In Orkney, we saw
Sep. 14th, 2006 08:51 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
wellinghall- an hour-and-a-half queue at Luton airport - and that was just to get through check-in!
- a dinky little eight-seater plane (on one journey we were the only two passengers!); the inter-island ferries were almost as small
- some North Ronaldsay sheep (and yes, they really do eat seaweed!), including two rams head-butting each other
- the Knap of Howar, Europe's oldest house at 5,600 years old
- Maes Howe, with an expert taking us through all 29 Viking runic inscriptions
- two stone circles (Stones of Stenness and Ring of Brodgar), two a neolithic villages (Skara Brae and Barnhouse), the Tomb of the Eagles, Mine Howe, and more individual standing stones than you can shake a stick at
- three hen harriers, one of which scared some gulls while leaving the ducks unperturbed!
- a pod of harbour porpoises
- St Magnus Cathedral, including a rooftop tour
- Scottish Opera performing "Die Fledermaus" - very well done, except for the long scenery- and piano- fixing breaks
- excellent museums, incluing one by Scapa Flow with a plaque commemorating someone who was a "Boy first class"
- a Martello tower (complete with gun, in working order!), its friend across the bay, and a gun battery
- a Dwarfie Stane, a Troll Glen and a Troll Water (but no dwarfs or trolls)
- local beer, whisky, ice cream, fudge, mutton, lamb, beef, eggs, cream ...
- two expanding waistlines ...
- a very fine white cat,which ran the hotel we were stopping at
- really friendly people everywhere
- red, when I realised I had been sold slide film instead of print film
- a beacon and two light-houses.
It was, you will have gathered, a damn good two weeks. I'm torn between advising you all to go, and wanting you to stay at home so we can have the place to ourselves!
- a dinky little eight-seater plane (on one journey we were the only two passengers!); the inter-island ferries were almost as small
- some North Ronaldsay sheep (and yes, they really do eat seaweed!), including two rams head-butting each other
- the Knap of Howar, Europe's oldest house at 5,600 years old
- Maes Howe, with an expert taking us through all 29 Viking runic inscriptions
- two stone circles (Stones of Stenness and Ring of Brodgar), two a neolithic villages (Skara Brae and Barnhouse), the Tomb of the Eagles, Mine Howe, and more individual standing stones than you can shake a stick at
- three hen harriers, one of which scared some gulls while leaving the ducks unperturbed!
- a pod of harbour porpoises
- St Magnus Cathedral, including a rooftop tour
- Scottish Opera performing "Die Fledermaus" - very well done, except for the long scenery- and piano- fixing breaks
- excellent museums, incluing one by Scapa Flow with a plaque commemorating someone who was a "Boy first class"
- a Martello tower (complete with gun, in working order!), its friend across the bay, and a gun battery
- a Dwarfie Stane, a Troll Glen and a Troll Water (but no dwarfs or trolls)
- local beer, whisky, ice cream, fudge, mutton, lamb, beef, eggs, cream ...
- two expanding waistlines ...
- a very fine white cat,which ran the hotel we were stopping at
- really friendly people everywhere
- red, when I realised I had been sold slide film instead of print film
- a beacon and two light-houses.
It was, you will have gathered, a damn good two weeks. I'm torn between advising you all to go, and wanting you to stay at home so we can have the place to ourselves!
