I always get asked how much gas is over "here" wherever here is, and I never have known since we weren't driving or buying gas directly. Now that we have a car for our days on Orkney I know. I wish I didn't but I do. Our car is diesel, and after doing the requisite math converting pounds into dollars and liters into gallons, a gallon of diesel is $9.00.
While speaking budget we've found Scotland to be quite expensive, particularly lodging and eating out. A pub burger and fries will run about $15. Add a beer and you're over $20 for lunch for one. A couple from Germany arrived at the BnB we're staying at any they commented how much more expensive it is this year than when they visited Scotland last year. My best guess is the Commonwealth Games were being held in Glasgow, which drove prices way up. No matter, PBJs are just fine as long as the sites and experiences continue to elate.
We did a loop drive today to take in Kirkwall, the largest town in Orkney, about 8,500 people. Made a couple stops along the way, one being a particularly fun surprise for us.
First stop was this site which has the ruins of a 12th century church surrounded by graves from the Commonwealth Wars. I don't know what those wars were, but the graves were typically from the 1800s.
On to Kirkwall. The big site being St. Magnus Cathedral. Magnus was Norse who became Earl of Orkney, and according to legend bravely faced his martyrdom, praying for his executioner, and after death healed many infirmed. The cathedral is 12th century, made of standstone. The following picture shows how the sandstone has worn over the centuries.
After lunch we found this very nice Orkney Historical Museum. It was free, which is a good thing. Their collection was simply amazing. Stone age relics. Bronze age relics. Right up to the 1900s. The following picture is from the garden behind the museum.
The cannon above and the sign below are reminders who runs this place.
In a previous post I wrote about Maes Howe, a burial tomb we went into. It was formal, fees paid, tour guide to listen to, well let, easy to find. Today we found another tomb. Free, no tours, easy to miss. This sign is all we know about this 3,000 year old structure.
The cairn from outside
Cathy on the inside. A little dark. We had to crawl about 8 feet on hands and knees to get into the main chamber. There were three side chambers, through which we stuck our heads, but looked a little challenging to crawl through.
Hard to see. Look carefully and you can see runes scratched into the stone. There were similar runes at Maes Howe which the guide told us the were from the Norse around 900-1200 AD, well after the tombs were originally built.
Atop the hill, in addition to powerful winds were a number of cairns built, probably by our contemporaries. Not bad, they were probably up to 8 feet tall.
One day left on Orkney. Are there any more nice surprises like this one? We will find out soon enough.
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