LAST DAY IN ORKNEY

When we sailed here I was a little surprised that a report on the artificial insemination of sheep was showing on the Hamnavoe’s plasma TV screen. It had a respectable number of viewers. But last night found us at a lecture on the DNA of North Ronaldsay sheep in Kirkwall’s Kirk Hall. Earlier in the day we had sat in a packed-out primary school hall at Finstown, listening to a lecture on Doggerland (where the North Sea is now) by archaeologist Caroline Wickham-Jones. In fact it’s all part of Orkney’s International Science Festival; another aspect of this unique place. We’ve been away a long time now and I worry about being seen at indoor events; when you’re camping you can always be recognised by the brown patches on your knees where you have got in and out of the tent. But Orcadians understand the effects of weather on daily life very well and no-one seemed to care. Archaeology shows how a tsunami once overwhelmed the islands. And because of a giant storm an inland loch became seawater. The Doggerland talk told about the world of archaeology under the North Sea which, in these times of rising sea levels, it’s urgent we in Britain do something about before it’s lost. The North Sea is a young sea (only a few thousand years old) and countries like the Netherlands and Denmark have excavated dwellings and boats at their side. We learned how the people who raised the standing stones probably shared our stress, watching sea levels rise dramatically in their lifetime. Were the stone circles and their human sacrifices an attempt to buy time with the gods? The DNA talk was equally fascinating. The North Ronaldsay sheep is a pure, ancient breed that lives off seaweed on the island’s rocky shores. Through tracing its origins, the origins of its owners, the Orkney people, can be assumed. These therefore lie in Russia. We had an Orkney High Tea in the community centre (not unlike Sunday tea in Yorkshire with mountains of home baking which it would be very impolite not to eat). Then Nigel and I returned to our tent and our hunter-gatherer lifestyle- no fixed abode and foragings from the local Co-op.
As I write this we are now camped on the machair at Clachtoll Beach campsite above Lochinver: severe gales imminent!