Orkney, Scotland
“Would you buy some wind, young man, to speed you on your way, to fill your sails and carry you forth to lands far across the sea?” An ancient woman stood upon the quay, her stooped shoulders wrapped in a ragged woolen shawl. A skein of knotted threads were clenched tightly in her hand. “Untie one knot for a gentle breeze, two if you need winds stronger. But never, never untie the third. For the gales will blow and the sea will churn and you will return no longer.”
If we believed in sailor’s superstitions, we might well say that someone undid a knot or two, for the winds blew strong and white caps danced during the night under the cover of darkness. With the dawning of the day (0405 at this latitude) the battle changed its venue to the sky above. If one stood upon the deck and slowly pivoted around, the scene was much like many merging movie screens. Above gray clouds hovered holding all the fragments from slipping into the ocean. In places dramatic puffy piles of charcoal and white, glowing bright, were positioned next to smudges of gentle silvery rain. Here, there was a heavy downpour. There, the sun pushed aside the clouds revealing a bright blue horizon and momentarily a mercurial path appeared upon the obsidian ocean. By the time we sailed into the harbor of Kirkwall on Mainland, Orkney the photographers in the crowd had arranged for the clouds to become dramatic backdrops that would travel with us all day long.
We’ve visited off-shore islands quite frequently during this voyage and it might be fair to say that none were quite so lush and green as this northern archipelago. The wind may blow on many a day but, in spite of it, man has lived and thrived here for at least 5000 years. The principles of survival have not changed in all those years. All one needs is food, water, shelter and space. With the sea lapping at your doorstep and fertile soil, food seems to have been sufficient for a reasonable population. Freshwater lochs and plentiful rain meant drinking water was abundant. On first glance, shelter might have been life’s limiting factor but one does not need trees for home construction when the bedrock is red sandstone. Its flaggy fracture patterns made perfect building blocks for walls and hearths, for beds and dressers and mysterious “standing stones.” Rammed earth homes are popular in some parts of the world today but Neolithic man already knew that the soil was great insulation. The roofs of Skara Brae were peeled away more than a century ago revealing that ancient man were not as primitive as some might think. Their thick walled houses were built within middens of the past. A labyrinth of tunnels led from home to home eliminating the need to face the winter’s icy blasts. From the “Heart of Neolithic Orkney” we could learn much about living with the land.
For those of us from North America, three hundred years seems old. Yet, St. Magnus Cathedral in Kirkwall was started three times that many years ago. Much younger (18th C) Balfour Castle on Shapinsay is more of an age that we can comprehend. We scattered to the four winds this afternoon and explored one or the other or just wandered the streets of town absorbing the local flavor.
As sunset draws near, we begin our descent in latitude. Having reached our northernmost point we now change our heading south, pushed by a gentler breeze.
“Would you buy some wind, young man, to speed you on your way, to fill your sails and carry you forth to lands far across the sea?” An ancient woman stood upon the quay, her stooped shoulders wrapped in a ragged woolen shawl. A skein of knotted threads were clenched tightly in her hand. “Untie one knot for a gentle breeze, two if you need winds stronger. But never, never untie the third. For the gales will blow and the sea will churn and you will return no longer.”
If we believed in sailor’s superstitions, we might well say that someone undid a knot or two, for the winds blew strong and white caps danced during the night under the cover of darkness. With the dawning of the day (0405 at this latitude) the battle changed its venue to the sky above. If one stood upon the deck and slowly pivoted around, the scene was much like many merging movie screens. Above gray clouds hovered holding all the fragments from slipping into the ocean. In places dramatic puffy piles of charcoal and white, glowing bright, were positioned next to smudges of gentle silvery rain. Here, there was a heavy downpour. There, the sun pushed aside the clouds revealing a bright blue horizon and momentarily a mercurial path appeared upon the obsidian ocean. By the time we sailed into the harbor of Kirkwall on Mainland, Orkney the photographers in the crowd had arranged for the clouds to become dramatic backdrops that would travel with us all day long.
We’ve visited off-shore islands quite frequently during this voyage and it might be fair to say that none were quite so lush and green as this northern archipelago. The wind may blow on many a day but, in spite of it, man has lived and thrived here for at least 5000 years. The principles of survival have not changed in all those years. All one needs is food, water, shelter and space. With the sea lapping at your doorstep and fertile soil, food seems to have been sufficient for a reasonable population. Freshwater lochs and plentiful rain meant drinking water was abundant. On first glance, shelter might have been life’s limiting factor but one does not need trees for home construction when the bedrock is red sandstone. Its flaggy fracture patterns made perfect building blocks for walls and hearths, for beds and dressers and mysterious “standing stones.” Rammed earth homes are popular in some parts of the world today but Neolithic man already knew that the soil was great insulation. The roofs of Skara Brae were peeled away more than a century ago revealing that ancient man were not as primitive as some might think. Their thick walled houses were built within middens of the past. A labyrinth of tunnels led from home to home eliminating the need to face the winter’s icy blasts. From the “Heart of Neolithic Orkney” we could learn much about living with the land.
For those of us from North America, three hundred years seems old. Yet, St. Magnus Cathedral in Kirkwall was started three times that many years ago. Much younger (18th C) Balfour Castle on Shapinsay is more of an age that we can comprehend. We scattered to the four winds this afternoon and explored one or the other or just wandered the streets of town absorbing the local flavor.
As sunset draws near, we begin our descent in latitude. Having reached our northernmost point we now change our heading south, pushed by a gentler breeze.
