Broughs and Brochs

Brough of Birsay, Orkney (low tide)

Maeshowe had been a nice respite from the wind and now we are ready to head up to the northwest tip of  the island to explore the Brough of Birsay, a small island only accessible during low tide.  We have timed our adventure just right.  The sun has finally come out making the wind more tolerable. My vantage point from the car allows me to regard the effects of the wind without my hair whipping into my eyes.  Orkney is largely agricultural and the grain crops undulate in the fields fiercely like there is a small army underneath charging toward the end of the fields  Forming a large moving patchwork blanket, the fields seems almost like a single living creature if you stand still, unfocus your eyes and stare at the horizon long enough.

Path to Brough of Birsay, Orkney

Finding the Brough of Birsay, we trek across the concrete path toward the island. Thought to have been first settled by Christian missionaries in the fifth century AD, the island  became a Pictish stronghold in the 9th century before being completely taken over by the Vikings.  The sight itself is archelogically rich for this reason.  Although the Norsemen built their dwellings on top of  and around what remained of Pictish foundations, the artifacts found show that the  Picts had operated a small forge on the island.  The most important find occured in 1935 with the discovery of the Pictish Symbol Stone, the original which now resides in a museum in Edinburgh.

Viking and Pictish ruins, Brough of Birsay, Orkney

http://www.orkneyjar.com/history/broughofbirsay/

The island itself resembles a large bowl that has been upended.  There are  cliffs of varying sizes, and a lighthouse at the top of the island.  There are no trees and the grass on the island is almost knee level and the tips are an aubergine color.  The frequent wind has tangled the tips of the grasses together into different shapes and patterns that are interesting.

Sea birds and cliffs, Brough of Birsay, Orkney

Cliffs, Brough of Birsay, Orkney

After exploring the ruins we set off up the hill an find the cliffs on the northern side of the island.  Not wanting to watch my children peer over the edge of the cliff, I tell my family that I am going to the top of the hill.  Cresting the hill I linger and enjoy the view near the lighthouse.  Small caves  and other depressions no doubt created by wind and water permeate this side of the island and I explore some of these depressions before making my way down the south side of the island.  I must have taken a long time to do all this.  At one time I wait for Sam and the boys to catch up with me but they never came.  When I finally head back to the ruins I see  my oldest son Will charging up the middle of the hill toward the lighthouse.  Waving at him he sees me and throws up his hands in a relief gesture.  Apparently, Sam and the boys had walked back to the parking lot, even driven to a nearby castle ruin looking for me.  They had really been worried that I had fallen or something.  Regrouping, we make a pact to not separate from one another again as I have the only working cell phone of the four of us.

Brough of  Birsay cliffs, Orkney

Relieved, we head to the car to visit our last site, Broch of Gurness, over on the east side of the island.  Driving through the bald undulating landscape with the windows cracked we experience the smells of crops, barnyard, and fresh windwhipped air.  We pass a small loch (Loch Swannay) that is the darkest inkiest shade of blue, the contrast against the lanscape is stunning.  Water whether it be in a loch, bay, river, ocean or even a small puddle is capable of registering so many different shades of blue, green, gray and even pink, orange and white.  I drift off on a tangent thinking of the miraculous properties of water when we turn into the car park for Broch of Gurness.

Arriving at Broch of Gurness, we are informed that the site is closed.  My search and rescue had taken up a fair amount of time.  The kindly Orcadian gentleman operating the site allows us to go ahead and have a look around anyway.  All around Scotland we have witnessed this sort of kindness.  We thank him and have a quick survey.  Broch of Gurness  is situated on Eynhallow Sound with views of other islands to the north.  A "broch" is a uniquely Scottish structure, round and of dry stone construction.  There are many examples of brochs throughout Scotland in various stages of decay and/or preservation.  It is thought they may have served a military purpose much like a castle tower or they could have simply been dwellings.  The brochs here are thought to have been built between 200-100 BC.  As with other ancient sites on Orkney it to has the Pictish/Viking past.   The story of the rediscovery of this site is interesting (see link below.)

http://www.orkneyjar.com/history/brochs/gurness/

Broch of Gurness, Orkney

Walking to the car I realize what a glorious day it has been even with all the drama on Brough of Birsay.  We will head towards Kirkwall to relax and find some dinner.

Limpets, Brough of Birsay, Orkney

Maeshowe and Viking Graffiti

Leaving Skara Brae we do a much better job of navigating our way to Maeshowe.  Nearing our destination, we navigate a strip of land between Loch Harray and Loch Stenness which contains two significant neolithic henges, The Ring of Brodgar and The Standing Stones of Stenness.  On the left we see the Ring of Brodgar, thought to date from 2500 to 2000 BC and containing 27 stones each measuring between 7 and 15 feet in height.

