easter travels in Scotland, we are never without a wind and water resistant parka.  It is essential.  Those without one (for example visitors just out of the cruise ship cabins who sport Dockers or Old Navy) have no business on Scotland's island heights.  Not even for short hikes.  The weather can and will turn quickly. 

Not for nothing, Scots have a neck scarf weaving industry...it's not for tartans per se.  It's survival most like.  We also punch a pair of lightweight thermo-fleece gloves into the parka pockets for use as needed...at places like Wideford Hill.   

Entrance passageway at Wideford Hill Cairn April 11, 2022

There was a drawback to bundling against the weather.  It proved to be problematic when trying to fit into the Wideford cairn.  Indeed, this would be an issue with several of the passageway cairns we visited in Orkney. 

Cairn passageway openings or entrances often are a mere 20 x 20 inches.  The one at Wideford was 21 x 15 inches; so even smaller.  The passageway itself is about 12 feet in length.  

At some point in the past few decades, this passageway was considered too low for modern entry.  Meaning people are bigger these days.  And an alternative entrance was built.

Attempting to wedge into these entrance holes mimics a circus contortionist twisting an ancient body frame that ain't seen calisthenics in decades.  We will blame the tight fits entirely on extra bundled outer wear.  Uhem.  Yeah...we'll go with that.

Sliding hatch door at Wideford Cairn--April 11, 2022

At Wideford Hill, the passageway into the cairn was blocked by a steel grate.  Theoretically, an improved entry was made.  I guess it is better than belly crawling. To access the "tomb" now, one uses a sliding hatch door built on the roof of the main chamber, and a fixed steel ladder down into the dark.  

Entering from the roof was how "antiquarian" George Petrie (in October 1849) breached the cairn in its first "excavation".  Wideford Hill cairn had a sort of "chimney" opening that was added sometime during the Bronze Age with only a layer of sod over it.  Whether it may have been for light in the chamber is unknown.      

Going in Wideford Hill Cairn--April 11,2022

But even this "modern" slider hatch made for a tight fit...this definitely being a drawback attributed to bundling against the weather.  It was a struggle to fit into Wideford cairn and to move around in it easily.  

The heavy steel ladder was a one-off welded piece, created for and fixed into that specific space.

Ladder into Wideford Hill cairn--April 11, 2022

Prior to descending into Wideford Cairn, I had seen pictures of the ladder.  It looked like it afforded plenty of room in the chamber.  In truth, it didn't.  The ladder, slightly angled, practically occupied the whole of the main chamber, which was only 10 feet long and about 4.5 feet wide.  That was the key restriction.   

Stepping down the ladder practically wedged me between the ladder and the cairn rock wall at my back.  A tight squeeze, when dressed for cold winds.

Wideford cairn was built by quarrying into the hillside.   Its drystone walls are set on an artificial terrace of bedrock, known as the Rousay Flag formation in the middle Old Red Sandstone.  

Apparently, its floor originally was packed clay, but after a couple centuries of visitors the floor is now graveled.  The photo of the ladder shows a small passageway opening off the main chamber, and the now graveled floor with standing muddy water. 

Trying to bend down and view into the chambers was difficult, particularly with a camera bag over the shoulder and the steel ladder either grabbing at it, or just plain poking me in the head.  

Eventually needing to climb out and into the winds above, I was hesitant to get too much wet down there.  It would have been not only wet knees, gloves and elbows, but a muddy bellied parka and camera bag as well. 

Wideford Hill Cairn is one of only a few chambered cairns in Orkney that the Neolithic stone work can be seen above ground.  Wideford has also sort of been "dissed" in its age (it is older than has been thought) and in its importance.

Wideford Hill cairn revetment walls--April 11, 2022

Current science now suggests that the architectural development of chamber tombs across Orkney began with Wideford Hill cairn about 3500 BC...so it is considerably older than the former estimates which put its age between 3100BC to 3000 BC and considerably more important.

