Series of small walls

After a good sleep we had some breakfast and watched the seals holding their Pilates poses on the rocks in front of the house.
The haar was still thick but the weather forecast had looked as if we’d have more brightness in the west so we headed that way, partly following the Creative Trail although several places closed as it was Sunday. Whilst we were looking round an antiques place I had a long struggle with Ocado on the phone to do a food delivery to P. I’m trying them out given the problems I’ve had with Sainsbury’s and since I thought he’d like some M&S food for a change, but needed a long and difficult call with an intransigent ‘customer service’ person on the phone to persuade them to leave in the delivery box since the carers weren’t there. Managed in the end, but very draining,,,,,
We went to the Brough of Birsay and sure enough the sun broke through and we explored the beach (not very many shells, but interesting rocks that looked almost like cushions). Incredibly windy, and all day as we got in and out of the car and took our coats on and off we were blown to bits. Fairly warm, or at least not cold, but my that wind slaps you around!
From the beach we popped into Birsay tea rooms but no space so we had to get coffee and biscuit/scone to eat in the car. Then we went to see the Broch of Gurness and really enjoyed wandering around all the small walls exploring the bed areas, the cupboards, the ceremonial doorways (and even the toilet!). From around 500AD which seemed distant enough, but we then went to Skara Brae which made that seem recent, since it was 5000 years old. Very good visitor centre with displays of the beads and tools and other artefacts found there, a reconstructed home which had a surprisingly cosy feeling. Amazing to see how similar the broch site was to this much older village, and to see how their design of tunnels and interconnected houses would have protected them from what I suspect was the same wind we were experiencing.
Love archaeology and trying to put myself into the minds and lives of the people who lived there, and had a nice chat to the guide there about it all.
Afterwards we had another interesting tour around Skaill House and learned a lot about the family who lived there…from the Bishop in his four poster bed in the 17th Century to the 1970s pink bathroom suite of the final resident, and the sad story of Walter the young son of the family killed in a riding accident.
From there, we took a drive down to Stromness and bought some lamb chops for supper. Enjoyed driving down the little lanes of the town and will return to explore more tomorrow. Over to Kirkwall and explored there too…just as well we bought the lamb as the restaurant we were thinking of going to was full.
Home and improvised out dinner making a sauce with leeks and rhubarb jam (sounds odd, tasted rather good!) then did some research for other events for the rest of the week.
Good day!