Round Britain day 43

[Concerto]

Today was a lot of riding on my bike. Firstly I cycled to the Stones of Stenness, a stone circle dating back to 3,000BC. Then passing the Watchstone, I crossed along the narrow roadway separating the Stenness Loch and Harray Loch. This leads onto a thin finger of land, firstly Ness of Brodgar, where there is a dig of this complex of buildings. Finally to the Ring of Brodgar, where I felt a mystical presence whilst there. These are all part of the World Heritage site and date back 5,000 years. I went because I though I should go as I was close to them, but found them fascinating. Whilst on my return journey I stopped at the Unstan Cairn, which is a Neolithic tomb dating back 5,300 years. Here I was able to enter the tomb by crouching down very low as the entrance was only about a metre high.

When I returned to Stromness I realised I would be too early for the tour of Ness Battery so I popped back on board for half an hour. I still arrived too early at the Ness so went further along to see if the waves were similar to when I entered Scapa Flow. The wind was strong but not a full westerly as it had some south in it and this sheltered part of the entrance, but it was still wind over tide. They were fairly big waves, but certainly not as rough as Thursday.

Ness Battery was interesting and it can only be accessed on a tour with an expert guide, who pointed out many features that we may have missed or not understood. The Sound of Hoy entrance was defended by 7 separate batteries with various types of guns and searchlights, all controlled from the Ness Battery.

In total I rode about 20 miles and enjoyed it immensely. Tomorrow I am planning to ride to Houton, about 8½ miles away to catch the ferry to Lyness so I can visit the recently opened Scapa Flow Museum. The ferry will cost just under £5 return, so solves the problem of berthing on a pier in windy conditions. I am aiming to be in Houton to catch the 10.15 ferry as the last return is a bit early at 16.40.


Stones of Stenness. Visitors came by car and coach, very busy site.


Watchstone and the narrow access road between the lochs.


Part of the dig at Ness of Brodgar. Mos tof the visitors are just out of sight listening to a guide.


Ring of Brodgar. The site was almost deserted as it was lunchtime.


Unstan Cairn


Entrance to Hoy Sound.


Closer view of the entrance.


The Ness Battery Observation Post that was the command centre.In the background are several sheds erected just before WWII started.


This is one of two 6" gun emplacements.


Inside the gun emplacemen.


Gun crew shelter.


Part of a gun crew shelter and the small arms store with the Observation Post in the distance.

 

[srm]

Nice pics, pleased to see that you got some sun.
Riding to Houton takes you past my old house, down near the shore looking out across the bay of Ireland to Hoy Mouth. Then past the Hall of Clestrain (Dr. John Rae's birthplace) and a long uphill slog to the top overlooking Houton. However, you have made a wise choice as the pier at Lyness is not a comfortable place for yachts to lie and tends to fill up with dive boats over lunch time or may be in use by wave energy equipment.

 

[Concerto]

The weather forecast was none too bike friendly this morning. Checking the route on google maps and using a bicycle as the transport means, this showed a gradient plan of the route. Going to Houton was a long slow climb followed by a steep decline, so lots of battery required. Then on the return there was the steep climb up from Houton. Now add 40 mph headwinds and some misty showers, I had a change of plan, I used the bus. Only £3.25 return and then £4.24 return on the ferry, what a cheap day out.

Whilst waiting to board the ferry, a Dutch couple I met in Lowestoft, came over to say hello. We ended up having a long chat on the ferry. They had not been following these threads, but I talked about the places I visited that they had never visited before. They also explained they had a propeller problem on their 13m yacht called Eagle and spent 2 weeks out of the water in Amble.

The Scapa Flow Museum on Hoy only reopened on the 2nd July after major works. The displays on the WWI and WWII ships were good, but I would have liked more. The development of the Lyness naval base was very interesting and showed how complex it was to keep so many ships in fighting condition. From their web site I thought I would need 4 hours to see everything, but I finished in half that time. My Dutch friends finished slightly quicker, and we kept commenting on different things as we went round and also when we had a light bite in the cafe. We met again on the ferry back.

The return ferry was a slighgtly longer route as some vehicles were off loaded on flotta. The wind on the way back was very strong with lots of white caps. Standing up in the wind was difficult as it was so strong and made taking video difficult into wind. The video of the docking shows how gently the ferry docked approached the dock and how quickly the cars and lorries drove off, with foot passengers last. Once ashore I said goodbye to my Dutch friends as they were returning to their boat in Kirkwall. I am certainly glad I did not have to cycle up that hill out of Houton in that wind.


Waiting to load and the bus I arrived on as the only passenger.


Scapa Flow Museum.


The old steam powered crane (not in operational condition!).


Boilers in the pump house for pumping fuel oil.


The oil pumps.


Memorabilia from the loss of a numer of British ships from WWI.


Salvaged German ensign from a Battleship it was wearing when scuttled in 1919.


Memorabilia from some scuttled ships.


HMS Royal Oak, a WWI battleship, was sunk by a U Boat in Scapa Flow in WWII.


The division between the fields and the hillside show the steep hill from sea level. It would have been a very slow climb.


Just to show where the museum was and the return ferry trip.

 

[boomerangben]

Thank you Concerto for this wonderful series of blogs. Even more inspiration for visiting the Orkney’s. On the chart, it looks a wonderful place to explore with a small boat with good weather

 

[srm]

Thank you Concerto for this wonderful series of blogs. Even more inspiration for visiting the Orkney’s. On the chart, it looks a wonderful place to explore with a small boat with good weather

It is a great cruising ground and the islands all have their own characters.

However, the weather can be variable and most anchorages or visitor mooring buoys are open to one direction so its important to follow the weather patterns. Tides are strong and the tidal stream atlas (NP 209) is essential for comfortable passages between the islands. Just a case of cautious seamanship.

Scapa Flow is free of tidal streams other than the entrances and channel from Houton to Stromness and Hoy Mouth. I used to make a point of sailing in Scapa Flow from Stromness on at least one day between Christmas and New Year.

 

[Concerto]

The next part of the trip is here.
Round Britain day 50/1