On the face of it, quite a simple day. Get up, struggle through a large breakfast, drive 5 miles to the coast, walk three miles north to a 5000 year old village site, have a coffee, walk back, drive to a tidal island, potter around there for an hour or so, drive back to the B and B, out for dinner and then to bed.
But that would not do justice to the ever shape-shifting scenery (as always), the archaeology, the bird life and the company. All that and excellent weather. We are really lucky in that it seems to be sunshine all the way.
The photographs below capture a few highlights of the day.
1. Is that an ice cream van we can spot down there? I think it is! Yippee. Double chocolate chip all round.
2. A stack of detached rock. A sort of mini Old Man of Hoy.
3. Speaking of which, there it is in the distance just to the right of the Isle of Hoy.
4. The inside of the hut reconstruction at Skara Brea. 5000 years old and fully fitted with functional furniture. And if you go outside and walk a few yards.....
6. ...you can see the real thing. Box beds, fitted cupboards - they are there. There are eight huts (but they think there are more to be uncovered) all pretty much following the same pattern. This is the largest....
7. ...and this is a smaller one.
8. No, I didn't build this pile of stone but I did add to it. On a ledge on the Brough of Birsay, a small tidal island we walked across to. It was low tide obviously. The view is towards Rousay Island.
9. A couple of happy fulmars. They were even happier a few minutes later when they started mating. No, I'm not an ornithological voyeur but it was a bit obvious what they were up to. Unless, of course, they were playing some sort of birdie piggy back game.
10. A hooded crow. A proper hooded crow which you only see in northern parts of Scotland and the Islands.
11. A shot with a wide angled lens of clouds over the Skara Brea Bay.
12. And finally, one I was particularly excited about - the extremely rare Moustachioed Orkney Sparrow. It only displays its extravagant plumage in the mating season, which is just about now.
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