Orkney, Day 5

We decided to try the Stacks of Yenasby again this morning. Orkney is not that big, so the drive over there was short anyway. What a great call. The water was much calmer and we were not blown away as soon as we stepped from the car. Always a plus. The views from the cliffs were absolutely breathtaking, so we were both really glad that we decided to try the walk again. We were even able to see The Old Man of Hoy on the Isle of Hoy. If we had the car a little longer, we would have loved to walk along the cliffs longer, but the car needed to be back early afternoon-ish and we still had more stops in the day. These cliffs are definitely a must see for anyone visiting Orkney though.

We then traveled over to Orphir to see Earl's Bu and St. Nicholas Church. All that's left of Earl's Bu is the foundation of the drinking hall. Quite interesting that that's all that remains... The Church was interesting too (seen on the right). Again, not a lot left of it, but its the only round church thought to have been built in Scotland. It was sadly destroyed to make a new church, that was again destroyed. At least a little bit is left! We then took a drive along Scapa Flow, made famous by World War II. The area is beautiful, and thankfully we drove it on a clear day and were actually able to see out into the bay.

We then rushed over to Deerness before we had to turn the car in. Its a bit of a hike out to this old Stone Age settlement, but its a beautiful hike and the settlement is a great viewpoint. At one point in time there was a natural land bridge out to the village, but over the last 5,000 years it has been weathered away. Go figure. Now there is a set of stairs down the side of the cliffs, and then back up. The walk up and down is beautiful and there is a rope provided to hold on to - there is nothing to stop you from falling over the side of the cliffs. The stairs down the cliffs are right next to the stairs the villagers used thousands of years ago to get to the water too. Very neat. And all that was before 1pm...

After dropping off the car, we still had 6 hours before the ferry arrived and no hostel room. We made reservations for dinner, checked out the movie theatre - there is only one screen and Becoming Jane was playing that night. Not Mike's first pick, but the bowling alley had closed the week before and we needed something to do.

We poked through town for a few hours before dinner, which is no simple feat since its a VERY small town. But the church there is incredibly beautiful, so we spent quite a bit of time there playing with the new camera and really looking it over.

Then it was on to dinner. We ate at the Ayre Hotel and it was wonderful. Mike had some sort of seafood medley that he loved. I ate the steak and ale pie with a pile of fries. It never ceases to amaze me... I have eaten more meat in the three years I have been with Mike than I EVER ate before hand. My parents spent years fighting with me to eat meat. But unless it was a meatloaf or hot dog, I was not interested in it. I can remember sitting at the table long after everyone else had left chewing the same damn piece of meat. And now I choose to eat it... Who would have thought?