Wednesday 6th July 2016 –
Stromness – Day 14
It is a
warmish, sunny breezy day and after a visit to the tourist office which gave us
the information on how to travel on the island, while the harbour master gave
me the best times to leave.
We boarded
the 10.40, X1 bus outside the ferry terminal to Kirkwall, a 35 minute journey
at a cost of £5.30p return.
The road
took us out north of the town, then east crossing green hillsides, along the
sides of two lochs where we could see the standing stones of Stenness (a small
circle dating from the third millennium BC) and Maeshowe (the finest chambered
tomb in Western Europe built before 2,700 BC).
Passed through the village of Finstown; then along the sea shore to Kirkwall,
the capital of the Orkney Islands.
 |
| St. Magnus Cathedral |
The town is
dominated by the St. Magnus Cathedral which was founded in 1137 by Earl
Rognvald, nephew of St. Magnus. When
first built, the cathedral was part of the Archdiocese of Nidaros (Trondheim)
in Norway. Orkney became part of
Scotland in 1468, and a few years later, the cathedral was given to the people
of Kirkwall by the Scots king, James III.
 |
| Royal Oak Bell |
Inside the
cathedral, the north choir aisle is home to the brass bell form HMS Royal Oak,
the battleship sunk in Scapa Flow in 1939.
The case holds a Book of Remembrance to honour those who died (833) and
the pages are turned every week by the cathedral custodians.
 |
| Bishop & Earl's Palace |
Across the road from the cathedral is the impressive ruins of the Bishop and
Earl’s palaces built 12th and 17th centuries.
 |
| Museum rear garden |
The other
side of the road facing the main entrance into the cathedral is the Orkney
Museum with its fine garden at the rear.
The museum has many exhibits taking you through the ages, including a
very informative exhibition on the Battle of Jutland which recently celebrated
its 100th anniversary.
 |
| Council Office & Cafe |
Just along
from the museum is another fine building housing the council offices and on the
side a café. We thoroughly enjoyed the
bacon buttie and tea.
 |
| Kirkwall Harbour |
A walk
around the shops, which were very busy with a large number of visitors happily
snapping up souvenirs; found us down at the harbour. One part has a newly built marina but for us
instead of sailing round the island, it was far easier to do the trip by bus.
Into the
‘Bothy Bar’ which by the local literature was one of the finest bars in town,
we had one pint used their wi-fi and left, not our type of place and moved onto
‘Skipper’s’ for something to eat. We had
posh burgers, consisting of steak, haggis, onions, salad with whiskey sauce and
chips, unusual but nice. Everyone was
enthralled with the telly watching Wimbledon and Andy Murray’s tennis match.
Back to the
bus station for 19.00 but we had misread the timetable and missed the bus,
another 1 ½ hours before the next bus.
Off to the yacht club which allowed us to sign in, within very nice
surrounding, spent the time with the local sailors, who introduced us to
Highland Park whiskey.
We did catch
the 21.30 bus back to Stromness and light rain had begun to fall.
Into the British Legion Club and watched the
second half of the Wales versus Portugal football game and we even caught up
with the news on the telly.
At 23.00
back on board for a hot chocolate.
It had been
a magic day, being a tourist; I was very impressed with the attractions and
people we had met.
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