Recent excavations nearby on Wideford Hill (2002 and 2013) have confirmed two Neolithic settlements on the slopes below the cairn.  Radiocarbon tests date these settlements to 3500 BC, and suggest that these Neolithic villages were initially built of timber.  Stone-built houses then commonly replaced timber structures around 3300 BC, some time after Wideford Hill cairn was built. 

These Neolithic settlements on Wideford Hill were occupied until 2900 BC to 2800 BC or so.  Research indicates that for a majority of Neolithic villages on Orkney, "a disjuncture" occurred around 2800 BC.  Meaning, they were  abandoned at nearly the same time.  The question is why?

Wideford passage grate

The sites were reoccupied a century or so later, in about 2700 BC.  But settlement patterns had shifted--i.e. a change in house architecture, larger houses and different worked pottery.  These "reoccupied" villages continued until a "final" abandonment around 2400 BC which coincides roughly with the advent of the Bronze Age.

As to wild speculations, this layman will submit one here.  Usual suspects for a widespread "disjuncture" are:  war, famine, disease. There is also environmental calamity.

Of note, the Orkney Neolithic disjuncture evidently occurred at nearly the same time with what is increasingly being viewed as a Holocene Era comet strike in the ocean off Madagascar, c. 2800 BC--a recent geological event well within the memory of humankind.  The depth at the strike (at Burckle Crater) is about 12,500 feet, and this apparently triggered megatsunamis in the Indian Ocean.  There is some dispute.  And while entirely speculative here, it is possible such an oceanic strike also affected the Orkney islands, and very likely most coastal settlements around the globe.  

This Neolithic comet strike in the Indian Ocean may even be the origin of "The Flood" stories described in so many cultures worldwide.  First passed on by oral recitations around the hearths; then by scribes setting it into writing for safekeeping.       

Wideford Hill etchings on chamber lintel--April 11, 2022

Speaking of which, one of the things I did want to photograph in Wideford cairn were the "incised" Neolithic markings inside the tomb.  These are linear geometric marks--for example V.  Prevailing wisdom seems to think these types of nearly "runic-like" marks found in several Neolithic structures on Mainland Orkney are not a written language.  Perhaps.  But then again, these people had far greater geographic reach than has generally been attributed to them.

For example, besides more advanced chemical and physical dating techniques like radiocarbon today, one biomarker of the time boundary at about 3300 BC is the presence or absence of the Orkney Vole.

Due to glaciation in the last Ice Age, this animal does not exist in Britain, nor could it have survived in Orkney.  It is found in continental Europe however.  The Orkney Vole appears in the archaeological record of Orkney c. 3300 BC.  Thus, it is assumed to have been transported via sea trade with Europe.  If so, having a "written language" or at least a form of tally marks is certainly within the realm of possibility.   

I had a sharp LED flashlight in Wideford cairn, but honestly I could not tell for certain whether I had identified any incised Neolithic "art" or not.  It is said that these Neolithic markings are upon the lintels over chambers.  One lintel seemed to be figured, so I photographed it, with flash.

Graffiti carved inside Wideford Hill Cairn--April 11, 2022

Elsewhere, though, preservationists mentioned carved graffiti (late Victorian or Edwardian) has all but obliterated Neolithic "markings".  It is now a criminal offense to deface these protected monuments (from 1935 onward).  Whether that effectively halts such destruction, is another story.  Just recently defacement of standing stones at Machrie Mor on Arran have been reported via the BBC.  And no, I did not carve the W as seen in the graffiti etchings at Wideford Hill.  

Graffiti carved Giant's Grave on Arran--2019

An aside, but we may recognize the W.T. carved inside Wideford's cairn.  It may be found on the defaced Giants' Graves long chambered tomb (a Clyde type--not an Orkney Maeshowe type) on the Isle of Arran which we visited Easter 2019.  If memory serves, the same styled "W.T." was associated with a date of 1883 AD and found carved into the long passage grave's massive stone slab roof.  It had had been pulled or spun off the tomb by vandals long ago.

