Orkney!

Wow! After a seriously rocky night in our quarry (heaven only knows how bad it would have been without that shelter!) we headed to the ferry at crack of dawn (or at least early in the morning). The ferry terminal has a well-equipped cafe with excellent draught-proofing and heating so having checked in and paid up, we settled to wait for the ferrry with bacon roll and mugs of hot chocolate. Sheer luxury!
Boarding the ferry turned out to be by swinging around and reversing down the loading ramp - slightly nerve-wracking as we were surrounded by very competant commercial coach, lorry and tanker drivers so I felt somewhat on my mettle! The manouvre was safely acheived in one go however and the similarly competant ship's crew marshalled all the vehicles into place, tight-packed as sardines, then chained them all down very securely. We repaired to a comfortable lounge area to enjoy the view.
Once underway we were soon heading into a quartering four-foot chop that did for Anny's stomach. Fortunately they were plenty of sea-sick bags provided and it wasn't far to the ladies'! I confined myself to handing fresh bags and tissues over, interspersed with time-checks and encouragement to admire the view and watch the horizon! Once we landed all was soon well however and we arrived safely at the Tomb of the Eagles in Isbister at the southern end of South Ronaldsay within 40 minutes of landing despite a pause to change clothes and regain land-legs!
The Tomb of the Eagles is a 5,000 year old chambered tomb, consisting of five chambers in which various human remains were found. The walls are built from slabs of the local rock, which naturally fractures into flat slabs of excellent size and sturdiness. I crawled into the tomb on hands and knees, although Anny chose a giant skateboard and hauled herself in hand over hand along a rope fixed for this purpose! Once inside, skylights in the modern concrete roof (necessary protection) allowed us to see the chambers clearly and we fossicked about happily for half an hour or so before setting out on the mile-long and incredibly windy trek back to the interpretation centre in search of a cup of tea. About halway back we passed a bronze age structure, again stone built, which we agreed was definitely a sauna house!
The interpretation centre, although excellent in many regards, sadly offered only a coffee machine and no seats. It was by then gone 2pm and we agreed to sally forth and try the bistro next foor. Never has a better decision been made! Not only was the bistro superb, providing us with a pot of Earl Grey tea, locally-sourced beef lasagne and homemade salad followed by coffee and Orkney ice-cream for Anny (I passed on putting anything cold into my core in the face of the icy gale blowing outside!) But they also had a neolithic chambered tomb!! We're both hugely envious of the people here - everyone seems to have masses of fabulous archeology on their doorsteps and oin this case, right smack in the middle of their car park! Stunning!
Better yet, the Banks chambered cairn is hardly even touched by archeologists yet - a major surprise given its size and the vast array of human remains found in the only chamber (of 6) that has been excavated to date. We spent some time in a little hut that sits by the side of the car park and were shown photos and some of the very finds excavated just last month, even handling some of them (they're in the process of being slowly dried and warmed to avoid them fragmenting) while the very man who owns the place told us the story of the tomb's discovery and exploration as he and his wife had lived it! After that it was into the tomb itself, crouching under the original roof to examine bones jutting from the ground at our feet, 5,000 year old marks carved into the roof and peering by torchlight into the still rubble-filled remaining chambers, all guided by a super young supply teacher who'd taken the job just that morning as a summer job! It was a privilege to pay £5 each towards the future excavation and preservation of tha site.
Stunned and surfeited (and provided with inside info on other stunning tombs to visit on Rousay!) we thanked the Skerries Bistro and Banks Chambered Tomb folks for a fabulous afternoon and trundled off to find our campsite for tha night. Weemys campsite was soon found and is proving very satisfactory so far; there are hot showers and we've been able to park nose to wind in the lee of a caravan and half-built bothy, so for now the Kite Wagon is lying in relative peace under blue skies and we're allowing our excitement to subside gently. Tomorrow we plan to drive round to the north, leaving South Ronaldsay behind and arriving on the Orcadian Mainland, where we hope to visit a craft and food centre promoting local artists and artisans, then on west to the heart of Neolithic Orkney.