Golden sands

After a vegetable lasagne and cake at the Fossil Centre café we went over to Deerness to explore the beaches and look out for hares.

We started at Dingieshowe , an isthmus, 'a narrow strip of land connecting two larger land areas', with water on either side. Huge sand banks have built up on one side and almost cover the broch mound, an old defensive structure and also a meeting place for Vikings.
Folklore also tells of a witch that was burnt here and her skull is sometimes unearthed as the sand blows away. We did nt find a skull but after finding a suitable stone to have a rest I looked down to see a dead seal, quite far gone and surprisingly well hidden and fortunate that the wind was blowing the right way.
It's a good beach for flying kites apparently, wished we had taken one as it was quite breezy, again we were the only ones on the beach even though it was a sunny day.

Newark bay was busy though with a large group of children enjoying the holidays, running along the slipway jumping in and laughing. It was good to see them having so much fun together.

Next stop a secluded beach with the coral sands shining a turquoise blue. We sat and enjoyed the sunshine and watched the few planes that came into land at Kirkwall airport.

Later we walked down to the covenanters memorial, a 10 metre high tower which was built of brick in 1888 . It is around 300 metres from where a boat , the Crown,full of covenanters sank during a storm. These 257 prisoners were on their way to America to be sold as slaves, shackled and kept locked in the bottom of the ship. The captain and crew escaped but one compassionate member of the crew managed to break the locks with his axe and 48 prisoners managed to escape.

The path down to the monument was a mass of flowers, some orchids still remaining and the fields, meadows, were full of buttercups. Several highland cow were grazing, three hares were running around a field that had been mown and we were attacked by terns that must have young nearby.
There was even a farm box selling eggs and cakes. We bought a homemade fruit cake.

Sorry behind on comments at the moment but I do appreciate everyone who has popped by :)