Were they Scottish or Norwegian?

Skara Brae

Incoming long post folks, lots and lots to talk about!

Sunday was an all day trip out of Inverness up to Orkney (second most northerly set of Islands that are part of the UK - oh, and the residents dont like them being called The Orkneys) to see a prehistoric village (built over 5000 years ago).
We were up early and out the front door by seven (so much for holiday mode!). Being so far north and right by the river meant that the morning was crisp and foggy. The neogothic buildings we were staying in had a one lane right of way in front of them and then were directly on the river. The other bank rose up and was capped with a castle, which was partially hidden by fog and backlit by the morning sun, what a fantastic way to start the day.

Blockade Ship

We managed to locate the bus station where we got on a bus and tootled (yes, I did just use tootled in a sentence) off to John O'Groats - one of the most northerly ferry ports in Scotland and the one where we would leave to visit Orkney. The bus took us around the Highland Coast, with the North Sea visible nearly all the time. Again, amazing scenery to travel through, hills on the left covered with trees or grass, with the right having paddocks and houses on hills and land sloping down to the ocean.

At John O'Groats (so named because the man who ran the first ferry there was called John and he charged a Groat to use it) we caught the ferry to the Orkney Islands, where we were met by a nice man in a big bus who took us all around the main island (called Mainland funnily enough). Now, I was expecting to jump on the bus, head off to Skara Brae (the neolithic village) and then head back. Not so!

Ring of Brodgar

The bus took us to a chapel built by Italian POW's during WWII, past deliberately scuttled blockade ships (sunk to protect the harbour of Scapa Bray from German U-boats), over Churchills walls (blocks laid between islands and turned into roads to protect the harbour once a U-Boat got through the blockade ships and sank a Royal Navy boat), through the town of Kirkwall (originally the seat of the Norwegian Earl of Orkney long before it became part of Scotland), to Skara Brae (an AMAZING buried village built over 5200 years ago on top of an even older village), to the Ring of Brodgar (stones thinner than those of Stonehenge, but built prior to the creation of Stonehenge), the Standing Stones of Stenness, and some fantastic scenery. It was an absolutely fabulous (no pun intended) day trip (14 hours total).

A quick ferry ride, a long bus ride, and we were back in Inverness for the night.