Day 2: Inverness – Orkney – Inverness
Because of our limited time, and the distance involved – I opted to book a bus trip from Inverness to visit the historical sites of Orkney. I found a company on the web that claims it is the “tour bus company for people who hate tour buses!”. Smaller than most, we decided to give it a go. Good choice as it turns out.

We left Inverness around 6.15am� We travelled by mini-bus with the Puffin Express, passing cliff top castles, wild moorland scenery and a variety of pre-historic sites on our way to Gills Bay which is one of the most northerly points of mainland Scotland. The one hour ferry crossing took us to St Margarets Hope in South Ronaldsay and although we didn’t see any Puffins, we were assured they were there, hiding in the cliffs, particularly on the uninhabited (except for feral cattle and seabirds) island of Swona.

We drove over the Churchill Barriers that now link the islands and headed straight for the best-preserved pre-historic village in Europe, Skara Brae. Because of the protection of the sand, this settlement – the buildings and contents – have been incredibly well-preserved for well over 4000 years. The structures still stand, along with internal fittings which give an amazing glimpse into life in Neolithic Orkney. For comparison purposes this village is even older than the pyramids!

From there we visited the Ring of Brodgar and the Standing Stones of Stenness.
Both sites have the remains of stone circles, yet we still don’t know their true purpose despite the numerous theories.

Next stop was Maeshowe which is the finest chambered tomb in the British Isles built between 4000 and 5000 years ago. The massive stones, some weighing over 30 tonnes came from the same quarry as the Standing Stones. The remarkable design still meets with incredible accuracy the winter solstice.

When this passage grave was excavated in 1861, it was found that there was some Runic graffiti (the biggest single collection of Runic writing anywhere in the world) found inside the tomb carved into the stones, telling the tales of several Norsemen from the 12th century. It was interesting to note, that the same stupid graffiti comments that we see today were alive and well in the 12th century!

We also stopped in Kirkwall, which has been the administrative centre of Orkney for about 900 years, for a well earned pint. Instead of visiting the Cathedral or the Bishops Palace we watched a party of young girls on a hen night, being driven around and around the village in the back of a truck smeared in what looked like chocolate and feathers!

On the way home we stopped at the Italian Chapel, which was built by some Italian prisoners of war who were captured in North Africa during the 2nd world war, who wanted a place to worship whilst they were building the Churchill Barriers.

The 4 hour ferry and bus ride back was uneventful. We arrived back in Inverness around 9pm hungry and tired and looking for dinner! We queued for a table at an Indian restaurant that was doing a roaring trade, managed to get a table around 10.15pm and were tucked up in bed by midnight.

Day 3: Over the sea to Skye
Skye is an island on the west coast of Scotland, about the same latitude from the highlands. Evidence of various prehistoric structures – chambered cairns, hut circles, brochs etc has been found that suggest the Mesolithic people settled on Skye about 8,500 years ago. Since then there have been three main cultures which have influenced the area, being Pictish, Norse, and Celtic. We left Inverness around 10am – again on the Puffin Express and started south along the Loch Ness. It was a beautiful day, definitely not a monster spotting day – if Nessie does exist, surely she was out sunnying herself on a rock and not terrifying tourists. In any case, the loch looked calm and monster free. Our first stop was the Eilean Donan Castle. There has been a castle here for many years, Alexander II built a fort here in the 13th century as protection against the Vikings, but what we saw standing was in fact reconstructed in the period 1912-1932 on the foundations of the old castle.
It is really a beautiful castle, situated on the edge of three Lochs. And it has been restored lovingly with period furnishings and even wax food and animals in the kitchen�

Skye was linked to the mainland for the first time since the ice-age in 1995 with a toll bridge that was paid for by the Bank of America. One of the conditions of the opening was that the ferry service that used to facilitate the route would be shut down. The Skye Bridge was the subject of controversy both before it was built and during it’s construction, and indeed it remains controversial today. The main issue being the price of the tolls. We were told by our driver that the Bank of America had recouped all it’s costs already which just adds to the level of frustration. Nevertheless, there are some advantages I guess. The first being that the bridge is open 24 hours a day, and is not subject to the weather (which accordingly in Scotland has top priority!).

Anyway, our trip to Skye was kept mainly to the southern third of the island which included some fabulous views of the Cuillin hills and the Small Isles.
We took many small single lane roads, over the top of some absolutely stunning mountains. If you were afraid of heights, some of these views would just not be for you! The roads were narrow, bumpy with no railings leading over a 800metre drop! We saw plenty of sheep and cows milling about. Some beautiful beaches and crofts. And we returned via a small private ferry that has opened on one of the old drovers trails to the mainland.

The scenery was superb!

…. to be continued

p.s. two pictures are thanks to the PuffinExpress webpage – Maeshowe and the Ring of Brogdar – mine don’t just don’t give them justice. I will however download what I have to the photoblog once I’ve finished the commentary!