Thursday, 10th July                   Orkney Islands

Robyn writes: We've had a huge day today! We were up just after 5.40am to make sure that we were breakfasted and dressed in time to make the bus at 7. By 6.30 we were ready and headed out for the walk to the bus station, getting there in plenty of time. It was a gloriously sunny morning and a brisk 15 degrees, so nice for walking.

The first part of the trip took just over 3 hours, as we travelled from Inverness up through Wick to John O'Groats. At 10.30, we said goodbye to our bus driver and tour guide, and caught the ferry across to the first of the Orkney Islands. The ferry trip took about 40 minutes. We spent some of the time in the cabin but also quite a lot out on the back deck. It was rather brisk out there! The scenery was lovely, but we didn't see any of the legendary puffins all the brochures promise...Cait really wanted to see one, but there they weren't!

 Stunning scenery on the way north

 Lex's Haggis burger at John O'Groats!

Me looking like a tourist

Once on the island, we were met by our new bus driver/tour guide, Alistair, who was a mine of interesting information about the islands. We really enjoyed the drive through and across the islands (there are about 70 of them), most of them are joined by bridges or causeways (also known as Churchill's barriers - after HMS Royal Oak was sunk by a German submarine in the harbour there at the start of WWII, Churchill decided that proper barriers needed to be built, so they brought in hundreds of Italian POWs to build causeway barriers with roads on top.)

Our first stop was in the capital, Kirkwall, where we had an hour, so that was basically spent on lunch. We had a lovely pub meal at "Skipper's Bar", Lex and Mikeal sampled a local ale (Lex was especially taken with his Orkney Dark Ale, which he said was as good as Guiness!) and then it was time to walk back to the bus. Time is always the problem with bus trips like this, of course. Then it was back on the bus and the 45 minute drive to Skara Brae, the prehistoric settlement dating back 5000 years. It's amazingly well preserved and is fascinating to look around. Of course, people are not allowed into the rooms of the settlement, but they have made a recreation of one which is just wonderful to go into and see how they lived. While we were there, the Queen's baton for the Commonwealth Games was actually there at the same time, so we got to see it and wave it on its way to the next place. At the same site is Skaill House, the 17th century home of the landowner who discovered the Skara Brae settlement. We had a look around it - lots of interesting treasures and lovely to see the rooms set out as in the 1700s or 1930s. We just had time to grab a famous Orkney Island Icecream before getting back on the bus. We were really lucky with the weather - no rain, and about 15 degrees, but the wind was cold!

 More tourists

 Our ferry across to the Orkney Islands

 Lunch at "Skippers" pub in Kirkwall

 Skara Brae prehistoric village ruins - very, very impressive

Windswept tourists at Skara Brae

Our next stop was more in the Prehistoric theme - the Ring of Brodgar, which is believed to be 4500 years old. It's the third biggest in the UK with lots of stones still standing or lying where they've fallen over the years. No top stones though, but a very impressive 10 metre ditch all around. Unlike Stonehenge, you're allowed to walk around the stones. We spent 25 minutes here, then continued our drive around the island to our last stop - the Italian POW chapel. This building is amazing - it was built by the POWs during WWII out of a couple of nissen huts and lots of recycled things such as beautiful lamps made out of corned beef tins. An incredibly talented prisoner painted the whole of the inside and it is stunning.

 Prehistoric stone circle

 Italian chapel on Orkney

 Inside the chapel - simply stunning what they made from nothing

Beautiful coastal scenery on the way back

Finally we were back at the ferry just after 5 for the trip back to the mainland. Still no puffins. Sad! Then it was back onto the bus for the 3 hour trip back to Inverness. By now it had cleared and the scenery in the afternoon sun was lovely. We were back in Inverness at 9, and walked home to a quick tea (thankfully I'd prepared a chicken curry the day before). It was a big day, but really good to see so much!