Our early flight from Inverness got us into Kirkwall, Orkney’s main airport, by midmorning. We were greeted with overcast skies and big, big winds. Orkney is legendary for the winds. More than one person told us that natives have bent over postures from leaning into the ever-present winds. Could be true!
We’ve been using taxis to get around but that’s just not possible on Orkney as the sights are so spread out. We ended up with a nice, full-size Peugeot with room enough for all of us with luggage. Manual shift for the left hand and steering wheel on the proper side – let the games begin. As driver, my only request to the rest of the gang (this was Dick driving) was to keep any screaming to a low level.
We headed to the southern tip of what’s called the Orkney mainland. The ‘Churchill Barriers’ were constructed during WWII after a German U-Boat sank the HMS Royal Oak in what was previously considered a safe harbor. Over 834 lives lost. Winston Churchill ordered the barriers constructed to block off approaches to the Scapa Flow anchorage. There are visible wrecks of blockships used to block the routes into the harbor while the barriers were under construction. They are now used as causeways connecting the Orkney mainland with nearby isles.
Much of the work on the barriers was done by Italian prisoners of war. While on Orkney, the prisoners convinced the Brits they needed a place of worship and transformed a basic Nissen hut into the remarkable Italian Chapel. The chapel is an incredible work of art. The interior is noted for it’s ‘trompe l’oeil’, or ‘trick of the eye’ technique which made the painted walls appear to the mortared brick. Fooled us all.
After driving north into Kirkwall we toured St. Magnus Cathedral. Kirkwall is Orkney’s capital and is actually closer to Norway than London! The cathedral was founded in 1137 by a Viking chieftain in honor of the martyred St. Magnus. It’s a popular place and is one of the finest and best-preserved medieval cathedrals in Scotland. Kirkwall felt like a true tourist town with packed streets as a cruise ship was docked in the harbor. Not what we expected in this remote area.
The weather began to clear so we headed west on the mainland to the cluster of archeological sites near Stenness. A circular cairn, Unstan Cairn, sits along the roadway. Not large, but well-preserved, Unstan was likely built about 5,000 years ago as a communal burial place. We were the only visitors with the exception of some friendly sheep.
From the cairn it’s an easy drive to a series of world heritage stone monuments that were part of a large ritual complex. The ‘Standing Stones of Stenness’ are a henge of what was originally 12 megaliths. They date from around 3100 BC. A short drive away is the ‘Watchstone’, a single and imposing stone in the center of the ‘Ness of Brognar’, a long ridge of land. Not much is known about the stone.
The final Stenness monument is the iconic ‘Ring of Brognar’. It is estimated to have been erected between 2500 & 2000 BC, making it the last of the great Neolithic monuments built on the Ness. Originally some 60 stones comprised the stone ring. Only 27 remain today. Interestingly, some years ago we visited the Neolithic Avebury complex near Stonehenge almost 700 miles from the Orkneys. The Brodgar ring is exactly the same size as Avebury’s two inner rings! Very curious.
It was a busy day, to say the least. And, we survived the single-track roads (at least for today)! Dinner was at our hotel, the Ferry Inn, in Stromness.
