Travelled:38km
Stay:Yesnaby carpark N59.0248 W3.3588
Visited: Earls Palace Birsay, Kitchener Memorial Marwick Head, Skara Brae (£7pp included in Explorer pass), Maeshowe (£9pp incl.in Explorer pass) Yesnaby Castle (stack)
The wind was our constant companion last night, making for a restless sleep. Mark got up early to watch the Bombers scrape in another win before we went to have a look at the ruins of the Earl’s Palace of Birsay. It had been built in the 16th Century by Lord Robert Stewart, an illegitimate son of King James V. After he and his son were executed for treason in 1615 the Palace was hardly used and by 1700 fell into decay.
Mark said to make a pose!
Not far away on Marwick Head, we went for a walk to The Kitchener Memorial built in 1926 for Britain’s Secretary of State for War. He was killed whilst sailing on the HMS Hampshire on 5th June 1916 when it sunk after striking a German mine.
Local bere barley
A little further south in the Bay of Skaill we stopped to visit Skara Brae, the remains of a stone built Neolithic settlement of 8 cluster houses, discovered in 1850. There were many objects uncovered which gave clues on how people once lived here.
We also visited Skaill House, a fine mansion that had many rooms to explore reflecting how it was in the 1950’s.
A hidden cupboard in the library...didn’t find any treasures.
During busy times it is recommended to prebook your visit to Maeshowe. Having our 2pm allotted time, we made our way there and had some lunch. We were then transferred by bus to the site. It is the largest Neolithic chambered Cairn built in 2800BC. On the outside it is 35m wide and 7m High.
We entered through a narrow 11m long, 1m high passageway to the chamber that is 4.5m high and that just fitted the 25 person limit.
Thank you Google. No photos allowed inside.
The guide was very informative. We learnt that some flagstones used to build the Cairn weighed up to 30tons. The entrance is aligned to the setting sun on Winter Solstice, illuminating the chamber golden light. There was evidence that the Vikings had discovered the chamber in the 1100’s as they left many runic inscriptions.
After our hour long tour we decided to have a walk along the cliffs at Yesnaby. Unfortunately due to the unpredictable weather we canceled our plans to visit the Man of Hoy on the next Island (3 hour walk in the rain as well as we were told the bus didn’t run on Sundays). But apparently Yesnaby is the next best thing. So we enjoyed a pleasant walk with amazing views and took lots of photos of the stack known as the Yesnaby Castle.
We also met a man who runs community classes on flowers and bird life on the island (also written books) who pointed out to us the rare Scottish Primrose.
The sun peaked out one last time and then we got into Bluey and out of the freezing wind having had another full day on Orkney.
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