The coastline of Orkney is stunning. Rocky cliffs and grassy fields make for interesting walks. Our first walk was at the Brough of Birsay. Birsay was a Viking stronghold in the 1000s, possibly home to the powerful Norse earl of Orkney, Thorfinn Sigurdsson. Before that, a different culture thrived here. Pictish people lived on the Brough from the 600s. Traces of their oval houses have been found beneath the later Norse buildings.
It is possible to walk to the Brough via a causeway at low tide.
The water is clear and sea life is easily visible from the path.
We walked among the ruins of the ancient houses.
Pretty wild flowers grow everywhere.
Further on are the rocky cliffs. We kept an eye out for puffins, which are known to nest here. We saw none. (I later bought a pair of socks featuring puffins)
Meet my lovely friends, Anup and Poorna, who organised this amazing trip.
On our way to find lunch we came upon more recent ruins, the Earl’s Palace Birsay. It was built for the notorious Robert Stewart, Earl of Orkney in the 1570 – 80s. The Renaissance palace is a bold statement of wealth and power. Robert was an illegitimate son of James V. He was made Earl of Orkney in 1581 by his nephew James VI. He considered himself as absolute ruler of Orkney and Shetland.
The castle was obviously once grand, now it is a pile of bricks and stones.
We had lunch nearby, a pork pie and ginger beer from Bundaberg in Queensland, what a treat.
If you go, don’t park near this, rabbits can be fierce.
It was beside a church.
On another day (actually 2 days) we went a little further along the road, over a stone bridge, past a pretty house.
At this cottage we had delicious salmon and crab sandwiches. I recommend a visit.
There were pretty views from the cafe, but also a fierce wind so we had a quick look and went inside.
Our next cliff experience was a walk up a long, gradual slope to see the monument to the Kitchener Memorial, a 48 foot high stone tower, unveiled in 1926. The plaque on the memorial reads…”This tower was raised by the people of Orkney in memory of Field Marshall Earl Kitchener of Khartoum on that corner of his country which he had served so faithfully nearest to the place where he died on duty. He and his staff perished along with the officers and nearly all of the men of HMS Hampshire on 5th June 1916.”
The spectacular cliffs nearby hold nests of sea birds. Once again no puffins were sighted, but one lonesome seagull popped its head up.
There are stunning views from the top of the cliffs.
Orkney is beautiful. We were mostly lucky with the weather, with blue sky and sunshine. There were short bouts of rain but we were not bothered much.
