| [I] shading to [R] : Orkney [message #275361] |
Mi, 31 Mai 2006 17:31 |
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We just got back from a few days in Orkney. It was windy, cold, windy,
wet, windy and wonderful.
People were friendly and helpful; as far as we could see there's
absolutely no graffiti, no litter and the roads are largely empty.
When the sun shines you understand why so many jewellery designers are
based there - the sea, lochs and islands are like enamelled jewels
themselves.
We went mostly for the prehistory - Scara Brae, Maes Howe and so on.
Standing in the Ring of Brodegar on Friday morning, with lochs on either
side and Maes Howe in the middle distance, was just amazing. So was our
visit to the Broch of Gurness where stone tower, blue seas and heather
hills made wonderful surroundings as I sat on a grass bank in a ruined
Iron Age house.
The Tomb of the Eagles - a cliff top chambered tomb that pre-dates the
pyramids - was particularly memorable. The entrance passageway is only
about 80cm high and we used a granny's skateboard to get inside, laying
on our backs and pulling ourselves along a rope, one at a time. Inside
is a dark and mysterious place, with chambers off a central passageway.
The farmer who found it had only a cigarette lighter when he stumbled on
it and at that time the chambers held the remains of over 300 people,
grinning at him in the flickering light. There's no guide at the tomb,
you're briefed beforehand and then left to walk there and examine it for
yourself. Outside the cliffs, sea and scenery make you realise what a
special place it was for those people.
Over on Hoy we visited the Dwarfie Stane - a rectangular boulder in the
middle of a glen that was long ago hollowed out to form another chamber
tomb. It just sits there with peat bog all around and challenges you to
work out how the neolithic people that made it managed to hollow it out
so well, and to wonder at how very important it must have been for them.
Although there's no direct parallel in the Discworld canon, the air of
mystery and sheer depth of history call forth echoes of the world of the
Lancre witches. Being there made me think particularly of LL and CJ, as
well as all the Celtic mythology I read and loved long ago.
Orkney was part of Pictland before the Scots and Vikings came along.
Pictish writing?
.... Ogham.
I want to go back.
Rgemini
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| Re: [I] shading to [R] : Orkney [message #275444 ] |
Mi, 31 Mai 2006 22:41 |
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On Wed, 31 May 2006 16:31:29 +0100, Rgemini =
<royOMIT.ayresCAPITAL [at] dsl.LETTERSpipex.com> wrote:
> We just got back from a few days in Orkney. It was windy, cold, windy,=
=
> wet, windy and wonderful.
>
<snip lots of lovely stuff on scenery, etc.>
Not forgetting the Orkney Whisky distillers, of course!
Your descriptions are quite lyrical - how about forwarding them to the =
Highlands & Islands Tourist Agency (for a fee of course :-)
>
> I want to go back.
I WAAAAANNNNTTT TO GO!!!!!
/<envy mode>
-- =
"The only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any =
member of a civilised commuinity, against [their] will is to prevent har=
m =
to others. [Their] own good, either physical or moral, is not a =
sufficient warrant"
John Stuart Mill, On Liberty 1859
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