June 29 - Melvich to Finstown

Well, today would be one of those days that started out wet. Very wet. It was pouring, with a stiff breeze. Fortunately, the breeze would be a tailwind, so the weather news wasn't entirely bad. Oh well... might as well head out and get it over with. I had about 15 miles to get to Scrabster and my ferry to the Orkneys. I got there about an hour early, so I decided to go on into Thurso and get some money from an ATM. Backtracking to the ferry, I still arrived in plenty of time, but I had to wait for all the other passengers and vehicles to load before they would let me on. Notice the fog in the picture below. Though the rain had more or less stopped, it was still foggy and I wasn't entirely sure the ferry would sail. But these guys were old
pros, and I expect this weather was no big deal to them. Besides, I noticed that they have GPS navigation, so I knew we'd sail.

Easy crossing, though I was a bit chilled from my rainy morning. Looking back in retrospect, I should have changed into some dry clothes. I was hoping they would dry while I wore them, but they just made me cold.

The weather was much better upon landing at Stromness, and I was grateful. The sun wasn't quite shining, but it wasn't raining and the fog had lifted. Good enough for me!

My first impressions of the Orkney Mainland were that it was very peaceful and pastoral. Gone were the steep-walled valleys and tree farms of the Highlands; in their place were gently rolling hills and pastures. Very nice riding. I was avoiding the main road to Skara Brae, since I had read that it could be quite busy. Well, after thinking about it for a while, I realized that "quite busy" is a relative term, and I decided to go back to the main road. This turned out to be a good decision, since the main road was nearly deserted, and it had fine riding.

First views of Orkneys (Mainland)

My first archaeological visit was to Skara Brae, a 5000-year-old village located on the west coast of Mainland. The village was originally several hundred feet back away from the ocean, on the banks of a freshwater loch. Sometime around 4000 years ago, a storm covered the abandoned village with sand, which has protected it through the ages. However, sometime many years ago, the ocean broke through to the loch, turning it into a bay. And storms in the 1800's uncovered part of the village, and the rest, as they say, is history.

After Skara Brae, my next stop would be the two main sites between the lochs of Stenness and Harray, i.e. the Ring o'Brodgar and the Stones of Stenness. Both were very solemn, and both were very impressive. Why did the ancients put these stones here? Where did the stones come from? What was so important, that they would expend an estimated 20,000 man-hours of work into these structures? We will probably never know.

It was starting to get late, so I bypassed Maeshowe (an ancient burial chamber covered by a large earthen mound), though I rode by it and I could see its prominent mound out in the field. I'll catch it another day. My thoughts at the moment were to grab a snack for later (I wasn't really very hungry), and find my B&B. I couldn't find my directions to Mabel McGregor's, so I winged it. Of course, I missed the turnoff, and rode down a long hill thinking that the house was at the bottom. It wasn't, and I had to (gasp!) ask directions. The nice lady then told me those words that all touring bicyclists hate to hear: "It's back up that big hill you just came down."

But eventually, I found Ms. McGregor's, and had a very enjoyable evening talking with her about American politics vs. British and European politics. She didn't have to say much to get me started, she just asked "What do you think about that Bush character?" :-)