Here at Keldaby we raise the beautiful, gentle and shyly friendly angora goats that provide Moonshine Design with the cloudsoft and highly lustrous mohair used in our fine selection of hand dyed, hand woven goods. Wrap yourself in a throw, toss a scarf or shawl around your shoulders or luxuriate in our fabulous ruanas. Step back to a more romantic era in a Western Isles hood. Discover the magic of mohair socks dyed in every color of the rainbow.
Jill is fighting a cold and sleeps in until 9 o’clock and we’re happy to just sit back and enjoy our coffee. By 10 though we’ve pulled ourselves together and we head off to Orphir, south of Stenness, on the road to Kirkwall. We visit again the Orkneyinga Saga Centre but skip the short film we had watched on our first trip, then walked to the Earl’s Bu, ruins of a Norse farmhouse and home to several of the earls who figure in the Orkneyinga Saga and finally to the Round Kirk of which only the apse remains.
We’re off then to Waulkmill Bay, this time properly shod in our new wellies. I’m sure that I saw a rock I’d seen two years before, coveted then but not taken because it was too big. Lynn and I aren’t quite as crazed by now but we all pick up a few to take back to the cottage. https://www.orkney.com/listings/waulkmill
A quick trip to Tesco to return some unneeded olive oil–there’s plenty on hand in our kitchen–and then we head home for lunch, our first BLTs.
We sit and knit for a bit but the weather is beautiful and here in Orkney, in May, one doesn’t waste warm, sunny, windless days so we head for the Ring of Brodgar. We can’t walk into the Ring! Victim of erosion damage, almost certainly caused by climate change, and perhaps too much tourism, the Ring is now cordoned off and we can only walk the exterior perimeter. We drive next to the Stones of Stenness and the neolithic Barnhouse village. https://www.orkneyjar.com/history/barnhouse
The Ring and the Standing Stones
We’ve never gone to the Unstan burial cairn so that’s next on our agenda. The cairn is located in a privately owned farm and we meet the owner. We crawl in and see the five burial chambers. There is a swallow-like bird etched on the lintel of one chamber. https://www.orkneyjar.com/history/tombs/unstan/index.html
Back home we have a delicious chicken soup that has slow-cooked all day, watch a Tiny House episode (though Jill is completely engrossed in her BTS K-pop videos) and make plans for a trip to Rousay.
I took a wonderfully hot shower last night–nothing unusual, the showers in the cottage are wonderful. But…when I went to wash my face this morning there was NO hot water. I let it run a long time; it got colder. Downstairs Jen was making coffee, I gave her the bad news. We took turns trying the faucets; perhaps someone will have the magic touch? Nope. It’s time for another email to Rosemary.
Oh well, we can’t let this little glitch stop us because this is Maeshowe day for Jen, and for Jill who has decided to go with her. The rest of us remember our visit last time, an amazing site where we had an excellent guide, and we feel it would be tempting fate to go again. We make a quick trip up to the Woolshed to buy some more of the North Ronaldsay yarn, both beautifully dyed and natural colored.
Back in Stenness we learn the next available tour is at 1 o’clock so Jill and Jen buy their tickets and we browse the little gift shop in the visitor center, not as extensive as the one in the former location.
Yes, Lynn could have bought this fetchingly lovely helmet
While they go on the tour Michael takes a walk and Lynn and I sit in the car and knit.
When they return from the burial cairn we all head back for lunch. Now our road is closed not only at our end but down by the Stromness Hotel as well. At #18 there is still no hot water or message from Rosemary. Fortified, however, with our sandwiches (notice I can’t even say BLTs anymore!) we all head to Kirkwall. Jill has an appointment for a massage which she is eagerly awaiting, Jen goes to the Earl’s and Bishop’s Palaces, both Renaissance buildings near the cathedral and both in ruins now, Lynn and I go shopping together, especially to a couple of consignment shops on a search for luggage, and Michael, on his own, buys a vest. We meet at Judith Glue’s for our requisite afternoon cappuccinos and scones.
