Day Seven: Birsay Vikings, Puffin and Cliffs, Gerry's Orkney Ice Cream, Whiskey, Jewelry and More Driving

Got up early to get to the Bough of Birsay while the tide was out. It was a bit of a drive to the north-west corner of the Mainland Island. The island of Birsay is joined to the Mainland by a walkway which can only be used during low tide. 

When you get to the Bough of Birsay there are the remnants of an ancient Viking settlement. It is amazing how much of it still exists! It is also amazing that you can just walk around, taking pictures. In fact, there were a number of kids running on top of the ruins!

From there we walked to the top of the island where there was a lighthouse. That wasn't very interesting, but on the other side were these amazing cliffs--sort of like yesterday at Yesnady. Again, Glen scared the tar out of me as he kept getting so close to the edge. Of course, then I had to get pictures of me, too! At one point I was hanging off the ends of a cliff hundreds of metres above the ocean trying to get a picture of a puffin!

We then drove to the Earl's Palace. This was built in the 1600's. The story wasn't that interesting, but it was a great place for pictures.

Gerry's Ice Cream was waiting for us. After last night when we got there just as she was closing, today we made it just in time. Unfortunately, we didn't bring in our cameras so...no pictures.

Now came Glen's part of the holiday. We stopped at Scaba Distillery and took a tour. Actually, it was rather interesting and Ruby, the guide, was a sweet young thing who is considering moving to be a nanny for a relative in Vancouver! They are a very small distillery but apparently had some interesting flavours. Then we headed to Highland Park--much larger and renown. This was a tad disappointing. They really didn't have much that you couldn't buy in Canada unless you wanted to spend over $1000.

From there we travelled to Sheila Fleet's Jewelry. She makes amazing jewelry using the colours and elements of the Orkneys. Glen bought me a necklace and earrings which are from a collection called "Grasses of Orkney."

We drove down to St Margaret's Parish and had a pleasant walk around the town. I bought an adorable felted Highland cow that I will make into a Christmas ornament.