NC 500 (The famous 500 mile trip around the Northern part of Scotland)
The fabled NC500 starts and finishes in Inverness. We will be driving most of it, although with a few add ons and we are not planning to go back to Inverness. It's called the most epic road trip in Scotland and one of the top 10 in the world. We shall see.
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| Our first night on the NC500 was Top 10 for sure! |
The first "sight" was pretty creepy. It's called Cloothie Well, a little mound in a small forest where people come to hang pieces of clothing, cloth and shoes into the trees as part of a healing ritual. Cloothie Wells are places of pilgrimage usually found in Celtic areas. May that as it be, we found it really creepy.
We stopped briefly in Dingwall to have a look around, didn't see much, so on we went to check out some waterfalls on our way to Helmsdale, a small village with an even smaller harbor. Camper vans may park up right next to it, which was very idyllic. If you don't mention the mirade of sea gulls, that is.
The next day lead us past Ousdale Broch and the Grey Carins of Camster, two sites where people have lived some 5000 years ago. I would really like to pretend to be very sophisticated and say something touching about those heaps of stones. Just that nothing comes to mind.
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| Ousdale Brock |
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| Grey Cairns of Camster |
The town of Wick has a nice little cliff walk and a cool outdoor seawater pool. It being Saturday, there were loads of people, having BBQ's and a few cold ones. In the pool we only saw children, most of them in wetsuits, some brave ones just in bathers.
On the way to John O'Groats, the (almost) most Northerly point of mainland Great Britain, a small bird flew right into my windscreen. No hope for that little creature to have survived. Only a few kilometers down the road a small duck just walked out of the high grass on the road side. I am still not sure whether I hit it or not. Couldn't see anything in the mirror. I like to think I just scared the crazy bugger.
We spent a windy night at the ferry car parkfrom where my human would take off to the Orkney Islands the next day. The Orkneys consist of 70 islands of which only 20 are inhabited.
She considered taking the bike and ride around the islands for a couple of days, but after checking the weather, or rather wind, forecast, she decided against that and booked onto an organized day trip. Nothing she does very often, but once in a while it is quite nice to let someone else do the driving and organizing, she says.
And since that day we do have a situation. She forgot to take Carmelo!
She realized as soon as she was on the ferry, but then it was already too late. Now, Carmelo isn't the talkative kind on the best days, but since then he is really quiet. No apology will do. He will get over it with time, I am sure.
After a 50 minute boat ride, my human and about another 20 people boarded a bus and from then on Darren, the driver and guide, took over.
They stopped in the two largest cities on the islands, Kirkwall, the capital, and Stromness, which used to be the capital. Darren advised to try the Orkney Crab Roll and the island made ice cream. Dutifully, my human complied.
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| Kirkwall |
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| Logan's Well in Stromness, where many famous expeditions filled up their water supplies |
The 22.000 inhabitants are greatly outnumbered by some 20.000 sheep and 60.000 cattle. Unless you count the 500.000 tourist that come here every year. Tourism is the second largest industry, after farming and before fishing.
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| Just look at this prize bull's b... muscles |
There are no traffic lights at all and many roads are super straight. That is because they were built by military, since these islands were a major strategic stronghold during both world wars. And if you need to go from A to B, a straight line will provide the shortest way.
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| Only temporary traffic lights on this island for road works |
The do have a 100 bed hospital, recently built for 66 Million Pound, but for anything major you still have to go to the mainland. The council will fly you over for free. And back as well, if you've made it.
Talking about flying: in the 50s a heavy storm hit the islands and, besides other things, it blew away the then numerous chicken houses, including the 80.000 chicken! The only time the fishermen every fished chicken. That was the end to this industry.
The most famous sight here is Skara Brae, a Neolithic settlement where people lived from around 3180 BC to 2500 BC. Which makes it older than Stonehenge or the pyramids of Giza. It is one of the best preserved in Europe.
And how could it be any different, it was discovered in 1850 because a storm blew across it and took enough sand with it to unearth the buildings.
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| A replica of one of the houses; this is what it might have looked like 5000 years ago |
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| Right beside Skara Brea lies this little gem |
Further down the road are the Brodgar Standing Stones and the Stones of Stenness, two stone circles close to each other. To this day one doesn't really know why they are there and what they were used for, although there theories aplenty, of course. The farmer who used to own the land around Brodgar was sick of all the tourist trampling around his field, so he started knocking the stones down with his tractor. Well, he doesn't live on the island anymore.
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| Brodgar Standing Stones |
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| Standing Stones of Stenness |
Last stop was the Italian Chapel, built by Italian prisoners of the second WW. An artist, a blacksmith and a cement worker did most of the work, all after their daily labor building causeways between the islands.
When restoration work is needed, artist are flown in from Italy, people who usually work in the Sixteenth Chapel or places similar.
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| The walls and ceiling are just paint, no bricks or anything |
When my human got back she was quite delighted with her decision not to do this on the bike. Although it had been a sunny day, the wind was really strong in parts and it's not exactly flat either. And then Carmelo hit her with a wall of silence. It was a glum evening after that.
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