 

 

The Diversion--a change in plans

As noted, a car hire is essential to get around in Mainland Orkney efficiently.  It is a large island.  To its credit, Mainland Orkney has fairly complete bus coverage.  Most places are reachable by bus, sort of.  The real problem is efficiency of time.  

Bus stop in Oban--March 30, 2018

Waiting bus transportation for a remote location with a thin bus schedule (say an hour or two hours between buses) can entail significant waits.  Taken collectively, bus stop waits can consume a large chunk of one's visit...as we discovered in the trip to Oban in 2018 by not boarding the bus that we should have boarded.  That is not something I can unilaterally let go.  She'll never hear the end of it, as I will explain.  

An opposite side to the car hire coin is also true.  In some instances, a car hire is unwieldy; say in urbanized Glasgow.  Searching for a parking space is time consumptive too.  And that assumes one ignores the hassle and the risks in crowded areas.  Many streets there are narrow and retrofitted to cars; not the other way around where cars are first and everything else second.  Besides, most busier urban stops in Scotland have trains, trams or buses, often operating every 10 or 15 minutes; so a car hire is redundant.  We certainly had no problem getting around Glasgow on public transport when visiting a distant Dumbarton Rock, or Kelvingrove.  Nor did we endure any significant waits.  

For Mainland Orkney though, a car hire permits a more relaxed scheduling.  The ideal is to control the schedule, not have the schedule control you.  It doesn't always work out that way, of course.  But a car hire does allow for ad lib travel, a carpe diem kind of deal.  A good thing, as it turned out.

Our Orkney tour began at Wideford Hill Cairn--April 11, 2022

Personally, we do not normally arrange our travel loosely.  Know before you go is wise.  A travel agenda ("regimented" as the Mrs. might dismissively style it) is often the key to efficient travel management.  It can avoid leaving one stranded.  

For example, we wanted to walk out to a couple tidal islands--to Brough of Birsay on Mainland, and on Sanday to the Holms of Ire and Start Point Light.  Obviously, timing one's hikes upon tide tables is necessary.  The North Atlantic is not something to be cavalier about.  "Mind the tides" was how a young gentleman put it as we inquired about parking near the Holms on Sanday.

In another example, we planned to visit the Isle of Eday.  Attention to the Orkney Ferries daily schedule was required.  It is not "uniform".  

Gray Head, Calf of Eday from Vinquoy Hill--April 14, 2022

The early Thursday Kirkwall-Eday ferry maximized our available time on Eday; whereas Wednesday, Friday and Saturday sailings afforded abbreviated visits.  Our plan was to hike Vinquoy Hill plus a couple other places on Eday.  So we needed all the extra time  we could get.  That meant taking the Thursday morning ferry to Eday.  In turn, that fixed our sailing days over to Egilsay/Wyre and Rousay on Friday and Saturday, respectively.  Incidentally, we pre-booked the Orkney Ferries (five total) in person at their harbor office in Kirkwall.  It was just easier to "git 'er done" so to speak.   

But that car hire can add a more relaxed "ish" to the schedule--e.g. visit it noon-ish, see it evening-ish, around Broch of Gurness-ish, etc.  Because we would tour Mainland Orkney over four days, that meant if we did not get to one site we may have penciled in the itinerary for one day, with a car rental we could pick that site up the following day...so the thinking went.

Cairn trail on flank of Wideford Hill--April 11, 2022

For the sake of domestic tranquility alone, especially while on vacation, Hesiod's approach may be prudent..."make arrangements in moderation" Works and Days, 305.  

An aside:  Hesiod (c. 750 BC), a Greek poet/philosopher, was more or less a contemporary of Homer.  He was also a contemporary to the building of several of Scotland's first unique brochs, which will be discussed in subsequent posts. 

