John O'Groats....but WHY?? Just to say "I've Been There?"....Ahh but we have the Orkney Islands

Here we are, our little party, taking the 144km journey across the top of Scotland from Durness to John O'Groats on the A838/836 roads. Perhaps your diarist is getting a little jaded, but the trip does seem just a tad boring. A succession of small towns all looking much the same with intermittent views of the Atlantic Ocean meeting the North Sea. Perhaps the most interesting occurrence was crossing the low causeway and bridge over the Kyle of Tongue. Much of the route is lined by dry stone walls and flatish hillsides devoid of any substantial flora.

"Get a life for yourself, Bryan," says Val, "this is so different from Burrum Heads, ENJOY." I stand admonished for my momentary lapse into ennuie!

The causeway over
 the Kyle of Tongue

Oats seem to be the main crop although there are 3232 acres of turnips, 1929 acres of potatoes, 19 acres of rape and 1 acre of mangold in this Northern-most County of Sutherland, where we actually are today. Isn't that simply facinating? (Mangold: a relative of beet, if the reader, like your diarist is unfamiliar with this veggie. can't be much chop, there is only 1 acre.)

For those aficionados of great boring road videos and who are following this blog, go HERE for the trip of a lifetime from Durness to J O'G. The background music, though, does have  some good songs.

Enough of this trivial nonsense taking the mickey out of (warning, stereotyping coming up) our dour Northerners, lest they send the ghost of Domhnull MacMhurchaidh after me.

John O'Groats. Finally here, a bucket list ambition, and 1410km from Land's End. Quoting from some source whose name I've lost: "The population of John o' Groats is about 300. The village is dispersed but has a linear centre with council housing, sports park and a shop which is on the main road from the nearest town of Wick." Our accommodation for two nights ($396 inclusive) is the Seaview Hotel, offering a double room (with a good breakfast), cosy bar and dining room "with panoramic views of the Pentland Firth and the Orkney Isles".

About the only place we could go for "fine" dining was the Seaview itself. The "Storehouse' which did take our fancy closes at 4;00pm and "The Cabin" just did not stack up. So £70 for fish and chips; well we are at the restaurant at the end of the galaxy.  Been saving up for this.

Anyway, we are dining and we need some authentic Orkney music, so here the local school band plays just for you . I hear echos of Tennessee backwoods blues tunes, possibly the Orange Blossom Special, part way through! But really I should say that Tennessee has the echos of the old tune Orkney "Hoi".

"The Cabin" actually gets good TripAdvisor reviews

John O'Groats apparently is named after a Dutchman, Jan de Groot. Way back in 1496 King James IV granted De Groot the ferry franchise between the harbour here and Orkney, which was at the time still a relatively new acquisition by Scotland. Hopefully old John made a killing out of the franchise.

Now for the really good bits. We are off on our Maxi Day Tour  Orkney, just £70 each, entry fees and lunch extra. And if I didn't already own a hand-knitted, extremely cosy, white wool jersey (you know the sort) purchased in County Sligo, Ireland, I'd have to buy one here at Orkney, just to say off-handedly, "Oh, I bought it in the Orkneys".

Weather wise its a fine day here in the Orkneys, almost a summer heat wave. A balmy 17 degrees with sunny intervals and only very light rain. Sunrise at 04:10am and Sunset at 22:30pm. Perhaps the locals will cavort in bikinis and Hawaiian shirts, perhaps not.

 

Dear reader, brace yourself, you are in for a delightful smorgasbord of historical information and wonderful stories; all I can offer is but a small selection of what Orkney has to offer.

Orkney Islands have been inhabited for at least 8000 years, a mere day or two compared to the 60,000 years that Australia's indigenous people have inhabited our great land, but creditable never-the-less. In the late iron age, these islands were part of the Pictish kingdom, the Picts eventually being absorbed by the Norse "immigrants". Here we can throw in such lovely Norse names associated with the islands such as Magnus Barelegs, Sigurd the Mighty, Eric Bloodaxe, and, best of all, Thorfinn Skull-Splitter.                                     

