Orkney Day 2 - Tuesday 1 Sep 26

Our first full day and Ken had some treats planned but, first - to work - a clifftop walk at Marwick Head to take in the Kitchener Memorial. Most of the walls in Orkney, unlike the dry stane dykes in Aberdeenshire and beyond, are constructed of Orkney flagstones - finely laminated sedimentary rocks that are found on virtually every coastline. They split easily in to flat thin slabs, ideal for wall construction:


We walked up a slight hill towards the large memorial and the information board about the sinking of HMS Hampshire:


More information about the memorial:



We completed the circular walk and looked back at where we'd been - Marwick Head:

and, of course, there was another information board:


The stats for our short morning walk were:


Next - our treat - lunch at Orkney Brewery, a superbly appointed tourist hot spot, very professionally done - gift shop, restaurant and bar plus the brewery itself. Ken had booked us in for lunch and a brewery tour but we were a little early and no tour guides were available so it was suggested that we have lunch first instead - soup and sandwiches plus the obligatory tasting paddle of 3 beers:



Lunch done, but still no official tour guide available so they got the brewer himself to take us round the brewing operation - and very good he was, much better than a formal guide:

Next planned stop was Skara Brae, a prehistoric village that predates the Pyramids and Stonehenge - 5,000 + years old. Uncovered by a storm less than 2 centuries ago, it now has a modern information centre and is almost certainly Orkney's top tourist attraction, with regular busloads, a number of them from the regular cruise liners, visiting.

First of all, a slight detour to a heritage centre - and a coffee:


The weather forecast for this week had been pretty poor, but it turned out to be a huge amount better than forecast - although some of us did get caught in a brief heavy squall on the exposed walk from the Information Centre to Skara Brae itself:

The route back to our hotel took us past the Ring of Brodgar - a large circle of standing stones. We parked up and took a walk round the Ring then headed back to the Orkney Hotel:


St Magnus in daylight this time:

For dinner, Steve had booked us in to the fairly upmarket Storehouse, a restaurant with rooms:


Pre-dinner drinks were at the Ayre Hotel.

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