Skara Brae

The weather improved briefly for our visit to Skara Brae on the final day of our Orkney tour. I've wanted to come here for a long time and just never got round to it. I have to say it didn't disappoint. Although you've seen all the shots you could possibly see of the place, just standing there and seeing these structures is amazing.

This is house 1. The large stone dresser sits facing the entrance with the hearth fire set in the middle of the room to provide heat, light and cooking facilities. Box beds are arranged on either side. They believe that the small tanks set into the floor were used for preparing fish bait.

The day had started with a visit to the Bishop's and Earl's Palaces in Kirkwall. The Bishops Palace, built sometime in the mid-12th century is one of the oldest fortified residences in Scotland and was built at around the same time as the neighbouring St. Magnus Cathedral. It was here that King Hakon IV of Norway dies following the disastrous campaign against Alexander III of Scotland at the Battle of Largs in 1263. The Earl's Palace was built at around 1600 and was one of a number of castles in Orkney and Shetland built by the notoriously cruel Patrick Stewart using forced labour. This incorporated the ancient palace which has in spite of its method of construction been hailed as 'possibly the most mature and accomplished piece of Renaissance architecture left in Scotland'. We spent a lot more time here than we had really intended and this meant we didn't have time to return to the Ring of Brodgar or the Stones of Stennes to shoot them in daylight. No regrets though, the two buildings were fascinating, especially the remains of the Earl's Palace.

The weather turned again as we arrived at Stromness for the ferry back to the mainland and by the time we set sail all hopes of shooting the Old Man of Hoy were dashed by the rolling mist that came down over the island and the sea (much of the journey back was accompanied by the sound of the fog horn). Almost as soon as we hit the mainland, the rain began and stayed with us intermittently for the whole journey over to Durness. Although it and the mist cut visibility across the vistas we were travelling through, it didn't stop us from stopping now and again to take in some lovely sights along the way.

Orkney was a great place to visit and we couldn't possibly do it justice in the couple of days we were there. We missed so much stuff. Ok, that was mostly down to the amount of time we spent in the Ortak Visitor Centre shop (hahaha, joking C)!!!

I'll definitely need to go back sometime.