Now the gods are really frowning; what have we done to offend them, what can we do to appease them? Back at the cottage there is still no hot water. There is an email from Rosemary saying that the water heater has been switched back on and all is fixed. Sadly, our nerves are beginning to fray. Another email goes to Rosemary from whom there are no more responses today. Jen makes dinner using various leftovers, I heat water so I can wash the accumulation of dishes (thank goodness for a really fast electric teapot!) and then we eat sitting in the front room. (It’s not the front room really but the enclosed porch with the great views onto the harbor.)
When Michael disappears to his room to emerge an hour later with his laptop, we figure he has been editing photos which he plans to show us, but no, he has written an email to Rosemary which he proceeds to read aloud. It lists every deficiency, as he sees it, going back to 2014, and we, aghast, tell him, no, no! If he is hellbent on sending this he must make it very clear that it is his and his alone. Jen and Jill sensing the coming storm wisely retire downstairs. To his credit he does disappear again, returning with a somewhat softened version. However, Lynn and I reiterate: It’s yours, Michael. Make that clear.
We don’t play Spite and Malice and the cold, which I have been pretending I didn’t have, is much worse. Tomorrow will be better!
The day begins raw and grey and there are white caps out on Hamnavoe harbor and although the forecast promises us temperatures in the upper 50s by noon, we have the heat on. I sketch a harborside scene while drinking a couple mugs of very good coffee (the only thing Rosemary has failed to provide us with is a frother, a recently acquired indulgence of mine!)
Mid morning we head up to Birsay. Here is the island as seen from Mainland Orkney, just across the Birsay Bay.
Having checked the tidal schedule we know low tide is at 12:40 so we plan to arrive there about 11:30. By then the water will be low enough for us to cross the causeway over to the island. In Birsay we stop for coffee and hot chocolate in the little store there and check out some of the local crafts the owner carries.. We then wander around the ruins of the Earl’s Palace built in the 1570s by Robert Stewart, a thoroughly unpleasant and imperious earl of Orkney and half-brother of Mary Queen of Scots.
It must once have been quite an impressive Renaissance palace–and given his propensity for violence–fortress.
From 2014, the causeway still under some water and the eddy that forms as the tide runs out
Jill standing on the Point o’ Buckquoy before walking over to the Brough o’ Birsay
And then a minor miracle–the sun appears, the wind calms and we all immediately feel restored. The causeway is totally open and we walk across to the Norse settlement.
A walk up the hill brings us to the lighthouse and we sit for a while looking out at the sea. From here you can see all the way to Hoy, the southern-most island.
Back on the mainland we find a sheltered place to eat our lunch which unfortunately is minus the cheese we forgot to pack. Beats a blank, well, just! Crackers and pickles, Hmm…..
At least we remembered to bring the beer!
We walk along the cliff side toward a geo (a deep cleft in the face of a cliff) but stop short to sit in the sun by this beautiful inlet.
After we leave Birsay we drive by the Barony Mill where, three years ago, we had learned all about bere and the mechanics of a water-powered grist mill . It introduced us to this wonderful ancient grain and the owner was enthusiastic and proud of this 19th century mill. Now we decide to stop there although it looks closed, as it has both previous times we have driven past. Indeed there is a sign on the door saying the mill is closed.
We also discover, after we have stopped at the Birsay Antiques Centre, new since 2014, that the mill owner is very ill. He doesn’t go into details but it has something to do with his back or spine.
On the way home we stop in at the butcher and buy lamb and chicken and for dinner I cook a curry-ish chicken dish with rice. Later we all, except Michael, head to the Stones of Stenness
and Barnhouse Village. Although Jill and Lynn have a vague memory of the village there, I have no memory of it at all although it is just a short walk away from the standing stones. We climb the stile and walk down the lane to this neolithic site. https://www.orkneyjar.com/history/barnhouse/
Back at #18 we have Orkney ice cream and watch a bit of TV, a program showing evidence of mammoths living once in Shropshire, and play a hand or two of Spite and Malice.
