Orkney Islands

We made it to our furthest point north of our holiday. There has been much debate as to whether anyone is likely to get further away from home in their lifetime than our current location … I guess time will tell.
The Orkneys are just as windswept and stark as I remembered, but it is also proving to be a very interesting place to visit. We walked out along the cliffs of the west coast tonight. We were nearly blown away, but the views, bird life and uniqueness of the location were not lost on anyone. Adelaide saw enough bunnies to keep her going for years. Following this we headed to one of the northern tips of the main island to an old Pict and later Viking settlement and we were able to stroll through the ruins and buildings sites. It was quite amazing, both the history and the location… out on an island that is cut off except at low tide. Graham
and I made the most of the evening (given it is still light at 10:30pm!) and went back to look at the standing stones of Stenness, and the ring of Brogdar; a Neolithic Stonehenge type construction,
Possibly dating back to 3000bc. Quite amazing to see these historic sites in the middle of paddocks. I’m loving the history of the area.. I didn’t particularly like the rough voyage over.. but made it! The extra couple of photos are from the castle we stayed at in Dingwall last night, and Hugh and Jane deep in conversation at dinner. This time Jane was trying to convince Hugh he should delete all of the photos of her.. but you will be happy to know she didn’t get her way on this occasion. A few of the photos are Grahams.. he didn’t think he could add them, but we may have been wrong about that.