David @ the HALL of EINAR – Page 110 – David at the HALL of EINAR

Round the back of The Italian Chapel

I love the view around the back of the Italian Chapel.

Wreck

The wreck of SS Reginald just off Orkney’s Churchill Barriers.

Sangar - photograph (c) David Bailey (not the)

Blown away by a windmill

I was completely blown away by Sangar Mill. It’s incredible that’s it’s survived so intact, with the windmill mechanism still visible and …

Sitting in a stall of hay at Quoygrew

A dirt floor. A stone hearth. An open fire. No glass or windows. A turf roof. Stone stalls with hay bedding. What am I describing?

Down the garden path at Quoygrew

My favourite part of the ruined house at Quoygrew is the garden path of the 13th to 16th Century house. What a …

The fifteen hearths of Quoygrew

Quoygrew is a 1,000 year old house on Westray which was lived in by Vikings from 950 AD, shortly after they arrived …

Cathedral Carving

This grimacing head wearing what seems to be a wig and surrounded by wings is in St Magnus Cathedral in Kirkwall. It …

Fulmar at Noup - photograph (c) 2016 David Bailey (not the)

A sense of taste

Hardly any bird species have a sense of smell – and that probably means they have very little sense of taste either. …

Birdwatching at Birsay - photograph (c) 2016 David Bailey (not the)

The Bay of Skaill

It must be shell sand below for it to be so beautifully pale and for the water to be so turquoise. The …

Marwick Head - photograph (c) 2016 David Bailey (not the)

Breck o’ Aikerness

The language that estate agents speak is not English as we know it. Breck o’ Aikerness was for sale recently. It may …

Kelp Drying Walls - photograph (c) 2016 David Bailey (not the)

Seaweed, limpets, riots and arsenic

Burning seaweed on Westray used to be quite an industry. The island is still littered with low kelp-drying walls where the tangle …

When I first visited Westray I was amazed to see that everything was tied down. The wheelie bins; tied down. A static caravan; tied down. A trampoline; tied down, with a couple of helfy concrete blocks for good measure. When the wind blows here it blows to teach everyone a lesson.
I’m told that my friend who has the relatively high-sided box van no longer needs an inspection pit to view any problems with the axles or the exhaust. It has been laid on its side; by the wind. → 6 July, 2016

Fulmar on Westray - photograph (c) 2016 David Bailey (not the)

Addicted to Fulmars

Yes, it’s true; I’m addicted to Fulmars.

The Church of Scotland

From the air, the Church of Scotland Kirk looks just as imposing as it does when on the road below. I can …

Use your imagination - the Brough of Birsay - (c) 2016 David Bailey (not the)

Use your imagination

People of the past have left traces of their ancient lives all over Orkney. The beautiful Brough of Birsay is no exception.

Making waves at the Brough of Birsay - photograph (c) 2016 David Bailey (not the)

Making waves at the Brough of Birsay

The Brough of Birsay on mainland Orkney was a Viking stronghold 1,000 years ago. 380 million years before that it was a huge inland lake in the Southern Hemisphere. Here are the fossilised ripples to prove it.

There used to be a floating bank which visited the outer Orkney islands. Now the banker gets the plane and a tour of the Northern Isles is more likely to be a rare example of a ‘stag-do’ pub crawl by motor launch. How cool is that? One pub per island and miles of water in between. That’s one occasion you definitely need a designated driver. → 5 July, 2016

Footpath

Beautiful Pierowall

Pierowall is Old Norse for ‘Small Bay’. We seem to have forgotten that in modern times so Pierowall Bay means Small Bay …

45 degrees. No, that’s not the temperature in Fahrenheit. It’s the angle at which people have to walk in this wind just to keep upright in Orkney. If there’s ever a still day, there must be people falling over all over the Islands, with nothing to keep them upright. → 3 July, 2016