It’s grey this morning but the forecast optimistically promises: Becoming sunny and less windy. Good enough for us. We leave about 10 and as we drive up the only other way out of town–slightly less narrow than the main street–Michael sees Jean Leonard, the music teacher who gave him the score for a piece played at the Orkney Folk Festival three years ago. From this Michael composed his Orkney Song which he has played for us numerous times and which became our God Save the Queen or Marseillaise. He leaps from the car to go meet her and we pull to the curb to wait for him. We wait and wait….and wait. Forty-five minutes later we’re still waiting so we finally come to our senses and drive off! We figure he will manage quite well on his own.
By now the sky is blue and we’re off to Waulkmill Bay where Lynn and I had gone crazy picking up one beautiful stone after another three years ago and wishing we could ship entire crates back home. I think we are perhaps slightly less crazed this time though we do bring back a number of irresistible specimens.
These markings are almost runic
This one looks very Henry Moore, no?
We also find a seal skeleton and, where the tide has run out, numerous worm castings in the rippled sand.
Back at No. 18 we find Michael who is completely unperturbed that we had waited so long for him; he’s had a great time with Jean, has played his piece for her and is happy to have his own adventure.
BLTs finished we’re off to the Broch of Gurness. Brochs are found only in Scotland and generally near the sea; Orkney has about 100. They are large round towers, up to 65 or 70 feet in diameter with hollow walls about 15 feet thick with internal staircases and the whole structure could be 40 to 45 feet tall. They seem to be built for fortification (a Roman threat perhaps but there is no evidence of this purpose.) In fact, their use is still a mystery. Gurness is one that has quite a village built around it, most of the site within surrounding ditches, a community as large as 30 families. The site was occupied from the iron age (1st, 2nd centuries) through the Pictish times (9th century perhaps) to the Norse era (10th and 11th centuries) and the houses, though of a later date than Skara Brae, are very similar.
And here is one of the very few examples of a Pictish home, shamrock-shaped with five “cells” surrounding a central room with a hearth. There is also the remains of a Norse longhouse.
Back in Stromness again I try to call Bob on Lynn’s phone, which has been set up (why didn’t I do the same?) for international calls, to wish him a happy birthday but he’s not in the house so I have to make do with leaving a message. Jen cooks our wonderful Dounby Butcher pork chops
which she serves with applesauce and a salad. Afterwards, yes, it’s more Spite and Malice.
We learn that the owners of our cottage, Rosemary and her husband live in South Africa. This is a real surprise as we have been thinking that they live on Mainland, probably in Stromness. Rosemary has sent an email (by the way I now get email in the cottage with no difficulty. Such are the vagaries of this digital era) saying that Lynn may take one of the many conglomerate stones that are placed around the courtyard. She tells us that she and her husband usually stop at one particular beach in Scotland on their way north and these rocks have come from there.
Michael had forgotten his camera the day we went to SkaraBrae, so this morning we head back there so that he can surreptitiously get some shots. The rest of us go into the gift shop and Jill falls in love with a bracelet and we convince her that it is okay for her to buy something for herself, though she reminds us that she has indeed bought things for herself already. She loves it, does buy it and we congratulate her. The local craftspeople should love us!
Today we are prepared with tide information so now we drive up to Birsay again. The tide is still high and about half the causeway is still under water. We watch seals swim back and forth over the roadway.
The only seal I managed to photograph
We are the first to walk out onto the road to the brough and the ruins of the Norse settlement there. I walk across when there is still about eight inches covering the causeway and catch this photo of a small whirlpool caused by a hole which allows water to flow out toward the sea.
Eddy along the side of the causeway
Settlements on the brough began as early as Pictish times (6th c) when a small monastic community lived here, built a chapel with a graveyard and a few homes but the ruins seen here today are Norse, the older settlement being buried under it. A Pictish monument was found, in pieces, and a replica made from it while the original bits are in the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh.
Replica of a Pictish monument stone, Lynn peeking around it
Remains of the 12th c church in this Norse settlement
Looking back toward the headland and causeway. The ruins of the bishop’s palace are in the background.
Although current weight of opinion is that Earl Thorfinn–for you Orkneyinga Saga readers–had his seat on Mainland, there are those who believe this was his base. In any case, it was a large and thriving and important Norse community.
