This month's caravanners
Keith and Eileen McCorkindale
Outfit used
2003 Hobby Prestige 540UF
2001 Volvo V70SE 2.4-litre petrol
We started caravanning in 1982 when we had four children (aged between three weeks and 12 years), and two dogs. On a teacher's salary it was the only way we could afford a family holiday. Now approaching state retirement age, we have the luxury of caravanning as often as possible. Living in Scotland, the journey to Dover to catch the ferry to Europe is a holiday in itself. So, this year we decided on a visit to the northern reaches of our beautiful country, along the northern coastline of Caithness, into Sutherland and to the Orkney Islands.
We chose the in Caithness as our base for the holiday. Facilities here are excellent; it is apparently popular with people doing tours of Scotland. As it was our first visit to Orkney we opted to leave our car and caravan at the site and take the 'ferry and tour of Orkney's historic sites' package. The passengers-only ferry left from John O'Groats and connected with a tour coach on Orkney. We had to be at the port for 8.30am to collect our booked tickets, and to buy the advance ticket for entry to the remains of the neolithic village of Skara Brae (to save time queuing later).
On board the ferry, we were able to relax and take in the fine panoramic views of the Pentland Firth. It's one of the most dangerous shipping channels in the world, with its strong currents and spectacular tidal races. Visible to the left, almost as soon as we left John O'Groats, was the island of Stroma. It's two miles from the mainland but not part of Orkney, and inhabited now only by a seal colony and the occasional visitor.
We had chosen a beautiful day for the six-mile cruise, but despite the sunshine the wind had a biting chill and coats and anoraks were needed to sit out on the open deck. Absolutely no-one sat inside under cover.
We landed at Burwick, the most southerly point of Orkney, to be collected by our tour bus. We quickly set off to the gentle, dulcet tones of our very experienced driver, Tony, explaining the day's itinerary. Pity the coach wasn't built for people like me - 6ft 3in tall and of generous build. Still, the company was lively and friendly, and the stops frequent and eye-opening.
We travelled across the Churchill Barriers
- Winston Churchill had these built during World War II, to protect the fleet in Scapa Flow. They were completed just in time for the war's end.
Our first stop was the Ring of Brodgar. Between 2500BC and 2000BC, a large and exact circle of standing stones was constructed on this gently sloping ground. With its rock-cut ditch and many standing stones, Brodgar represents a huge feat of physical engineering. There are three great neolithic monuments at the heart of Orkney, and the Brodgar Stones were the last to be built. The Stones of Stenness, a mile away, had been set up some time before, and in the neolithic burial cairn
of Maeshow, people's bodies were already
being laid to rest.
The Ring of Brodgar is the finest truly circular late neolithic or early Bronze Age stone ring and, along with three other properties in the care of Historic Scotland at Maeshowe, Stones of Stenness and Skara Brae, they form the heart of the Neolithic Orkney World Heritage Site. They are an outstanding testimony to the cultural achievements of the neolithic people of Northern Europe.
Our coach took us on to the neolithic village of Skara Brae - for us, the main feature of this historical and cultural tour. Visitors have been fascinated by Skara Brae since it was revealed by a storm in 1850. Who lived there? What did they eat? How did they survive?
The complex covers quite a sizeable area: it's a fair walk from the car park and visitor centre/entrance, through the replica house and down the walkway to the excavations themselves, some half a mile away on the coast. The walk is punctuated along the way by descriptive milestones covering historical events through the centuries.
Because the 5000-year-old settlement at Skara Brae itself is so fragile, visitors may only look down into the village from the ground level above. However, you can walk through the doorway of the reconstructed 'Skara Brae House', based upon the best-preserved house in the excavated village. It gives a unique glimpse into what it must have been like for the Stone-Age residents as they threaded their way through the passageways connecting the houses. The house is quite dark inside and although the passageways
are narrow and their ceilings low, there is still sufficient access for wheelchairs.
Inside the houses you can readily pick out furniture - the dresser, grinding stones, the hearth - all made from stone, of course, as are the box beds with storage spaces set into the walls above.
Conservation work is ongoing to preserve the condition of the excavations in as eco-friendly a manner as possible. The information room is by no means spacious, but serves to illustrate the village layout and its history.
Adjoining Skara Brae is , Orkney's grandest mansion. Skaill House dates back to the 17th century and was the home of the seventh Laird of Breckness Estate who discovered Skara Brae in 1850. Skaill House's collection of items collected by past lairds offers a unique insight into Orkney history.
Back to the coach and on to , the largest town and capital of the Orkney
Isles. Here, we had a couple of hours to ourselves in the mid-to-late afternoon, mainly because during the summer season the tour bus doubles as
a school bus and it had to take
all the school kids home from Kirkwall Academy.
In Kirkwall we visited the beautiful , which houses the ship's log from the HMS Royal Oak, on which many hundreds of men perished in Scapa Flow during the war when it was sunk by a German U-boat. Each day, a page of the book is turned to honour the memory of those men.
The bus returned from despatching school children and we climbed aboard to head back towards the ferry, stopping at the on the island of Lamb Holm on route.
What an amazing structure. It was built by Italian prisoners during World War II, who converted two Nissen huts, set end to end, into a fabulous chapel. Using only rough building materials, wood from a wrecked ship, tin cans, scrap and concrete, they created a beautiful place of worship through skill, dedication and ingenuity. The panelled curving walls are so well painted that they appear to be sculpted. The decorative lanterns are constructed from tin cans and the font was only completed because one of the men volunteered to stay behind after everyone else had been repatriated. This was a most moving and very surprising find on the islands.
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