We arrived Kirkwall at 7am and were off the ship at 7:30, joining a Princess ship tour of the main island of Orkney. We’ve been to the Shetland Islands before, but did not get out into the countryside, so we were excited about this excursion.

Our guide Jeff, a classical musician from London, now a composer and seasonal guide, was enthusiastic about his new life in Orkney. He reported that the winters are long, with only 6 hours of daylight and every 13th day they have gale force winds, but he says the environment is very conducive to writing music.

The Orkney Islands are a part of Scotland and consist of 70 islands, of which 20 are inhabited. Most live on the main island, population 9000, where we were today. The tour would circumvent the island and our first stop was the Brough of Birsay, a small island that used to be the seat of a Viking king. Several ruins remain.

Our next stop was in the small town of Stromness. We learned that many of the small villages use ferries to get around and this one was no different. Surprisingly, because of the remoteness of Orkney, they only fish for local consumption. Instead, their biggest industry is cattle and sheep farming.

We came onto several henges, thought to be 4400 – 4600 years old. We got to walk around one of them, the Ring of Brodgar. It is not known whether these ancient sites were ritualistic, or served some purpose of community or time telling, but it’s astonishing how these large stones were moved and erected.

The landscape was beautiful, striking, serene. We saw multiple rainbows, though it never really rained on us. Back to the port, we took the town-provided shuttle into Kirkwall and enjoyed walking around. We stopped at Bothy Pub for some yummy burgers made with local beef and cheddar.

The sail away was very special, with a lovely bagpipe band playing us off.

Tommorow: Invergordon, Scotland, UK