ORKNEY A FINAL FRIDAY – CAIRNS AND BATTERIES

Overland to go underground; down a farm track and through the farmyard is Rennibister Earth House. This underground Iron Age structure was discovered when a threshing machine broke through the roof in 1926!

Again it easy to get into, we climbed down some steps and had a good poke around inside.   It was probably where dairy products, meats and such were keep cool and fresh.  On emerging we saw the farmer and chatted to him for a while about the chamber in his yard, his livestock and his farming world; the price of a fat lamb and the cost of a fleece and the price it is likely to fetch this year.

We gaze across a wider landscape: punctuated by fields

Cuween Hill is further along and a steep walk up to a Neolithic Chambered Cairn. We crawl through a narrow passage to the main chamber that is over 2 meters high, to appreciate the workmanship of 4,500 years ago. Scottish Heritage thoughtfully provided two flashlights in a box by the entrance to ensure our enjoyment.

The Ness Battery at Stromness is another ‘that will be £6 please’ experience and we had not booked so did not get it. But through the mist and drizzle we saw enough of the Battery and the interesting buildings that surround it, search light battery, small gun emplacements to get some sense of how important these outposts were with their six inch guns with a range of 7 miles.

Again two World Wars have left a mark and points of fascinating interest.

A war mark

In Orkney there is a welcome and an adventure around every bend in the road. We were coming to the end of a wonderful two weeks and laying plans to come again next year.