The Voices Of The Oarsmen
“Orkney….. focus of the ‘Orkneyinga Saga’.
A home to Thorfinn, Harold Hårfagre ( fair hair) and St Magnus.
Where pilgrimages are made, to Skara Brae, the Ring of Brodgar, and the Stones of Stenness, amongst others….. where your imagination can wander.
Where the coastline dominates and seabirds play.
Tombs from many periods sit on every ridge and in every hollow waiting to be explored…. Many times, I have crawled into an ancient, stone built, burial place and thought of the person/people who ‘rested’ here.
Highland cattle greet you when you sit in a grassy meadow with cheese sandwich in hand. Have a hairbrush handy!
Lobster, crab and langoustine are brought in by the small boats each morning, and the crabmen talk excitedly amongst each other as prices are negotiated. There is never enough to be had, and prices are healthy!
And the herring boats are gone…. The voices of the oarsmen on the fourerns, sixerns and ness yoles are no longer heard, but the echoes still haunt the small villages of Burray and St Margaret’s Hope, and the sea still laps at the many slipways”
Orkney…. A place to savour.”