This morning we went to Deerness on the east coast of the
mainland, an area which is just about still connected to the mainland! We got there easily enough, although when we
arrived, it was quite windy and spitting with rain. I decided on my walking boots as they are
more waterproof than my walking shoes, and I also wore ALL of my waterproofs. The walk was good, if windy! We walked along the coastal path staying
sensibly clear of the cliffs, and we took a look at the “Gloup” and the Brough
of Deerness which was about half the main walk here. By this time the wind had got up quite a bit
more, and I didn't want to chance walking across to the stack. The Brough is on a stack which is just still
connected to the mainland, though I suspect in a good 100 years or so, people
may not be able to get across. Mathew
decided it wasn't too bad so he went all the way across the path way which had
a chain handrail attached to the cliff side and a sheer drop on the other. I didn't go across as I thought it too windy
and a little too risky, although I think the main reason was probably my fear
of heights....or rather, falling...!! So
I waited on the mainland and watched him go there and return back safely. He told me it wasn't that windy on the path
as it was somewhat protected by the cliffs.
It still didn't really make me want to go across there!! 
By this time, the rain had got up, being blown across the
cliffs and inland in droves – we could physically see water being blown
across. We headed back to the car along
the same way we came here, the wind on our right side. I was glad I had my sticks with me otherwise
I may have fallen as the ground soaked up more and more of this sea mist and
rain. By the time we got to the Visitors
Centre at the car park, we were both pretty drenched – Mathew had not worn his
waterproof trousers while I was wearing all of mine. I had made a good call on the walking boots!
Leaving the Visitors Centre, we headed back towards Kirkwall
but we stopped off at a place called Mine Howe.
This was a recent find, featured a while ago on Time Team, and I think
it may have been in the process of excavation when I visited Orkney for the
first time about 10 years ago. A large
mound in the ground was excavated and it turned out to have 29 steps descending
with a small “landing” in the middle and a small “room” at the end. It was obviously privately owned rather than
being Historic Scotland, as we went into a long cabin which had someone behind
a desk with a few things to buy such as fleeces, postcards and archaeological
books, and in the other half of the cabin there was a display about the site,
how it was discovered, excavated, Time Teams' involvement in it, and their
creation of a similar mound in order to find out how it would have been made.
We donned hard hats and were given a couple of torches to
take with us into what looked like a small shed on a hill, but once
inside....well.... I have never seen or visited anything quite like this
one! Inside we went, and the great thing
about this was is that there was a hand rail all the way to the bottom onto
which was attached plastic cable lighting which was very helpful so we could
see the steps. The steps themselves were
roughly cut and uneven, and the best way of doing down was backwards, as if on
a ladder. At the “landing” there was a
small hole which ran deep into the side, again lit by a cable light – I'm not
sure what this was but it looked quite good!
Downward again to the bottom, and we looked up at the structure inside
to see that it was all dry stone made, which is very impressive! I was glad I had kept on all my waterproofs
too as it was quite damp down there. We
came up the steps back into the light of day, returned the hats and the
torches, and made our way to a small beach where we had our lunch. This was when the mist really came down onto
us – we couldn't see far out to see at all, and it was still very very windy
indeed. The only thing which had stopped
somewhat was the rain.
In Kirkwall, we strolled along the main streets of shops
buying souvenirs and seeing plenty of places selling Orkney Ice Cream, so it
wasn't such a conspiracy here – although we decided not to have any as we
weren’t in the mood for it! As we came
around to the main hub of activity, we came across the Orkney Museum which I
must recommend. It's quirky but not
exactly in the same way as Stromness Museum – it is more modern in layout, but
the building itself was very quirky indeed, lots of doors and lots of stairs. The route took us through rooms displaying
items from Prehistory all the way through to the 20th century, and
there was a special exhibition on the Ness of Brodgar which is the most recent
find on the Brodgar causeway on Orkney. The
thing with this Museum, is that once you reach the end, you have to walk back
through where you have already been in order to get back downstairs to the shop
and exit. Good job there were all the
signs pointing to the exit..! :)
Back outside again, we went into St. Magnus Cathedral before
continuing our shopping spree. The
Cathedral was founded in 1137 by Earl Rognvald-Kali, the nephew of the martyred
Earl Magnus. It is dedicated to Magnus
and contains his remains. We returned
back to the car and went back to the cottage for a cup of tea and spent the
rest of the afternoon packing and cleaning up the place ready to just have
breakfast and leave tomorrow morning, VERY early indeed - our ferry to mainland
Scotland departs at 6:30am which means we have to get up at 4am! Ugh!!
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