In 1468 Orkney was pledged by Christian, King of Norway, as security against the payment of the dowry of his daughter Margaret, betrothed to James III of Scotland. Old Christian welched on the deal, the money was not paid and James grabbed Orkney in 1472. Probably not a bad outcome for James!

I know it may surprise some readers but your diarist is no scholar of the royal coats of arms of Scotland, England or indeed of the United Kingdom. However, although the image at left is supposedly of James III and Margaret about 1468, and, whereas, the lion is a major part of the Arms of Scotland, your diarist can find no illustration of the Royal Arms of Norway from 1200's on that feature the fleur-de-lis, so favoured by the monarchs of France.  So why this feature in this illustration? Tis a mystery!!  

Anyway, where was I?

Trivia: "The Governor and Company of Adventurers of England Trading into Hudson's Bay" was incorporated with a royal charter in 1670 and given a monopoly on a huge area centered on the Bay, actually about 1/3rd the size of modern Canada. The Company recruited most of its trappers and explorers from the Orkney Islands for a fairly obvious reason.

Prehistoric Orkney. 

I don't think any gardener could dig a hole in Orkney mainland without creating an

The Ness of Brodgar

archaeological site. I quote from  "  https://www.nessofbrodgar.co.uk/orkney-prehistory/ " 

"There is no doubt that Orkney was a very special place during the Neolithic period. Its remarkable range of prehistoric structures and ceremonial sites bear eloquent witness to this. And at its heart lies the Ness of Brodgar."

Absolutely incredible...go check the link above. The dig shown on the right is The Ness of Brodgar, a 2.5hectares site between the Ring of Brodgar and the Stones of Stenness. Its  situated on a inland isthmus between two lochs on Mainland isle, a truly astounding sight.

A cosy home at Skara Brea, circa 2500BC

Why is it called Skara Brae, you may well ask? Let me quote Doc Google: "The name Skara Brae is a corruption of the old name for the site, "Skerrabra" or "Styerrabrae" which designated the mound which buried the buildings of the village." That says it all, very illuminating don't you think!

Stone circles feature from the far North, here at Stormness
to Stonehenge in the deep South
Photos: courtesy of Kaye and Noel Kuskopf who have actually been there!

Two Remarkable Naval Events (not including anything the Vikings got up to):

The Isle of Flotta was the Royal navy base area overlooking Scapa Flow. It now is a terminal for the extraction of North Sea oil. Scapa flow was a huge anchorage for the RN in both World Wars. Following on from Germany's defeat in WWI, 74 ships of the Imperial German Navy's High Seas Fleet were interned at Scapa Flow pending a decision on just what to do with them. By June 1919 the negotiation period for the grand peace treaty had lapsed with no word of settlement on the ships. Admiral Ludwig von Reuter decided to scuttle his fleet, probably out of sheer boredom. No one had thought to let the good Admiral know that there had been a late extension to finalise details, so he ordered the plugs be pulled. 53 ships were successfully sunk in the shallow waters of the Flow.

An astonishing sight. The German High Seas Fleet
at Scapa Flow. Can you believe the national 
treasure spent on building this ultimately useless fleet? 

Second sea story: On 14 Oct 1939, a mere 14 days after Britain declared war on Germany Kapitanleutnant Gunter Prien, 30 years old and only just married, sailed his UB 47 on the surface at night through a 50 foot gap between the Scapa Flow defensive block ships and sank the battleship HMS Royal Oak much to the delight of Hitler and mighty embarrassment for Churchill. UB 47 had been seen lit up by car headlights inside the Flow, but nobody took any notice. Young Gunter himself was sunk with all hands in March 1941 after sinking 31 ships over just ten patrols.

Farewell to Scotland

Well folks, that just about winds up our visit to the Highlands and Orkney Island. We leave to the lilting music of massed pipes and drums Ballater Highland games with very recognisable tunes right HERE.

And the Royal Regiment of Scotland bid us farewell at the annual Linlithgow Marcheses, precisely on time at 12:30pm

Cheerio, see you all 

un bientot en France