I was most glad to have had a decent night's sleep, having spent the past several nights taking ages to get to sleep and then waking up early. Maybe having a little wine the previous evening had helped.
We got up at 7.30, and headed out after breakfast. I'd been advised while phoning home the previous evening that we should put the new tyre that had been fitted in Carlisle to the car, rather than using the spare. The ground outside the B&B being unsuitable for changing wheels, we returned to the phonebox at which we had stopped the previous evening, as there was a large flat expanse of tarmac around it. Unfortunately when we opened the boot and extracted the wheel from under the floor, we found the new tyre to be completely flat. Evidently it had not been fitted properly.
Cursing the place in Carlisle, we headed into Kirkwall and found somewhere to park. Our first stop was at the tourist information centre at which we enquired as to the whereabouts of a tyre repair centre. Next we went into the Cathedral of Saint Magnus, memorable in recent years as the venue for the last ever edition of ``Mastermind'' (ignoring any abominations on radio presented by Peter Snow).
The cathedral is named for the twelfth-century Norwegian nobleman and Earl of Orkney, slain on the island of Egilsay at the command of his jealous cousin Haakon. Construction of the cathedral was begun in 1137 by Saint Rognvald, whose remains lie in one of the pillars of the cathedral, opposite that containing the remains of Saint Magnus. A striking feature of the cathedral is the West Window, commissioned for the 850th anniversary of the cathedral in 1987, and with a modern design blending well with the ancient fabric of the building.
A short walk around the corner and across the road took us to the Earl's Palace, built by Patrick Stewart as a town home to complement the Earl's Palace at Birsay that we had visited the previous day. This forms a quadrangle together with the older Bishop's Palace, though unfortunately a road now runs between the two. Both are ruined, the Earl's Palace having gone from foundation to ruin in less than 100 years, though it is still possible to explore much of the remains.
Opposite the cathedral, we noticed a small museum in Tankerness House, and finding it to be free, went inside. This held a considerable exhibition as to the history of Orkney, from prehistoric times to the present, and described in detail the influence of various cultures on the islands. In particular, I had not appreciated that the islands had remained under Norwegian rule throughout the Middle Ages, finally being ceded to Scotland in 1468 as part of the dowry upon the marriage to the Scottish King of the daughter of the King of Denmark, who was by that time also ruler of Norway.
It was getting quite late by the time we left the museum, and our first priority upon leaving was to get some lunch. We purchased a few things at a grocer's and returned to the car to eat just as it began to rain.
Feeling better for some nourishment, we took the car round to an ATS tyre repair place in order to get the tyre seen to. It was found that the patch applied to the inner tube in Carlisle had come unstuck, so the complete loss of tyre pressure was understandable. Having got the tyre fixed, it was fitted to the car, and we continued on our way.
On the outskirts of town stands the Highland Park distillery, the most northerly whisky distillery in the world (admittedly not by much, the other distillery in Orkney being close by). We stopped and waited for the next tour, pausing to relax in a comfortable waiting room guarded by one of the distillery cats. Employed so as to keep away the rats, this large ginger animal seemed more intent on sleeping than on communicating with anyone, though when our tour started it left the room with us and continued its rounds.
The distillery was founded in 1798, on the site of the home of Magnus Eunson, smuggler, illicit distiller and also a man of the cloth. Legend has it that having heard that the Excisemen were in town, Magnus gathered the casks, covered them with a coffin lid and a white cloth, gathered his congregation and pretended to be conducting a funeral service when the customs men called. Whispering ``smallpox!'' sent them off hurriedly.
The distillery is one of few in Scotland to have its own Maltings, which reminded me of the building of the same name in Farnham now converted for use as an arts and entertainment centre. We were then shown the peat-fired kilns, the stills, and finally one of the large warehouses used to store the precious casks, the dark fungus-lined rooms reminiscent of a Cognac distillery I had visited many years previously.
At the end of the tour we were given a small sample, of which I consumed only a part owing to the fact that I was driving, and left to watch a short film while consuming it. Naturally there was also a shop, from which I purchased a half-bottle.
We headed out south from Kirkwall, across the Churchill Barriers. These were constructed during World War II to reduce the risk of U-boats entering Scapa Flow, following the sinking of the battleship Royal Oak, the wreck of which is very visibly leaking oil to this day. Today the barriers form a very convenient causeway linking the smaller islands at the southeastern end of Scapa Flow.
On the island of Lamb Holm stands the quite remarkable Italian Chapel. This was built during the war by Italian POWs labouring on the Churchill Barriers, much of the design being done by a single man, Domenico Chiocchetti. A pair of Nissen huts, joined end to end, were turned into a most beautiful interior using only plasterboard, concrete and scrap metal, giving the effect of an interior lined with painted brick and marble. An Italianate facade was added, and a statue of Saint George and the Dragon placed alongside.
We continued down almost to the bottom of South Ronaldsay, southernmost of the Orkneys and looking across to John O'Groats. We stopped at a small farmhouse which was close to the Tomb of the Eagles, on the adjoining land. We were shown round a small museum by members of the family, being given the chance to hold various Stone Age tools and even the skull of a prehistoric inhabitant of the area, leading one to muse on whether one's own remains will be handled by tourists in 5000 years' time. A short but very muddy walk (thankfully wellington boots in assorted sizes were available to borrow) led one across the fields to the remains of a small prehistoric dwelling.
At the dwelling, known as Liddle Burnt Mound, the elderly farmer who had found the tomb talked to us about the house and the tomb nearby (its name arises because eagle carcasses were found there among the human remains, possibly being some kind of tribal symbol). The tools found at the house were almost exclusively stone, though they date from the Bronze Age, and the man described in some detail the cooking system which used stones heated on the fire.
The tomb itself was nearby, and entered through an exceedingly low passageway. In fact the method of entry involved lying flat on a trolley and hauling one's self in on a rope, definitely adding to the novelty of it. After exploring inside the chambered cairn, now empty of its intended contents, we made our way back along a coastal path to the farmhouse.
We returned north, stopping to admire the views of the setting sun across Scapa Flow. Further north, we were able to catch a glimpse of the tiny island of Barrel of Butter in the middle of Scapa Flow. The island is notable mainly for having such a daft name, given to a computer in Astrophysics when the occupants of the office in which the machine was to be located were told they could choose any name they wanted for it as long as it was a Scottish island, and then went out of their way to find as obscure a name as possible.
We stopped in Kirkwall again to look for dinner, having it in a place named the Bothy Bar. I had crab claws followed by Orkney ice cream, very good. We returned to the B&B around 9.15, and watched part of a James Bond film on television before sorting ourselves out for the next day, on which we were planning our trip across to Hoy (having previously decided that on the basis of the weather forecasts we'd seen, the next day would offer the best conditions for us). We went to bed rather late, around midnight, but having got most of our things prepared for the next day.