The Orkneys
With approaching the Hoy Sound leading ships to Stromness harbour on the Orkney mainland, we entered these extreme tidal waters for the first time. It gave us a foretaste of the Pentland Firth. Also here it is important to get the tide right, as a spring tide will run with up to 8 kts.
We liked the Orkneys a lot right from the start. Far from being a bleak fishing township, Stromnesses with its crooked narrow streets, its slightly old-fashioned little shops, the vast Stromness Hotel having seen better days, it all seems so uncompromised by tourism. And most of all the FERRY INN was very much to our taste. The place had just the right amount of maritime charm and, on a Friday night, was packed with Orcadians.
After the wild and barren Highlands of the west coast, it was a complete change of scenery: fertile, farmed flatlands again, gentle green hills with sturdy cattle of all colors and of course sheep grazing everywhere.
The Orkneys are so rich in history, more than anyone can consume at a sitting, it can really set your head spinning. But we had four days at hand, allowing us to divide it up (not like the cruise liner passengers from Kirkwall, who are carted around the island in one day only). First signs of habitation date as far back as 5000 years, a neolithic society left its mark with the Ring of Brodgar, the Standing Stones of Stenness and most of all with the best preserved neolithic village of Skara Brae. The Celts inhabited the islands from as early as 500 B.C. and a while after in the 9th century the Vikings began raiding and eventually settled on the islands. They left a lasting impact on culture and folklore. The Orcadian flag is based on this Norse heritage. Through marriage the Orkneys finally changed hands between the Norse and the Scottish rulers, formally annexed in 1468.
Kirkwall
The red-brik 12th century St. Magnus Cathedral in Kirkwell was built in honor of and named after a Vicking of that name: on a raiding trip under his Earl’s command, he refursed to obey his orders to attack a Welsh ship. Instead he sang and read pacifically from his psalter book. For his disobedience he was beheaded, but in later year sanctified.
Kirkwall on mainland Orkney is home of the 4th oldest Scottish whisky distillery, the Highland Park Distillery dating from 1798, which we had to pay a visit too. Our guide with his carefully braided beard, looked like a genuine Vicking. He eloquently enlightened us of the procedings in the production of whisky, from germating, malting, milling, mashing to the fermantation and finally distillation of this precious liquid. We marveled at the most expensive bottle in the shop, offered for 39.000£!!
Scapa Flow
This place is a legend in its own right. Protected on all sides by islands, it was Britain’s most important naval base and anchorage for the nation’s greatest asset – the Royal Navy’s Home Fleet. Storerooms with food supplies for the mariners and with spares for ship repairs, workshops, depots for fuel sprang up, providing work and prosperity for the islands in the times of both World Wars. After the cease fire of World War I and during the Paris peace negotiations, part of the German High Seas Fleet was lying here at anchor, detained by the British. Fearing a failure of the peace negotiations and a prolongation of the war, the German officers decided to scuttle the German warships. Most of the sunken ships have been recovered in the following decades. The Scapa Flow Museum on the island of Hoy exhibites recovered artefacts and pictures taken at the time. And it tells of tragic and military relevant incidents, like the loss of the battleship HMS ROYAL OAK at the beginning of World War II. It had been hit by a German torpedo fired by a submarine, which had succeeded in breaking through the British defense line to Scapa Flow. It was a traumatic event for the British Marine, claiming the life of 835 crew members.
After this fatal incident Churchil decided in 1940 to built barriers between the islands on the south-east of Scapa Flow to keep invaders out. It took the Italian prisoners of war 5 years (shortly before the end of the war) to complete the barriers. We had to pay the touching Italian Chapel on Lamb Holm a visit. Out of a plain Nissen hut the propably homesick boys created a piece of Catholic Italy. The brickwork and the marbel columns, the mural paintings on the ceiling, all delicately painted. The roof and columns of the portico were made out of cement and plaster. For decorating the interior they used anything that was at hand, like driftwood, barbed wire or scrap iron. It is not so much what you see, it‘s the story behind it that gets to you.
7 Gedanken zu „The Orkneys“
Sehr schöne Fotos Edinburgh, was wir auch schon mal genießen durften, ist auch ein tolles Ziel. Falls Ihr auf dem Rückweg noch einen Stopp in Durham upon Tyne macht, Grüße an Maryam
Ihr Lieben,
es sind eindrückliche Schilderungen und schöne Fotos und sie lassen uns ein wenig mitreisen, vor allem da ich bis dort wohl nicht mehr kommen werde. Weiterhin gutes segeln…
Wunderschöne Fotos, phantastische Reise. (das macht meine Bucket-list etwas länger. )
Immer schön, von Euch zu hören! Und Ihr könnt jetzt auch wieder zurückkommen, denn langsam regnet es hier weniger…LG!!
Hört sich nach viel Geschichte und einem Hauch von Abenteuer an! Wirklich ganz tolle Bilder und sehr gut geschrieben!
Bernd
Beeindruckende Bilder und Impressionen. Weiterhin eine tolle Reise wünsche ich Euch. Andrea
Great pictures! I wish you a save journey back and a good time in Edinburg!