A delightful day on the neighbouring island of Rousay. Just a thirty minute crossing and access to archaeology, stunning scenery and wildlife. The internet connection at the B & B is rather temperamental and has difficulty dealing with photographs. So I'm not too sure how this post will turn out but I'll give it a go.
1. A short eared owl sitting on a fence post at the side of the road. Not something you'd see in many other places in the UK.
2. Looking across Rousay Sound back onto the mainland island of Orkney. Still water with reflections.
3. An eider duck having a munch on a crab.
4. Another view back the mainland. The clouds look worse than they were. No more than a few spots of rain wearily on in the day but nothing of any consequence after that.
5. The 3500 year old chambered tomb at Mid Howe. It has 23 burial stalls which were contained within a massive herring-bone stone structure. Uncovered and excavated in the 1930s, it is protected by a barn-like building. Nobody knows who was buries there but the skeletons indicate 'high status', whatever that meant within the context of the times.
6. A few hundred yards from the tomb lies the broch of Mid Howe, which dates from around 100 AD. It is thought that it originally housed a farming/fishing family and was in use for several hundreds of years. Over that time, the interior was remodelled and what we see today is essentially a semi, with a stone partition wall separating two 'apartments'. Building material? Just go outside and see the rock stratification on the very nearby shore and you can easily envisage the sandstone being split to fit. In the photograph, you can just make out a stone cubicle. Toilet? Fitted wardrobe? Who knows but it's interesting to speculate.
7. A very colourful cock strutting his stuff. "Hey, look at me. You know you think I'm gorgeous. That's why you've stopped to take my picture. Don't I look great?"
8. A rather doleful looking Grey Seal, but then, they always look miserable. Maybe that's something to do with the fact that they a singularly ungainly on land. Perhaps they are all grins and laughs when they are back in the water.
9. The chambered tomb at Knowe of Yarso. Room for about a dozen bodies in this one. Situated on a flat crest of a hill overlooking Rousay Sound, it was certainly in an impressive position. Yarso, and others of its ilk we saw, was protected by a concrete 'bubble' which had roof lights to illuminate the interior. A great idea and one that worked.
10. A lone fishing boat heading back to port across the still waters of Rousay Sound.
11. A beached boat with a fish-eye effect.
12. Heading back to the mainland island after a great day. Barely a ripple on the water.
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