The Ring of Brodgar, Orkney, Scotland

 About a mile down the road on our left we see The Standing Stones of Stenness having fewer stones but much larger ones standing up to 19 feet high.  This henge sight is thought to date from 3100 BC.   All of the sights we are seeing today are UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/514

http://www.orkneyjar.com/history/brodgar/index.html

http://www.orkneyjar.com/history/standingstones/

Standing Stones of Stenness, Orkney, Scotland

We arrive at Maeshowe, an impressive neolithic burial chamber, one of the best preserved in Europe.  The site stages small group tours at an old mill converted to a gift shop across the road where we wait our turn.  Resembling no more than a large hillock from the path, it would be easy to overlook.


http://www.orkneyjar.com/history/maeshowe/chamber.htm

Path to Maeshowe, Orkney, Scotland

Entrance to Maeshowe, Orkney, Scotland

Access to the cairn is through a long low passageway and then the space opens up into a large chamber made up of many slabs of immense stone.  We were not allowed to take pictures inside but I found a picture of a postcard on the internet that shows the impressive interior.

Interior and main passageway Maeshowe, Orkney, Scotland

The only artifacts that were ever found at Maeshowe were some human skull fragments and horse bones according to our tour guide.  Norsemen sought shelter here during the 11th and 12th century and they no doubt cleared the tomb of it's contents.  One things for certain, they left behind a lot of graffiti on the carefully placed stones, in fact, this sight has one of the largest and most impressive collections of Runic inscriptions in Europe.  If you can read the Runic alphabet, you have no problem reading the inscriptions, but since none of us are experts in 12th century Nordic languages she gives us a hand with some of the translations.  They basically say things like -- "Thor was here" and "Thor is the best!"  Some of the inscriptions refer to women and are downright bawdy, much like something you would find on a bathroom wall.  Some things don't change much even after 1000 years.....  More information about the Viking graffiti is provideded in the link below.

http://www.orkneyjar.com/history/maeshowe/maeshrunes.htm

Prehistoric Orkney--Skara Brae

Today we will visit the prehistoric and Pictish ruins for which Orkney is known for.   Our hostess Lynda at Houton Bay Lodge is a wealth of information.  We drive the 8 miles back into Stromness and right off the bat we get lost.  Never mind that we managed to get out of Edinburgh without getting lost.  We negotiate our way back out of town and finally get back onto the right road headed towards Skara Brae.

www.orkneyjar.com/history/skarabrae/

Skara Brae, situated on the Bay of Skail, is a ruin from the late Neolithic period thought to date from as early as 3200 BC.  In other words, these ruins are around 5,000 years old.  During the winter of 1850 a tremendous storm battered this side of the island and the ruins were exposed.  What initially was thought to be a Pictish ruin turned out to be one of the oldest and best  preserved neolithic villages  in Western Europe.  The site features a visitors center, gift shop and cafe as well as a replica house that can be viewed up close before viewing the actual ruins.  We view the replica and then head outside into the scouring wind to view the ruins which are several feet down in the ground.  We quietly look down into the small group of dwellings where men, women and children carried on their lives 5000 years ago and try to image the sounds of a prehistoric household might make -- the sound of children playing and the tending of daily chores.  Without the benefit of forged metal, using only bone, wood, animal hide and clay the inhabitants of these dwellings attempted to fashion lives for themselves.

Neolithic ruins, Skara Brae, Orkney Islands

We walk down to the beach where we find relief from the howling wind.  I find myself a bit frustrated because no words, no pictures, no vacation trinkets can adequately encapsulate what I am seeing and experiencing in this incredible landscape.  I look down at the pebbles and rocks on the beach remembering what my grandmother always did when visiting a place.  She never went to far flung places - Hot Springs Arkansas, and Florida-- but she brought home a rock or stone from wherever she had been, some of them quite large and many of them ended up forming a border in her flower bed.  Looking down I spot a small flat stone a bit bigger than a quarter with a rust colored background and charcoal grey veins.  I stoop to pick it up, wipe it off and let it dry out a bit before slipping it into my pocket.  The stone is older than the ruins themselves and a reminder that all places are special and millions of years in the making .

We climb back to the visitors center and have a very tasty lunch in the cafe before heading to our next site.

Beach, Bay of Skail

Beach, Bay of Skail