Orkney and Shetland

I am reading the sixth in Ann Cleeves's eight-book Shetland series, and it is making me nostalgic for those northern islands, which I visited on a photo tour eleven years ago. I thought I'd post a few photos that I took—and actually curated. Though I know I have a bunch more photos . . . somewhere. (That is pretty much the story of my life. "It's here somewhere!" should be engraved on my headstone.) (Click on the images to see them large.)

Gairsay Sound, May 24: Arrived at Woodwick House on
Mainland, Orkney Island, this afternoon.
This is the view from the water. I love it that
the shore is littered with oystercatchers—very recognizable
by their bright orange beaks and pink legs, though their coloration
is different from the ones at home (here they've added
white to the all-black makeup of the California species).
It's cool--low 50s—and windy here, and every so often
a squall sheds a few drops of rain. I'll be dressing
in all my layers—including rain layers—the next couple of weeks,
I expect.

Bluebells at Woodwick House

Ring of Brodgar, 5,000 years old

Waukmill Bay

Kirkwall kirkyard

Kirkwall colour

Skara Brae, a 5,000-year-old community, discovered in
the 1800s when a big storm blew the topsoil away

We watched this swan family over a couple of days.
There were apparently predators in the neighborhood...

Midhowe broch: On Rousay, Orkney Islands, dating from ca. the birth of Christ.
A broch is round (always) and may have been a fortification or simply
a "manor house" (very primitive). This one we were allowed to
clamber all over, which made it perhaps more entertaining than educational.

A selkie, eyeing us as we eyed it back

A Rousay croft, last inhabited in the 1880s

Unst (Shetland) bus shelter, an installation art creation
that is mentioned in the book—and there is also a geocache here!

Unst bus shelter in situ

Lerwick, Shetland: Kitty dreaming of mackerel and puffins

Lerwick dockside

Lerwick reflections

Hoswick, Shetland: we were all captivated by... pigs? Yes we were!

A drizzly evening in Stromness, Orkney, but I was happy to
pose for my friend Meg, who took this photo

I would love to go back to Orkney and Shetland and explore on my own. When I was there with my fellow photographers, we were driven everywhere, and as a result I have very little idea of just where-all we actually went. I do remember loving these wild, relatively empty islands, though. My kind of place.