We happen upon this nest made of smooth flat pebbles–the parents are shrieking overhead and trying to lure us away–nestled next to one of the walls. Several people have now walked their dogs over the causeway and have unleashed them, much to our dismay. We are still wondering if these eggs will survive to hatch.
We climb a stile, open a gate and walk up the hill toward the lighthouse. The view back to Mainland is spectacular, all the way to Hoy.
We sit for quite a while first on one cliff then another watching the birds and the waves. It’s a beautiful day.
Lighthouse on the Brough of Birsay
Back in our car we eat our BLTs this time enhanced with field sorrel we have picked on our walk.
Another stop in Dounby for the delicious coffee. We ask our waitress, who grew up not far from where Jill spent her childhood in north England, what she thinks of Orkney. She has come here because her father “came here to die” which really seems to mean he has retired here. She says there is nothing to do on Mainland but she will stay because she really can’t imagine any other options. She has no concept of the world and is amazed to hear there are other time zones. At the Dounby Butcher we buy beef for the upcoming Guinness Beef Stew and more of the lamb chops, this time the really thick ones. The young woman who waits on us throws in the fifth and last one for free!
In Kirkwall we pick up another ring (rings, not earrings, seem to be a theme of this trip and certainly unusual for Lynn and me who are earring junkies) that Jill has ordered to her size. Let’s see, I’ve bought two, Lynn two and Jill one!
Back in Stromness I go back to Harray Potter to buy a knife for Bob, hand forged with a horn handle. Neither Andrew (the Harray Potter) nor George (I think her actual name was Georgina) is willing to tell us where it was made, but not in the Orkney islands we gather. Scotland? Though there was also talk of France.
Dinner tonight is fish, this time we skip the chips, while Michael eats up the rest of the vodka linguine. Knitting and a movie, Holiday with Kate Winslet and Cameron Diaz, round out the day.
We wake this morning to bright sun, a milder temperature and we’re in great spirits. Today we are going to visit two of the three most important west Mainland neolithic sites, the Stones of Stenness and the Ring of Brodgar, and reserve a place for ourselves tomorrow at the third, Maes Howe. The two stone circles occupy important sites on the narrow neck of land that separates the salty Loch of Stenness and the freshwater Loch of Harray, lakes that account for a large area of central Mainland.
Off we go, first to the Stones of Stenness, probably the oldest of the many archaeological sites on the Brodgar peninsula, having been carbon-dated to about 3100 BCE. It was built as a henge, which is to say, a level, circular platform surrounded by a ditch with an external bank. The henge here was more than six feet deep and about 22 feet wide. It was later that holes were dug for the placement of 12 standing stones, the largest being 18 feet high. Only four stones remain upright today.
The weather in the meantime has made a most remarkable reversal; it is now much colder, the lowering sky promises rain–or sleet maybe?–the wind is biting. But these massive stones with their angled tops convey such a foreboding, mysterious presence that the cold is almost forgotten.
A brief word about the high hills of Hoy. Generally speaking the Orkney islands are not hilly, but Hoy which lies just south of Mainland has two moderately high hills at its northern end, Ward and Cuilags. Seen from Mainland the slopes of these two hills form a V and it is the orientation of the sunset between the hills in the weeks around the winter solstice, the placement of the stones at Stenness and Brodgar and the entrance of Maes Howe that suggests the sophistication of these stone-age people. We will probably never know what their religious beliefs were but it is fascinating to theorize the possible uses for which these structures were built. The Stones of Stenness are a very popular motif for Island artists.
When we leave the stones we try to locate the Ness of Brodgar which we know is nearby and which we have been told is either open and accessible for anyone wishing to see it or, conversely, will not be open at all until later in the summer when excavations will again begin. It was only discovered 12 years ago. In any case, the only possible site we find is a large mound totally encircled by fencing and covered with turf and some sort of mesh visible in spots. Can this be the Ness? Or a part of it? How tantalizing! It seems to be in the right location, somewhere midway between the Stones of Stenness and the Ring of Brodgar. The guide book makes this 5000 plus year old site a cogent argument for a return trip!
