Adventuring around Orkney Part 1 - Birsay

 

Well ok it was a drive out with flask of tea, and a meeting up outdoors and one or two meets in a cafe with cake!  But after a year of lockdown that equates to adventuring for me!  These photos are from a trip out to Birsay in the West Mainland.  It's one of my favourite bits of coastline and has a lovely wee village with a great tea-room.  There's quite a bit to see and do if touring about so well worth looking up what's available if anyone plans to visit!

Anyway here are a few photos.....  Above is the Brough (pronounced Broch like Loch) of Birsay, a tidal island with a lot of history. Info available here

You can see the causeway in this photo and (checking tide times) you can walk over to the island, and up to the lighthouse at the highest point

Or stay lower down and explore the remains of a Pictish village (managed by Historic Scotland) which is just off the causeway (the stone building in the ticket office/shop for the site.

Or walk along the edge (not too close!) and admire the wildlife, wild flowers etc. as well as the view of course!

From here you get a view of one of the larger of the Orkney islands - Westray. It's a lovely island and well worth a visit.

You can just make out the lighthouse at Noup Head.  A large gannet colony there which I just love watching!

Meanwhile back at Birsay looking along the coast....

And at my feet a carpet of celandines (er there was more than one - honest!)

And back the way I came - towards the village in Birsay.....

And Marwick Head and the Kitchener Memorial - click here for some of the history  Marwick Head is another spot to enjoy watching the seabird population that summers in Orkney to breed.  Kittiwakes, guillemots, puffins, and others.  The sound and smell is quite something!

The village in Birsay. I will share photos of that in another post.

The village and the ruin of the Earl's palace

And this lovely cottage called Zanzibar. Made "famous" after appearing in an episode of "Top Gear" in 2009.  The challenge was to try and beat the post where a First Class Letter was posted in the Scilly isles to the cottage.  And the team had to race against Royal Mail in a Porsche.  I'm delighted to say the Royal Mail won!! The film has most of Orkney laughing when shown as they were showing shots out of sequence so if you knew the route from the ferry to Zanzibar you were going back and forth all the time - no wonder the post beat it!  Sadly the "team" were also very grumpy when "fans" met them at the airport as they flew south.  Not their finest hour then...

So that's The Brough of Birsay and the coast...... next stop the tea shop for cake!