Stones, Signs, Castle, and Ferry

Hill o'Many Stanes (cell phone)

Jim at John o'Groats (cell phone)

Today we left Archiestown to head up to the Orkney Islands located in the North Sea. The only limiter on this was we had to make it to the pier at Gill’s Bay by 6:00 to catch the ferry to cross to Orkney.   Since Jim did not have a good feel for time, even though GPS said it would take three hours, we made very few stops along the way.  I was able to convince him to stop at the Hill o’Many Stanes near Overton along the way to Gill’s Bay.  The Hill o’Many Stanes had 27 stones arranged in a fan pattern on a hill.  While probably not the most exciting thing to see, it was a bit interesting if you are into neolithic history.  From there we continued up to John o’Groats which is a town at the north east corner of mainland UK.  There is a pole with signs pointing to various cities such as New York, London and Edinburgh.  We ate lunch at little cafe in John o’Groats.

Since we still had plenty of time before the ferry, we traveled further down the road to the Castle Mey.  The Castle Mey was the residence of the Queen Mother while she was alive, it was the only house she owned. After she passed, it was willed to the people and opened up as a tourist and educational castle.  The castle was nice and had several family heirlooms and her personal belongings out on display. They also have a small animal center on site which has a variety of sheep, chickens, and geese. They also had a donkey and a bunny.  However,  what surprised me was they also were raising chipmunks. I don’t know why they were raising chipmunks, and the sign did not say.  From the castle we traveled down the road a bit and stopped at the beach.  

Castle Mey (cell phone)

It has been in the upper 70s the past couple days  thus perfect beach weather. We really were expecting upper 50’s not upper 70’s in Scotland.  Since it was so warm we went down and walked on the beach to the edge of the water, which happens to be the North Sea. We did not go wading in the North Sea. But there were other people sunbathing and wading in the water.  From the beach we headed towards the ferry dock so we could board the ferry and cross over to Orkney.  

The ferry crossing was smooth, we were the second car to be loaded thus were the second ones off when we arrived at St. Margret’s bay on Orkney.  The crossing took about an hour and passed a couple of the smaller islands including the island that had Churchill’s defenses for World War II on it. It was also windy on deck and a bit chilly, so I had some hot chocolate.  We ended up getting to the hotel around 8:15 PM.   Thus, it was kind of a long day. Tomorrow I’m looking forward to visiting several neolithic ruins, stone circles, and one winery.

PS. If you are wondering why these are all cell phone pictures, it is because I shoot RAW. Thus I would need to edit the photo from my camera before posting. Since we get back so late it is hard for me to do that. Thus cell phone pictures are easier.