We push on to the Ring of Brodgar, probably the most familiar landscape in all of Orkney. The Ring is about 310 feet in diameter and the circle is perfect. It too is a henge with a ditch and outer bank. Of the original 60 stones, 27 stand today.
It is nearly impossible to photograph in its entirety except from the air. It sits atop a slight knoll in a huge field of heather, just barely beginning to green up a bit, with a long view down over the Loch of Stenness toward Hoy. In the photo you can just make out the V of those two hills.
Again the sense of endless time pervades the site: people mined, transported and dressed these massive stones and placed them around this henge in a perfect circle. What did they know of geometry? Wasn’t that Euclid, a long time later? How did they do it?
I haven’t felt this touched by the enormity of time since my first visit to Stonehenge more than 50 years ago–before all the fences and gates, the tunnels and parking lots, the swarms of tourists milling around the visitor centre and once, horribly, graffiti. It was midnight then and a nearly full moon and just my mother and me.
. . . . . . . .
Michael, Lynn and Jill suited up for a spring day in Orkney
We eat our sandwiches, surely a different riff on the BLT theme by now, and then drive northeast to the Broch of Gurness. This is also a very impressive site, though practically modern by comparison, a scant 2000 years old or so. This site with its ditches, walls, broch tower and ruins of the community’s buildings, perhaps about 30 families, arrayed around the broch was occupied from the Iron Age to Pictish times to the Norse era about 800 CE. At the same site there is a rebuilt Pictish settlement.It is in the shape of a shamrock with rounded rooms radiating off from the main hearth area. Here’s a shot from one of my guide books showing the site from the air.
In the visitor centre I buy a new copy of Orkneyinga Saga and a book of short stories by the best known Orcadian author George Mackay Brown.
Iron Age dwelling, Gurness
We make another foray into Kirkwall for another round of shopping–Michael buys a beautiful North Ronaldsay sheep fleece, Lynn a ring, T shirts and a biking jersey and Jill found several items for Nicky, Fayley and Gussy. I’m sure I bought something too. Perhaps my second ring from Alison Moore!
Back at the cottage it’s Michael’s turn to make dinner and here it is:
Michael’s Cozy Chicken
Ingredients
2 Tbl olive oil
1 or 2 onions, diced
1 or 2 bell peppers, diced
1 1/2 lb skinless, boneless chicken thighs
6 plum tomatoes, diced
2 Tbl tomato paste
1/4 c worcestershire sauce
2 tsp fresh thyme, salt, pepper
1 1/2 c water
10 oz fresh or frozen corn
10 oz baby lima beans
1 lemon
Heat oil in a heavy pot or dutch oven. Add onions, peppers, salt and cook until onions are translucent
Place chicken on top and add tomatoes, tomato paste, salt, pepper, thyme, worcestershire sauce and water and bring to a boil.
Simmer 15 minutes, covered. Remove chicken to a plate andadd to the pot the beans and corn and continue to cook, about 15 minutes.
While the above is cooking, shred the chicken, then return it to the pot, add the juice of 1 lemon and serve.
Note: other vegetables may be substituted and fresh basil is good sprinkled at the end.
We had this wonderfully moist and delicious chicken with Tesco’s version of Trader Joe’s Two Buck Chuck. This one was Vino Rosso Italiano,bottled by CVSC of Ortona, Italia.
Do we let what we eat dictate the color of the wine? Of course not! What a tired canard that is!
When Jill, Lynn and I cook we try to limit the number of utensils dirtied in the meal’s preparation. Not so with our Michael!!
Fri, May 23 First a couple of catch-up things: number one, I want to thank Liz Sorenson for getting us all on the Orkney trail. She and her partner John Nove own an old farmstead on the furthest out Orkney island, Papa Westray, and they rent this now totally renovated farmhouse as a self-catering B&B when they are not in residence. Liz owns Sheep & Shawl (www.sheepandshawl.com) a small yarn (and much more) shop in South Deerfield MA. We had planned to rent their place (www.papawestray.co.uk/papay/peatwell.html) until Michael joined us and we needed larger accommodations. In hindsight I am glad we are staying on Mainland which makes access to many sites a whole lot easier. Papa Westray is really out there and scheduling around ferry times is not easy! Second, I mentioned the “loving bowl” I am giving my son and his fiancee. The official word for this type of bowl is quaich which is pronounced–and I was given much instruction on this–as if you were preparing to expectorate mightily while saying quake.
