We Made it to the Orkneys!

We rolled out a bit earlier this morning to make sure we had time to check out a few local interesting locations with enough time to make the ferry at 1:30. Peter opted for cereal and yougurt while Diane tried the scrambld eggs and salmon...very tastey! We were out and away by 9:30 instead of your normal 10am start.

Firsst stop was the great grey cairns of Camster just a couple miles up a on track from the B&B [ http://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/lybster/g…] . There is an isolated large cairn with a gated entrance and a long stone covered cairn with 2 entrances. We are too old now to want to crawl in the mud to reach the back of two of the entrances and Diane's kness are too old now to "duck-walk" in to the back of the passage with such a low ceiling. The thrid entrace was much more easily entered and we were able to stand inside of the chamber. The Historical Society had placed a cement dome with a plexiglass windown in the top, allowing dim light to filter in as part of the reconstruction. Never-the-less, it was still impressive. Standing now in what is a peat bog with sheep.

Then we were on to a second site, but had to bail since it required about an hour walk for which we didnot have time. We then went on to the Hill of Many Stanes (stones) a little further down the road ] http://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/lybster/m…] . Stones are not all that tall, a ouple of feet and are located in a field of heather, so they are hard to discern. However, their massive numbers (>200) make it am impressive site.

We stopped in Wick at the heritage center in hopes of a quick look around but realized it was a museum that would take a couple of hours and we only had a few minutes. Had a great collection of photos from the heyday of herring fishing when Wick was the capital of the herring processing for the entire world. We filled up with gas hoping the gas would be a bit cheapr on the mainland side. Gas was 112.9 pounds/liter

On to Gill Harbor to meet the ferry. We were over an hour early, so we had a bowl of soup in the cafe while we waited. Ferry loader says the catamorand ferry can hold 72 cars, but today it was loaded with 3 work vans, two horse trailers pulled by smaller trucks, a semi, etc. Diane counted about 40 cars and 15 other vehicles. Onboard for the 1 hour ferry ride. Beautifle day with calm seas. Peter was a bit apprehensive about being in big water, but found it to be quit enjoyable after we were underway. We landed in St. Mary's on one of the souther islands and had to drive to the main island.

Diane forgot to download detailed instrutions to find the B&B (too busy w/ the blog) and there was no phone service, so we went down the road a mile to the airport and used the free wifi from there to locate the B&B. Very nice place and very hospitable folks. Greated us with a pile of maps and other information to help us with the stay.

We unloaded the car and drove up to Standing Stones of Stenns [ http://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/westmainl…] and Ring of Brodgar [ http://www.orkneyjar.com/history/brodgar/] while it was still light. By the time we arrived, it was clouding up, but there were only a scatter of tourists, so it was quite an enjoyable visit to these sites. We may come back to see them in different lighting conditions if we have time.

Dinner back in Kirkwall at the Ayers Hotel. Looked like they had 2 big tours with about 30 each group causing some concern in the restaurant. But our food as quite nice.

TOmorrow off to see more sites and hoping to get a load of wash done in the evening. We are traveling as one older couple put it with "one on, one off and one spare".Read more