Orkney Islands May 5/2018

A full day today as we were off at 7:50 to drive to basically the northern most end of  Scotland.
We arrive at John O’Groats and board the foot passenger ferry to South Ronaldsay, Orkney. The sun is shining, for which we are eternally grateful.  Many visitors to the islands are not so lucky, many not some, have lashings of rain or fog where they can’t see their finger in front of their face.
The ferry ride is 45 minutes, the Atlantic is fairly calm and a stiff breeze is blowing.  A local coach is waiting for us.  We start our journey on narrow roads past the occasional house/cottage seen on a parcel of green, many many sheep and lambs. I swear I have taken dozens of photos and have yet to land a suitable one of the lambs!
We cross what are known as the Churchill Barriers, of which there are four. They were built to keep out enemy ships during the war years, and they join the small islands together as there is a road on top.  On one barrier we overlook Scapa Flow where the German Fleet scuttled itself in World War 1, three German battleships are still sunk at Scapa Flow, many others that were sunk were removed.
As well as learning the history of the islands we are entertained with stories from both our guide Matthew and our Drivers.....today we had a relief driver for Mark, who by law had to have a day off.
Johns story today was about how back in 1952-53 they experienced some ferocious winds, 190mph to be exact! 80,000 hens were blown off the island.....all the way to Norway. They still have hens, just not so many! The way he told it, it sounded true, but I’m not really sure.
On our route the Queen Mums castle is pointed out, she used to spend the better part of August here every year. In fact, due to her presence the road was paved and maintained. Nowadays Charles and Camilla visit The Orkney Islands annually and are judges for the Island Highland games.
We pass by a few standing stones, some very shaggy Shetland ponies, black lambs and a few highland coos!  A visit to the award winning Orkney Brewery where we have a guided tour and a light lunch with samples of the local ale. One of the brew was awarded best in the world, others have won silver medals.
Perhaps the most impressive visit was to Skara  Brae to see the remains of a 5,000 year old Neolithic village and visit Skaill House. This site was only unearthed 160 years ago, it is believed that buried under the site is up to at least two more sites. They can’t  excavate the sites underneath without damage to the top/currently excavated one. Skara Brae sits on  a hill (brae) with a view of the sea and a white sand beach, water you can see through it is so pure.
As if all we had seen wasn’t enough , there was still more! There was a prisoner of war camp on the island where Italians were incarcerated,mbeing Roman Catholic they built themselves a chapel, still in use today. Another highlight was the ring of standing stones called thecaring of Brodgar, known as the Orkneys Stonehenge. The best thing about the Ring of Brodgar is that you can walk right up to and around all the stones unlike Stonehenge in England where they must be viewed from a distance.
To my surprise another sighting  which I didn’t expect......driving over one of the barriers...reaching the end there was a totem pole gifted to the island by the Haisla band of British Columbia!
We made our last stop at the picturesque town of Kirkwall, the island capital, for stroll, some shopping, an ice cream.
We returned for the ferry back to mainland Scotland. The crossing was not the gentle one we had in the morning, great waves tossed the boat about.
A lovely meal was ready for us back at our hotel the St. Clair.
Tomorrow it’s Skye, and ULLAPOOL!