Prior to his fame as a rhapsodist and writer, Hesiod apparently was a shepherd.  He lived at the beginning of the Iron Age, as the modern world began to be formed and history created.  Extant writings by Hesiod, known as the father of didactic poetry (i.e. instructive and moralizing), are:  Theogony (a "genealogy" of the Gods) and Works and Days (in which he exults justice and depreciates arrogance and corruption). 

"Make arrangements in moderation"...Hesiod's axiom certainly applied to the agenda for our first day touring Mainland Orkney. With the Kirkwall flight delayed, our intinerary started in some disarray.  We decided to push the planned Birsay tidal walk to the next day, especially given the weather...near gale force winds driving mists at times.  After consideration, we set out for the Stenness Stones and Brodgar Circle instead, figuring we would take on the easiest sites (near the road with parking close by), and if the weather got worse, we could just head back to our accomodations in Kirkwall and go to the pub. 

But even the Stenness and Brodgar substitution would be slightly altered due to "the diversion"...a construction project with which we would become familiar several times during our Mainland stay.

A diversion doubletake on Mull 2018

I did not occur to me to take a picture of "the diversion" on A965.  Nor could I since I was driving. So in lieu, is the curious 2018 photo from our "Mull Meander"--an orienteering debacle about which I will never hear the end of.

Forest cover blowdowns Mingary Burn on Mull 2018

The Mull Meander was a hike from Glengorm to Dervaig, a rather lengthy walk with some of it over open country, and at times boggy and densely wooded.  We began the walk from Glengorm Castle to Dun Ara.  From there to An Sean Dun, and then to the Highland Clearances settlement of Ballimeanoch.  So far so good.  We located these remote features despite misgivings from the Mrs. when we got to a stout wire fence we needed to get over.  We took our lunch at the somber ruins of  Ballimeanoch.  

From there, our aim (through thick forest cover on Mingary Burn) was to the Maol Mor Standing Stones above nearby Dervaig...we missed them.  Or rather, I missed them, as I have been reminded more than once ever since.  

Mingary Burn woods 2018

A Scotland travel site said of the Maol Mor standing stones, "These stones can be difficult to find as the path is very indistinct in places."  An understatement if ever one was.  So too was the forest sign and map of the affected area that was posted...albeit it at the opposite end from where we started from Ballimeanoch. 

In my defence, the forest road we needed had been oliterated.  A new junction and entirely new road was laid on the opposite side of Mingary Burn.  Neither was shown on the Ordnance Survey (OS) map.  Our OS map, though purchased new, did not show any of these "diversions" or new roads.

Worse, we could easily see directly across the burn (it was clearcut and replanted) precisely where we needed to go to get to the Maol Mor stones.  We just couldn't.  A brand new and very stout deer fence some 8 feet in height had been sunk to protect the forest plantation.  

The option of going back did not exist.  We were closer to where we were going than turning back.  So, we went forward uncertain at the upper end of Mingary Glen exactly where the new road led.  We discovered it skirted Loch Tor,  eventually showing up on the OS map near its intersection with the paved B8073. 

On Mull 2018

We hoofed the B road pavement down to Dervaig and the bus stop returning to Tobermory very foot sore.  Never mind the successful remote finds of An Sean Dun and Ballimeanoch, it's now...Dervaig.

With this in mind, regarding "the diverson" on Mainland Orkney's A965 (Kirkwall to Stomness Road), once we missed it (okay I missed it since I was driving--theoretically with a navigator I must add) a comment from the passenger side of the car sounded suspiciously like "Dervaig".

Well, okay.  But the diversion signage was not exactly clear as to what was being diverted.  Nor was it easy to see quickly enough, having been set literally on the ground after the intersection.  Anticipatory signage it ain't. And sometimes, it's a quick decision needing to be made.  Their white signs with small black lettering are difficult to absorb particularly when they list three different towns with mileages after a road intersection.

