Orkneys Day 1
I'm writing on a bed on our second day in the Orkneys. It's about 8 pm on a Friday night and the bass of the music from the pub downstairs is hard to ignore, but I'm a bit chuffed since every third song is on my iPod anyway. Margo's playing Sudoku and Sarah's playing Super Mario Brothers. She taught me how to make Mario do a headflip today.
We started the day with breakfast, as usual. Mostly the same fare, except mine came with bacon today and I pretty much left it alone - bacon is more like Canadian bacon here, but this was just too salty. At 9.30 we met a prearranged car hire, delivered to our hotel. We got to celebrate/endure Margo's first drive. I was navigator and also like the passenger in a rally car race, giving occasional status like "wrong side" and "off the road". But Margo gained confidence quickly and both we and the car - a Suzuki resembling a minivan shrunk to compact size - survived unscathed.
We left Stromness heading north. Our first destination was Skara Brae, the site of a prehistoric village. The self-guided tour begins in a recreation of a village house. It's like a Flintstones house without the cheesiness: everything is stone - bedding enclosures, table, even a clothes dresser. And it's older than the Pyramids - 5000 BC.
We walked outside and on to the actual site of the village. It's somewhere between an archaeological dig and open-air museum: the village huts are exposed and labeled. They even have small targets, distances between which are measured by laser each year to detect any changes.
Our next stop was the Orkneys Brewery, which had no tour or shop; however I did get a quick chat and learned bottles were available all over the island.
We worked back down the island to the largest city, Kirkwall, for lunch. We found its shopping street and walked much of its length before settling on a cafe where I got to sample a dark ale from Orkneys Brewery (and I'd say it was the tastiest I've had yet). I also succumbed to weakness in a record shop, bringing home a-ha's latest plus some older Edinburgh prog-rock from Marillion. CD's aren't shrink-wrapped here - nice!
Off the shopping street was our next destination, the Magnus Cathedral, built all of a rose-coloured stone. It is quite large and very impressive inside with high wooden-beamed ceilings.
We next regained our car and popped out of town a bit to see the Highland Park whiskey distillery. We took a tour. Unlike many distilleries, they do it from scratch: they get their water from an underground spring; they dry their own barley (many distilleries get their barley pre-processed); and the peat is harvested from their own land. The process is similar to brewing beer, except the wort is then distilled (twice) and kept in casks (of Oregon wood!) for at least 12 years. At the end we were treated to "wee drams" (Sarah got orange soda) whilst watching a video about the island's history as well as the distillery's (over 200 years). We also took away some 25-year-old; I'm enjoying some now.
Taking a straighter route home, we made one last stop at the Standing Stones of Stenness, a Stonehenge-like collection of ... uh ... stones. That are standing. I tried not to remember Spinal Tap and the mysterious little people.
We started the day with breakfast, as usual. Mostly the same fare, except mine came with bacon today and I pretty much left it alone - bacon is more like Canadian bacon here, but this was just too salty. At 9.30 we met a prearranged car hire, delivered to our hotel. We got to celebrate/endure Margo's first drive. I was navigator and also like the passenger in a rally car race, giving occasional status like "wrong side" and "off the road". But Margo gained confidence quickly and both we and the car - a Suzuki resembling a minivan shrunk to compact size - survived unscathed.
We left Stromness heading north. Our first destination was Skara Brae, the site of a prehistoric village. The self-guided tour begins in a recreation of a village house. It's like a Flintstones house without the cheesiness: everything is stone - bedding enclosures, table, even a clothes dresser. And it's older than the Pyramids - 5000 BC.
We walked outside and on to the actual site of the village. It's somewhere between an archaeological dig and open-air museum: the village huts are exposed and labeled. They even have small targets, distances between which are measured by laser each year to detect any changes.
Our next stop was the Orkneys Brewery, which had no tour or shop; however I did get a quick chat and learned bottles were available all over the island.
We worked back down the island to the largest city, Kirkwall, for lunch. We found its shopping street and walked much of its length before settling on a cafe where I got to sample a dark ale from Orkneys Brewery (and I'd say it was the tastiest I've had yet). I also succumbed to weakness in a record shop, bringing home a-ha's latest plus some older Edinburgh prog-rock from Marillion. CD's aren't shrink-wrapped here - nice!
Off the shopping street was our next destination, the Magnus Cathedral, built all of a rose-coloured stone. It is quite large and very impressive inside with high wooden-beamed ceilings.
We next regained our car and popped out of town a bit to see the Highland Park whiskey distillery. We took a tour. Unlike many distilleries, they do it from scratch: they get their water from an underground spring; they dry their own barley (many distilleries get their barley pre-processed); and the peat is harvested from their own land. The process is similar to brewing beer, except the wort is then distilled (twice) and kept in casks (of Oregon wood!) for at least 12 years. At the end we were treated to "wee drams" (Sarah got orange soda) whilst watching a video about the island's history as well as the distillery's (over 200 years). We also took away some 25-year-old; I'm enjoying some now.
Taking a straighter route home, we made one last stop at the Standing Stones of Stenness, a Stonehenge-like collection of ... uh ... stones. That are standing. I tried not to remember Spinal Tap and the mysterious little people.
posted by Michael Nelson at 5:47 am
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