Wednesday 27th
A glorious, blue sky day so we got the bikes out and headed for Skara Brea, a Neolithic village uncovered from under sand dunes during a storm in 1850. The site is amazingly well preserved, with stone dressers and beds completely intact and left as they were 5000 years ago.

An information centre has been built which was a bit small for all the people that were trying to mill around it. Displays described how the land has changed over the last 5000 years along with many artefacts found on the site which helped explain how the people who were here might have lived. Outside there is a reconstructed house which we had all to ourselves. We had to bend double to get through the entry tunnels (I banged my head twice and my elbow so wouldn't have done well living in those days). There was a little bird tweeting away in the roof space, I was a bit concerned it wouldn't find its way out. The house seemed fairly big, but then given that the space was used for a fire, cooking, eating, sleeping, keeping animals and everything else it probably got quite crowded in there.

Back out into the bright sunlight and onto the site itself. A path has been paved around the perimeter of the houses allowing you to peer into the tops of the dwellings. There are no roofs left, but the insides are incredibly well preserved with stone dressers and stone bed boxes clearly visible. It was incredible to think how old it is.

Our ticket also included entry to Skaill House, where the man who found Skara Brae lived. They have a display of crockery that was used by Captain James Cook aboard his ships, Discovery and Resolute. These ships made their first British landfall in Stromness in 1780 when they returned after Cook's death (he was killed by the locals in Hawaii) on his 3rd expedition.

We continued cycling north through the countryside to a brewery but unfortunately their advertised visitor centre hadn't opened yet. Which was a shame as we could have done with a beer to help us cycle back against the moderately strong wind. In places the wind was strong enough that we had to pedal downhill - never a good thing!

Thursday was laundry day; I can highly recommend the facilities in Stromness - clean, good value and big machines so we could get loads in. And there were no mobs of people waiting to use them. In the afternoon we took a walk around the town. Colin was amused by the 'Khyber Pass' the name of one of the many narrow passages that run from the main street up the hill between the houses. We continued down to the Ness and walked along the edge of Hoy Sound. The Race didn't look too bad but a Norwegian Colin Archer wooden gaffer heading out was bouncing up and down quite a lot.
In the centre of the village of Stromness is a well and a canon, the canon was used to send off the ships of the Hudson Bay company, who at one time had 75% of its employees from Orkney, due to their skill in small boats. The well is important as Captain Cook watered his ships here as did Franklin with his ships Erebus and Terror on his ill-fated voyage to find the North West Passage. In an interesting quirk of fate the man who discovered what happened to Franklin was John Rae who was from Stromness. Who knows perhaps Emerald will attempt the north west passage one day if the ice continues to recede!!