The walk down to Dervaig, Mull on B8073--on Mull 2018

Anyhow, a couple vehicles in the line in front of us did not take "the diversion," continuing instead toward Finstown on A965, so I trailed them.  They must have been locals versus through-drivers.  When we got to Finstown where the construction was, we found no cross sreets that would allow getting around the construction.  That part of Finstown is comprised of a row of detached houses on each side of the road. Finstown is something of a "y" intersection where the road has been pulled up and reworked.

Despite taking the hit to masculinity, it was necessary to turn around and take "the diversion," a short road called Zion's Loan.  It led to Old Finstown Road which parallels the newer A965 and gets you through the Finstown road work by way of a temporary traffic light in the construction.  

Once we got back to "the diversion," we changed plans.  A more modern (anticipatory) informational sign pointed the direction to Wideford Hill and Cuween Hill.  Since we were there and with a car hire, and had some "ish" in the schedule, we decided to take it. 

Never hear the end of it--Dervaig 2018

And that is how we began our Mainland Orkney tour.  Next up, the Wideford leaning wind.

BTW, I have little doubt that this new diversion "disinformation" will be heard in the future without end too.  So, not for nothing I keep hold of that "should've boarded" Oban bus and keep it in play, even if it is only a mere shred of self respect. 

   

 

 

A pan and a recommendation

At the outset, our Orkney itinerary got off script.  Our plan was to stay the first weekend in Inverness to recover the "jet lag," wait for the weekday LoganAir commuter flight from Inverness to Kirkwall on Monday morning (April 11) and pick up our car hire.  It was a logical decision, called good management of the itinerary.  Besides, Orkney Car Hire had short hours on Saturday (which we may have missed), and in any case was closed Sunday.  

So, the reasoning went:  we would visit Inverness and take the first workday flight over to Kirkwall on Monday.

Faith, Hope and Charity--Inverness April 9, 2022

That flight, however, would prove to be delayed over an hour.  In itself, that was not a hugely crucial delay.  We'll be polite and call it a stumble.  The problem was that we had arranged for Orkney Car Hire to meet us at Kirkwall Airport upon landing.  

Darla had purchased an international chip for her phone this trip, so we could text them from Inverness regarding the delay.  We just didn't have much to tell them beyond what would've been apparent on the arrival board at Kirkwall Airport...no plane from Inverness yet.  LoganAir provided us no ETA for the delayed flight, nor any reason for the delay. 

Nor was the car hire timing our only issue.  In our particular case, we had the Brough of Birsay in mind.  Birsay is a Mainland Orkney tidal island that we wanted to visit straight away, given the tide tables.  Low tide was at or about an hour after we were originally scheduled to land.  The Birsay walk requires attention to both time and tide.  We figured we had that covered.  The delay put this travel goal at risk.    

Now LoganAir did apologize to its April Shetland and Orkney customers (which included us).  I suppose that should be considered to their credit.  Their mea culpa was published via BBC...after the fact.  https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c0dzzzyym8ko.  

Chief executive Jonathan Hinkles implied their poor on-time performance was due to:  Covid, staffing, aircraft maintenance...or just pick a reason.  LoganAir's April 2022 on-time Orkney flights were reported at 74%.  Meaning, one in four flights was not on time, and we happened to draw that one.  Worse, poor Shetland!  Their on-time flights were reported at 61%.  That is hardly an exemplary customer service record.  Nowhere close.

Yes, delays happen; we're aware.  But it sure would've been helpful (and courteous) had LoganAir provided us an ETA so that we could pass it on to the young Mr. Peace with Orkney Car Hire who was awaiting us at Kirkwall Airport with our car hire.  LoganAir not only delayed us, they delayed Mr. Peace's business too.  

Inverness--April 10, 2022

If we were prescient (and we are not), maybe instead of deciding to pull up for the entire weekend in Inverness, we might have decided to travel through by taking the Inverness Saturday bus north to the Pentland Ferry at Gills Bay.  This ferry, a spanking new large and relatively fast catamaran, crosses Pentland Firth to South Ronaldsay.  Had we done this, we could have seen more of Caithness as well as more of south Mainland Orkney. 

