Enjoying a Tomb !!
This morning I drove my small rental car, from Kirkwall, out to the ancient town of Finstown. I parked in the small car park adjacent to the sea, used the loo and started walking.
I had a flask of coffee in my rucksack and wore some good walking shoes.
I carried a couple of Ordnance Survey maps….. yes I’m still a paper person… as well as my IPhone, and I knew where I was headed.
Following the St Magnus Road into the village, I found a turning to my left. It went sharply up the barren hill and I could see that the road became a track and the track, in turn, turned into a footpath.
Up I went.
The views were majestic. As I cleared the village outskirts, I was able to look down on the waters of the North Atlantic…. The Bay of Firth. Two small flat islands lay within the Bay, the Holm of Grimbister and the smaller isle of Damsay. Like brother and sister they sat looking up at me. They have a dark tale but not one I’ll tell today…. I carried on walking, upwards.
Leaving the road behind me, I found myself weaving between the ruts made by farm vehicles…. My mind wandered.
Why did people live here, long ago.?
Were there many of them?
What did they farm?
Were they at peace?
How did they interact with others?
So many points of research for me to follow up on later !
The ruts disappeared.
The grassy footpath led me onwards and upwards.
And then I was confronted by a large mound, surrounded by a low fence. I climbed over the stile and entered the ‘protected’ site. Having to scramble up the mound, I arrived at a hole in its side…… only then did I notice the Hobbit sized steel doorway, left ajar, within the hole.
I had arrived.
Out came my coffee flask and a cheese and onion bap. I sat and munched on it whilst looking at the islands below me.
I wondered at the people who had called this home…… who lived here. Who raised families here. Who farmed this beautiful landscape and fished these rough waters.
I marvelled at those who had been buried here….. in this tomb.