Another gloomy grey day day and we decided to start out by visiting the Scapa distillery in Kirkwall.
We had been introduced to Scapa Whisky by Helen and Tony at Lunna House. A delightful tour and the guide was very entertaining. Scapa whisky is quite mild and soft without the strong peat taste you normally get. Both of us are hooked. The distillary itself is still manually operated and although it has been taken over by Chivas, they have shown great insight in not interfering with the operation, spending money to improve the buildings and even rebuilding the water wheel which was originally used to power the site (not yet operational but hopefully will be soon.
En route we where going to visit the Italian Chapel however
the 2 tour busses had just arrived so we decided to continue on and visit the chapel
on the way back. At the southern end of the islands is the is
the "Tomb of the Eagles" a neolithic burial site which sits only about 10 miles from the Scottish mainland and ‘John O
Groats’ unfortunately we couldn’t quite see it.
To enter the burial chambers you have to ride a little
wheeled toboggan (only about 20 feet but still quite
challenge). When the tomb was excavated they found bones in the main chamber
and skulls in the outer chamber, no known reason for this.
We then returned to the Italian Chapel. The chapel was built by Italian POW’s who where employed building the Churchill barriers but found time to build and decorate a chapel for Sunday worship. The wall painting in the chapel is quite spectacular.
From here we returned to Kirkwall to visit St Magnus Cathedral. The Cathedral is quite spectacular and it is hard to accept that it was built around 1140. There was also a display of ceramic poppies cascading from the cathedral window which was marking the centenary of the Battle of Jutland.
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| Leaving the B&B - heading out for another day... |
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| Yet another cruise liner in town - Disney Magic with around +2,000 people on board |
We had been introduced to Scapa Whisky by Helen and Tony at Lunna House. A delightful tour and the guide was very entertaining. Scapa whisky is quite mild and soft without the strong peat taste you normally get. Both of us are hooked. The distillary itself is still manually operated and although it has been taken over by Chivas, they have shown great insight in not interfering with the operation, spending money to improve the buildings and even rebuilding the water wheel which was originally used to power the site (not yet operational but hopefully will be soon.
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| view across Scapa Flow from the distillery |
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| At Scapa- getting ready for the tour |
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| We were asked to park for a couple of "promo" shots.... |
Leaving the distillery, we then
drove south down the island over the Churchill barriers built to keep the
Germans out of Scapa Flow.
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| First of 4 concrete barriers established to protect the islands from German invasion during WW2 |
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| Concrete barriers across the waterway - 4 in total built to protect Orkney |
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| Oil Platform in Scapa Flow |
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| Recovered stone age ruins on the way to the Tomb of the Eagles |
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| Bird life at the site |
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| Tomb of the Eagles |
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| Inside the tomb |
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| Interesting very well built chambers |
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| Getting in and out on the toboggan was an ordeal!! Not our best angle.... |
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| View from the tomb entrance |
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| Walking back to the cars |
We then returned to the Italian Chapel. The chapel was built by Italian POW’s who where employed building the Churchill barriers but found time to build and decorate a chapel for Sunday worship. The wall painting in the chapel is quite spectacular.
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| Lonely phone boxes every where..... |
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| Little Italian Church |
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| Inside the church built and decorated by WW2 prisoners |
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| The altar |
From here we returned to Kirkwall to visit St Magnus Cathedral. The Cathedral is quite spectacular and it is hard to accept that it was built around 1140. There was also a display of ceramic poppies cascading from the cathedral window which was marking the centenary of the Battle of Jutland.
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| St Magns Church, Kirkwall |
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| Part of the Poppy display touring Britain - each ceramic poppy was individually hand made. |
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| Inside the church |
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