Marwick Head

Another busy day.
We had a wander along the main street in Stromness to start the day. We were surprised to find that just like Kames and Tighnabruaich in May, a lot of places were closed on a Monday.

We decided to pay a visit to "The Harray Potter" at Fursbreck Pottery in Harray. We had met the potter Andrew Appleby once or twice before in his studio and at an Archaeological Society meeting in Kirkwall back in 2005. We had a chat and also bought a nice big teapot.

From there we drove through to Finstown and had a look round the artist Jane Glue's gallery.

Then we made our way to Maes Howe, having booked places on the guided tour. Maes Howe is a significant part of the neolithic landscape in West mainland, being the most important chambered cairn. Like the other major monuments it can be seen clearly from the other important sites.

A late lunch in the very nice tearoom at Appiehouse, which has a little craft gallery too. We got some free range eggs with a view to having omelette for dinner.

Next stop the Orkney brewery in Quoyloo to pick up some of their ales to try along with the eggs.

Just along the road in the direction of Birsay to Barony Mills. We thought we might get some bere biscuits but before we did we were treated to a very long, detailed and hilarious tour of the current mill.

Much later than we thought we had another visit to Birsay. This time the tide was dropping and the causeway across to the island where the Viking longhouses and church are. We also spent some time enjoying the evening sun and taking photos across to Marwick Head.