Guided Tour

Backblip


A special day today which had been booked well in advance.  A tour of the Mainland by an Orkney Tour Guide by private car, so no driving for TJ.

The day started off dry, but grey and our first stop was at this well-known landmark, the Italian Chapel, crafted by Italian prisoners of war who were drafted to Orkney to help build the Churchill Barriers.  So beautiful and  so skilfully using the materials to hand to amazing effect.  We were so lucky to have it to ourselves (clever planning on the part of our guide!)

Then it was on to the archaeological dig at the Ness of Brodgar, which is just fabulous - like Skara Brae with bells on:-)  Picture in Extras.  Our guide's grandfather had been instrumental in discovering the site and she had been on radio that very morning to talk about his input.  Everywhere we went people were commenting to her that they had heard the interview!  

Next stop was the Ring of Brodgar standing stones, which we had visited before in dry weather.  This time the rain had started in earnest and it was a rather cold and soggy walk around the ring, observing the graffiti left by one of our guide's distant ancestors (her family history in Orkney went back 400 years!)

We were very relieved to stop for a lovely soup and sandwich lunch to get out of the rain at the Standing Stones Hotel at Stenness!  We chose to observe those stones through the raindrops on the car windows:-)

Two more indoor stops followed because of the awful weather - the Barony Mill and the Kirbuster Farm Museum.  The mill is the last working mill in Orkney (there were over 50 at one time) to grow and mill its own beremeal, a type of course barley and we had the opportunity to start and stop the water wheel and see how everything worked.  Photo of interior in Extras.  The farm museum had lots of information and equipment from farming in the old days, though our guide remembered using much of it on her father's farm when she was a girl, so not that long ago!  

Our next stop was at the Brough of Birsay for a second attempt to see the puffins, but frustratingly the rain and wind was just too strong to attempt the crossing again.  The same thing at Skara Brae where we had intended to walk the mile out to the shore where the ruins are situated, but bu this time the rain was actually horizontal so we visited the replica house at the Visitors' Centre instead and that was brilliant and gave a very good idea of what life may have been like there. Photo in Extras.

All too soon it was time to head back to Orphir, but if you ever need a tour guide on Orkney I can thoroughly recommend the lady we had:-)  Many thanks to Poppy for giving us her details.