Friday 30th August Day 13
The weather had been shocking overnight with strong winds and torrential rain but thankfully we woke to a bright morning. I took Dex for a short morning walk.
We could see another cruise ship had docked in Kirkwall harbour.
We went down to the shoreline and mooched about.
Pretty sure this is a fossil, maybe just ancient plant life
We could see the cathedral quite clearly this morning.
We could soon see the stones on top of the hill.
We set off up the hill along with at least 2 coach loads of tourists.
We left the tourist trail and headed off towards the burial mound.
A gorgeous big bull was sunbathing nearby.
By the time we got closer to the stones most of the coach crowds had left which was great as managed to get some photos without people in.
A couple of miles away is another stone circle, smaller but slightly older. The Standing Stones of Stenness.
Next we went to the Unstan chambered cairn. Nowhere to park so John stayed in a bus stop in the van so he could move if a bus came. I went down on my own to the cairn.
Good job John wasn’t here as we would never get through this tiny entrance. I had to squat down and shuffle along.
Once inside though it was big enough to move around freely.
It was amazing and I was there on my own. It wasn’t scary though just very calm and peaceful.
On our way back to Kirkwall we passed Maeshowe which is a very well known chambered cairn. You have to book ahead to see this and you get a guide and are bussed in and out of the site. We couldn’t get tickets but actually I was happy having seen Unstan on my own without the crowds. Also you can’t take photos inside Maeshowe.
Back to Kirkwall for some food shopping and a sandwich before heading back to camp.
I walked Dex along the shore.
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