Carpe diem from a bench

The Orkney archipelago is comprised of 70 islands and skerries.  Of these, 20 are inhabited.  The islands are further divided into the North and South Isles.  Mainland Orkney is in the center.  

April 20, 2022 Departing Stromness, Orkney Mainland

 

April 16, 2022--Eynhallow island from Rousay

With so extensive an archipelago, and a vacation of two weeks total, choices must be made regarding what to see.  It is not realistic to visit all inhabited islands of Orkney in that time frame.  And this says nothing of visiting unoccupied isles such as Eynhallow--which can be reached by chartered boat if you set aside time.

Orkney has such a rich and varied set of sites that span many interests.  Nature reserves for wildlife (sea birds or seals), sand beaches, viewpoints, paths on the rims of sea cliffs...and historical sites (our bailiwick).  Even for those not venturing afield, there are urban interests like distilleries and shops.  Again, only so much can be taken in on one trip.  

During the winter (2021-2022), we began to fill in our "must see" itinerary.  Organizationally, this preliminary list is important.  It helps frame transportation and lodging that are linked to it...what is possible and what is not.  Our "A list" mostly comprised of Orkney prehistoric sites from the Neolithic (c. 3500 BC to 2000 BC in Orkney) and Bronze Age (c. 2000 to 800 BC), and two important Iron Age brochs (c. 800 BC to 400 AD) we definitely wanted to explore.

On previous Easter sojourns, some of our longer and honestly most glorious day hikes were our visits to Iron Age sites--like Dun Nosebridge on Islay, the remote An Sean Dun on Mull and Dun Skieg on Kintyre.  As a class, Scotland's Iron Age sites are inspiring, easily worth the footwork to reach them.  

March 2017  View of Islay from the top of Dun Nosebridge

 

March 28, 2018  An Sean Dun, Island of Mull

April 17, 2019  Dun Skieg on Kintyre

Orkney's brochs (Gurness and Midhowe) definitely did not disappoint.  These broch ruins proved to be every bit as magnificent as hoped, and will be the subject of future posts.  

Our prehistoric "A list" formed the core of our travel and walk itinerary on Orkney.  But we do not operate on an inflexible schedule.  One can't in many respects.  We leave space for casual discovery, for those "carpe diem" tourist pursuits we might happen across while in route.

One genre of sites we did not visit while in Orkney were the World War sites.  But not for trying.  On Wednesday, April 20, we alighted in Stromness on the noon bus from Kirkwall and on foot.  

April 20, 2022  Sanday pier

We already had a busy morning, departing Sanday on the morning ferry back to Mainland Orkney, and then returning our car hire in Kirkwall.  That was a pay the piper routine--we had to return it full of fuel.  

In Kirkwall, we took the rental to a fuel station, and had a typical conversation with a local who was also at the pump.  The price of gas is sort of like comments about the weather.  Yikes!  It was definitely up there.  By rough calculation we burned just over 9.6 gallons in our exploring.  That works out to about £6.42 per gallon...or $8.66 in dollars.  And little did we know, fuel was set to skyrocket worldwide.  Price vertigo to be sure. 

April 20, 2022 Gas prices

From Orkney Car Hire, we walked the block or so to Kirkwall's bus "stands" and took the noon bus to Stromness where our North Link ferry (MV Hamnavoe) was moored.  That evening it would return us to mainland Scotland and the Thurso rail head homeward bound.

We had time on our hands in Stromness; on the order of three or four hours.  It was enough time to walk to Ness Battery below Stromness and back.  But the hike proved to be a fleeting consideration only.  

In Stromness under pack

We were under pack at this point.  This always weighs, pardon the pun, upon walking decisions.  More to the point, we were somewhat spent.

Even with a car hire on the 2022 trip, we had already trekked some 30 to 40 miles of Orkney, across six islands.  Not only were we nearly out of time in Orkney, we were running a touch low on "oomph".

As we ambled southward through the streets of Stomness toward the Battery, we hopped into several shops along the way.  In one, we purchased a locally crafted woolen blanket.  To avoid schlepping it around, we paid the Royal Mail parcel postage to have it delivered to Idaho once we got back.  We did the same in 2017 with woolens from Islay Woolen Mill.

The shop keeper was more than kind to take care of it.  But the shop hop in Stromness proved to be enough, thank you. 

In Stromness under pack

The wool blanket buy was somewhat a foreign exchange conversion near the end of our sojourn.  We have done this sort of thing too a few times, though admittedly usually in the Duty Free whisky shop at Glasgow airport before boarding our flight home.  In any case, we "dumped" the bulk of our remaining cash Stirling on the woolen.  

We kept enough cash back for taxi fare from Scrabster harbor to our hotel in Thurso that evening, and for incidentals the next day on the long distance train to Glasgow.  (We could have spared that forethought, however, since Covid had foreclosed catering carts onboard Scotrail.)  And we kept enough cash for breakfast and the express bus to Glasgow International.  

Bottom line, we did not extend our walk beyond the outskirts of Stromness to the battery.  We returned to the center of Stromness to take lunch on a bench in the town square.  Curiously, this proper elderly pastime was actually enjoyable.  

We spent the better part of two hours on that bench, watching with some fascination the movement of Stromness, its commerce and people.  One activity we watched was a trawler which had just landed its catch of the day.  

Literally, it was selling seafood directly from its nets.  The catch was palletized into what seemed to be "Gaylord" containers moved about by fork lift.  Some was being stuffed into a waiting refrigerated "lorry".  And some went into what seemed to be a fish market warehouse on the wharf.  

April 20, 2022  Coal, propane and wood delivery

The lorry was likely bound for Mainland Scotland on the same ferry we were.  The catch we watched getting sold would probably make its way over road to larger markets in Scotland.  In any case, we enjoyed our bench view of Stromness, Orkney's second largest city. 

Stromness

A couple things stood out as different.  First, while it may have looked like a pedestrian way, actually the paved and cobbled street carried traffic both ways, as well as bicycles.  In places, it was tight.  Not exactly a harmonious affair for those on foot.  Staying alert is key. 

One can imagine stepping out a front door only to be hugged by a neighbor's vehicle.  Parking is anybody's guess.  A small lot existed for maybe 5 small cars, nowhere near big enough for all.

Second, entrances to most homes and apartments were in alleyways.  These were like wind tunnels.  The prevailing wind was off the sea, perpendicular to the main street and right down the alleys.  Some alleys were creatively kept with potted plants.  Others, not so much.

Stromness wind tunnel

Third, some of the names used for streets or geographical features are more than curious, as the photo taken by Darla suggests.  "Hell Hole" has municipal offices on it.  One can only guess at the story. The photo also shows Orkney's flag in the background.

More or less at Hell Hole, we backtracked to the town square and did our leisurely lunch.  Near 6 p.m., we boarded the Hamnavoe on our return trip to Idaho.  

April 20, 2022  "Hell Hole" Stromness