A quaich
We have reserved our place for an 11 o’clock tour at Maeshowe so we are all prepared to leave Stromness, dressed for the cold, by 10:15. We get a really good guide Aneka who is from Poland (each group going in is limited to about 15 people) and we are inside the mound for over an hour.
This 4700 year old structure is truly impressive. Four massive standing stones form the corners of the chamber and probably predate the chamber itself. The walls of the chamber are perfectly built with cells off the main room which are assumed to be burials sites. The entrance, which is aligned to the winter solstice sunset as the sun sets between the Hoy hills as aforementioned, is narrow and low (a little over a yard high and about 20 feet long.)
Photography is not allowed within the chamber. This is a postcard showing the winter solstice sunset rays. The bright spot is from my camera.
A stone slab, which is positioned to be pivoted, marks and can close off the opening. The roof was originally corbelled stone but is now a concrete dome. This site was certainly noted by the Norsemen who spent time in this chamber and probably lived in or were visiting this region and there are several examples of runic writing, graffiti actually, inside the chamber. Although some of the runes describe great treasures found here, nothing has ever come to light since the Norsemen returning from the crusades carved their comments here: “Ingibiorg, the fair widow….” and “Thorfinn carved these runes….” about 1150 CE
Among the various Norse inscriptions there is the well-known dragon (or lion) which we had expected to be bigger but is only about 4 inches high.
The Maeshowe dragon
From Maeshowe we drive to Orphir where there is the ruin of the Norse round church modelled on the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. Only the apse remains, built by Earl Hakon after the slaying of Earl Magnus and upon his return from pilgrimage. Like Maeshowe, it and the adjoining earls’ bu (drinking hall) are mentioned in the Orkneyinga Saga.
We watch a short film in the Orkneyinga Saga Centre on this murder and atonement tale.
Michael, through the apse window
The apse
From there we drive south down through Burray (skipping the Fossil Museum and its dreadful coffee!) to South Ronaldsay, intending to explore the Tomb of the Eagles. By the time we get there, however, the wind has picked up and the temperature has dropped even more (it is just a micro-degree away from sleet I am convinced) and we learn at the visitor centre that the walk in is more than a mile and the entrance fee of 7 pounds (wish I could find the symbol on my keyboard!) per person seems high plus the description of the site itself seems underwhelming so we give this spot the slip and head up to St Margarets Hope so Michael can see if the people in The Loft still have the cabling needle which had inadvertently been left there when he exchanged the yarn earlier. (They replaced it.) Back in Stromness Jill made dinner.
Jillian’s Really, It’s Very Simple Lamb Chops (from the Dounby Butcher)
Mint Sauce: 2 handfuls fresh mint (right from our cottage’s courtyard) finely-chopped
2 tsp sugarAlmost cover with boiling water.
Add 1/2 tsp salt and
1/3 c malt vinegar. Let sit.
Grill lamb chops on top of stove (we have definitely decided the oven does not work) with
sliced mushrooms.
Serve with boiled new potatoes and steamed broccoli.
At the same time (and for lunch, etc) Lynn has made:
The Great Everything Is It Soup? Stew? Casserole?
In a crock pot put onions, parsnips, garlic, leeks, carrots, celery, savoy cabbage, hot peppers, mixed Italian herbs, all sliced or diced.
Add chicken broth and
about 1 1/2 c soup mix (a dried mixture we had bought at the co-op of barley, red lentils and green and yellow split peas.)
Slow cooked over 4 slices of the wonderful Orkney bacon for 8 to 10 hours on the “low” setting of the crock pot.
Serve with plain Greek yogurt and
sprinkle with fresh cilantro.
More Spite & Malice, more knitting and more of the Chelsea Flower Show. Having given up temporarily on the netzpatent, I am reading the George Mackay Brown Island of the Women.
Jill standing on the Point o’ Buckquoy before walking over to the Brough o’ Birsay
A
