Island Sunshine.....

Home Sweet Home

The last few days have been very changeable, chilly, showery and windy. I refuse to contemplate Autumn so am reminding myself of a very HOT sunny day in early August by posting these photos.

Did I mention I live next to a lighthouse?

Hoy (Sound) High Lighthouse







Looking across the bay.....

The road home......

I also live on the "main road"..... ;-)

and finally, the Hoy Hills on a journey home.....

Another island beginning with "G" (not in Orkney)....

Martello Tower dating from Napoleonic War

Yes I've been galavanting about again. This time to the island of Guernsey in the Channel Islands (off the North coast of France for those from foreign parts).  A few days spent in the company of my sister, grown up niece, two nephews, and peedie (small) great niece (well she's taller than me but only 12) and great nephew (who is still smaller than me at four years old).  A lovely time spent pottering around. The family have lived there for many years so I've done most of the touristy stuff. Now visits are leisurely, with bus journeys and coffee stops as well as playtime and pottering.  Just a few pictures to share...

Above is one of many Martello towers that are around the coast of the Channel Islands and England. Scotland has only 3 (two of which are in Orkney!). These were built as defences against French and (ahem) American privateers.

The weather was warm and sunny most of my visit so it was lovely to wander along a different shore. Though these were slightly more populated than the Graemsay one!

There are also a lot of fortifications in Guernsey dating from the German invasion in WWII. The Channel Islands were the only part of the UK to be invaded. As you can see here the Germans also made use of previous fortifications....

Part of this fortification has been turned into a shrine of reconciliation.

A gun opening in a German defence battery wall (hmmm there's probably a technical term for this!).

A ghostly lady (AKA my sister!) glides across the foreground of the German WWII battery....








Then there was some wandering around the town.... Guernsey has beautiful displays of flowers throughout the summer.  They have their own "Battle of the Flowers" too each year. Here's some photos from 2010

And the post boxes in Guernsey are BLUE not red like the rest of the UK.













And the harbour is full of sailing boats....

Some buildings with a French influence - not surprising given the proximity of Guernsey to France.










There was, of course, time to sit in the garden, and share a bench or chair with Sophie the cat, a sun worshipper if ever there was one!

And there were visits to parks (Sausmarez Manor) which had some lovely sculptures around (wouldn't mind one or two of these in MY garden!).

And a train ride for a wee boy.....

And ducks for a wee boy to feed.

And more walks along a beach

And rocks for a wee boy to explore (while Great Auntie Sian shuts her eyes!! Don't worry Mum was on hand....).

And the chance to buy some home grown produce from the many stalls around the island - with honesty boxes to receive payment.....

There was even sand racing on one of the beaches!! It looked very exciting....




But I preferred the quieter spots.....

And now I have my latest visitors all the way from York (Yorkshire). Very hardy North of England types who were stripping off and donning swimsuits within an hour of their arrival. A little light snorkelling and wild swimming off the shore near the house.  They hold the record I think for the shortest time on visitor arrival to total immersion!  The water was declared as warm-ish......  There was also time for shell gathering and rockpool watching.  Unfortunately the weather changed dramatically yesterday with lots of rain and quite breezy. Today is like a Winter day (though warmer) with a bit of a blow with the wind and heavy rain showers.  So it's a leisurely day inside. I had a lovely brunch cooked for me and have been promised a roast dinner too.  These are my kind of guests ;-)  Oh and young R has also been introducing me to the delights of "Ice Age" DVs!

St Margaret's Hope....

When my visitors from Australia were here we took a trip to St Margaret's Hope. A lovely wee village that reminds me of Cornish coastal villages.

I love the cottages hugging the shore, much like in Stromness.

And this boat was for sale. I wanted to buy it - I miss the old boat on the Graemsay shore.

There are several roads in the "Hope" (or the "Hup") as it is known locally.  But the two main roads are Front Road (along the sea-front) and Back Road (back from the sea-front...obviously.....).

Creels piled up along the old pier at the harbour

And one of the main ferries to the Scottish Mainland sails from the village. The "Pentalina" - a catamaran

More "holiday" pictures around Orkney to come. But work and other distractions are conspiring to delay me.....

Summer miscellany......

Evening Sun

Just some random photos from the last couple of days....

Hamnavoe sailing into Stromness

I love the way the sunlight shines on the tower of the lighthouse, excentuated by the darker clouds behind....

It's that time of year again - silage cuttting for winter feed for the cattle and sheep. Summer goes so quickly...

Meanwhile Stromness hosted the "Snipe" championships - I thought Snipe were birds but apparently they are also wee sailing boats..... lots of races, lots of happy folk....

Ness of Brodgar Dig 2013

The latest Ness of Brodgar excavations  are revealing more treasures to the world. The site is described as a  "prehistoric complex in the heart of Neolithic Orkney. This week there was great excitement as an incised stone was uncovered.  There is a Daily Dig Diary during the excavations (they finish on 21st August this year) and it's well worth a look - click here for the diary

Meanwhile here are some photos taken on my visit this week. I had some friends from Australia staying for a few days so we did a mini exploration of archaeological sites in Orkney. They were delighted to be able to view an ongoing excavation and one that is so important too.  Though we missed seeing Tony Robinson of "Time Team" (TV series on archaeology) by just 10 minutes - much to the disappointment of my visitors who are keen viewers and fans. He and Francis Pryor were on the dig making a "Time Team Special" to be shown on TV at some point. Last week Neil Oliver was on site, with his flowing locks blowing in the wind!

It's hard for the uninitiated (like myself!) to make sense of the site.  It looks like a jumble of stone!!

But in each section there are experts working away painstakingly recording or uncovering....

This wall looks like new, but was uncovered only recently. Amazing how solid it is, and how thick....

Each year new theories evolve about what the site was used for.... (looks like a Neolithic student pad in this shot!!)

The site is huge - this is just one part of it....

Data on the site is recorded using state of the art equipment, like the gizmo on the tripod here, and also using more traditional methods like drawing by hand and recording by numbers.....

And here is some of the decoration that has been discovered THIS year....

As well as lots of other artefacts...... imagine the last hands that touched these before they were excavated.....

I'm hoping to take another look at the site before it is covered again till next year!

Sunsets....

As I said in yesterday's post, we've had lots of fog lately.  But we have also had some lovely sunny, clear days and lovely sunsets.  These photos were taken a week or so ago.....

Click on the photos to see them larger in a photo-stream....

So still and calm.....

The silhouette is of the old barns at Sandside, and the trees in front of the house..

The nights are drawing in..sigh... sunset is now just before 10pm....

Stroke of luck the birdie sitting on the chimney ;-)