The return to that fecking island

Does orkney have a summer? ...Is the Pope Jewish? ...Maybe. | 23 Jul 2005

Well I went back. The weather was worse this year. But the archaeology was better, MUCH better... as in we found something.

On the archaeology side of things we found a wall, possibley even the junction of two walls. After deturfing a long strip up the side of a mound (the Castle of Snusgar), Kansas Chris and myself were sent off to another mound in another field to dig. Our job was to show that when the geophysics results show nothing, there is usually nothing there. In short- we were on punishment detail.

So after some furious digging through sandy sand we were aroused and confused by the discovery of a something. Anyway, more on that sort of thing next year when we will discover if we have found something interesting, or something prehistoric.

On the drinking side, things were much like last year, although there was less pirate-ness. We returned to the brewery, but we only got a couple of pints each this time, although we were allowed to take home as many bottles of beer as we could carry.

One highlight was our joyriding in some reclining tricycles. Arriving at the pub one evening we spotted two contraptions that looked like giant dildos. Showing immaculate restraint we resisted messing around with them when we were drunk. But the next day we were weak. We stole, we rode (about 5 metres) and we crashed. Then we ran, we slept and we forgot. The next day two really pissed-off-looking Dutch folks arrived at our hostel in cycling gear, clad sexily to their fat bodies. In a very serious voice we were reprimanded and we were very sorry. Even more-so when it turned out that they had been featured in the Orcadian and were minor celebrities on the Islands. We were public enemies number one.

Once again we regularly visited the great chippy in Stromness. We also sampled the curry house in Kirkwall; hot and tasty.

As for sight-seeing, my parents visited the islands so I showed them the sites. We also visited the island of Rousey, which is archaeology-central on Orkney. The moral of the story is- if you've seen one chambered cairn, you've seen them all. Believe me, I have.

By the way the weather was crap.

Locations Visited: Kirkwall, Birsay, Stromness

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