By 1607 the dwellings on Orkney (well some of them!) had become significantly grander than the humble beginnings at Skara Brae. The Earl’s and Bishops Palaces in Kirkwall all felt very modern though by Orcadian standards!

But after a brief foray into the rock and stone world of human habitation it was back to the beach and the world of sand, sea and pebble. At last I got my feet in the sea. Rather chilly it was too but after a while you just don’t notice it. Honest!

I walked along the beach for a while and spotted what I thought was a one legged sanderling it was hanging around with some ringed plovers so I thought it was with them for solidarity. Later I learnt that waders quite often hop around on one leg for considerable amounts of time, and nobody knows why.

The pebbles on Orkney are wonderful and I can understand why the Neolithic people used the stone to build with – it is so available not to mention lovely to handle. Well and there has always been apparently an absence of trees, so stone was the obvious choice of building material.
I couldn’t resist creating a little bit of rock art myself. Not a habitable dwelling or anything like that but hey you’ve got to start somewhere!