Well okay.  Technically, South Ronaldsay is a separate Orkney island.  Functionally, however, it along with Burray and a couple Holms is connected to Mainland Orkney by the Churchill Barriers, the WWII anti-submarine concrete rubble causeways that were built by Italian POWs.  While the outer islands in Orkney have no public bus transportation, Mainland Orkney has a relative wealth of buses which connect most of the island's main "attractions".  The X10 bus is their workhorse, connecting St. Margaret's Hope (i.e. the slick Pentland Ferry catamaran) to Kirkwall and thence to the port of Stomness.  X10 spans the bulk of Mainland Orkney east-west, and is a fairly quick bus ride.  

Thurso rail head to Glasgow--April 21, 2022

We actually took the noontime X10 bus from Kirkwall to Stromness pier our final day on Orkney, Wednesday, April 20th.  We arrived late morning at Kirkwall pier with the car hire from the Isle of Sanday aboard the MV Varagan and returned the rental to Orkney Car Hire.  As this blog is a bit more than mere ruminations (it pretends to offer travel advice as well), a couple scheduling notes are merited on the car hire.  

First, Orkney Car Hire permits its rentals to board the Orkney Ferries.  That is key.  Not all car hire firms do that in Scotland.  This means that a reasonably extensive day trip on Mainland Orkney and its larger islands--such as Eday or Sanday--is possible.  Otherwise, one would have to rent a bicycle.  And even then maybe not.

Second, Orkney Car Hire is on Junction Road (A963).  In other words, central Kirkwall about a block inland from Harbour Street's row of venerable hotels.  While we stayed with Ayre Hotel (and also have many compliments to them for their first class hospitality), there are several other establishments--St. Ola Hotel, the Kirkwall, the Shore, the nearby Albert and more.  So, Orkney Car Hire is conveniently located both for picking up and returning (even if one takes the large ferries from Stromness or from St. Margaret's Hope instead of landing at Kirkwall Airport).  

As to returning the hire, should you decide as we did to take the large (and rather opulent) North Link Ferry MV Hamnavoe from Stromness to Caithness Scotland, Orkney Car Hire could not be sweeter.  It is even more convenient upon a return being less than a block from the Kirkwall Tourist Centre, where Mainland Orkney's five covered "bus stances" are found--their central bus station for various Mainland routes.  

When we hire vehicles in Scotland, we do attempt to take great care of them.  So a final note for those who may consider a car hire from Orkney.  Upon its return, their vehicle is closely inspected, so don't even think about it.  Further, unlike many car hire firms which rent the rig with something less, Orkney Car Hire lets out its rigs with a full tank of fuel, not just a 3/4 tank and a guess at it.  There's no question on how much gas was used.  The correct answer is none...because you return it full, the same as you hired it.

All in all, it's a first class quality service and indispensable if you want to explore more than the two main tourist sites on Mainland.  We recommend Orkney Car Hire without hesitation.          

In the "not so much" category, next time we'll certainly have to think long and very hard about booking a LoganAir commuter.  Besides, back in 2020 when Covid shut everything down, we were left without a voucher for the cancelled Covid Zone flight.  That money didn't "spoil"...it would've been perfectly fine (shelf stable) in a voucher for use this year.  It was simply taken, a Putin style deal.  

Never say never, of course.  We do realize LoganAir is probably it for an airline to several islands we hope to visit in the future--like Shetland.  LoganAir has a monopoly of sorts.  But we also just might alter forward travel plans and avoid it altogether by deciding instead to take Hebridean Air out to islands we have yet to visit in the Argyll, for example Coll, Tiree, Colonsay, or back to Oban the gateway to the Outer Hebrides.  That or just take a ferry...even if it's a CalMac ferry.  Not at all thrilled with LoganAir.

Sanday colors--April 19, 2022