The day for our visit to Skara Brae turned out to be much like the previous couple, except that the wind really was beginning to die down. As we headed back to Burray over the Churchill barriers after the visit, there was no longer spray flying across us!
I have wanted to see Skara Brae for a long time and was not disappointed. It’s somewhat smaller than I had expected; the houses really are very close together. The location is of course right at the edge of the dunes, which is why it was discovered, and also why we couldn’t visit a few days earlier due to the high winds. Before we set off for Skara Brae though (we had a 2:30 slot) we went further down the islands to the south end of South Ronaldsay. On the way we caught a glimpse of the southbound ferry heading back to Gills Bay.
The weather was really behaving itself again; although we had rain on the way to Skara Brae, by the time we got there it was clearing. On the walk to the site you really see how close it is to the sea. When it was occupied (5000 years ago) the sea level was quite a bit lower (post glaciation) and so there would probably have been low lying ground between the village and the sea.
You hand your ticket in on entering the site, then walk round the periphery on a hard path. Visitors are restricted to this path now, simply because of the huge number visiting each year.
I think that the best bits are the houses where you can see real detail of the features, such as the box beds, storage boxes, and the wonderful stone dresser.
The dresser is my favourite:
One of the houses has now been covered to preserve some carved decoration on the stonework. A reconstruction has been built near the vsitior centre, and this gives a good feel of how the house interior would have looked.
On the way back to Burray I thought that I would check the water temperature for a possible swim, near one of the Churchill barriers where there’s a nice little beach. I had a paddle but both air and water temperature were 12C so I chickened out. I have swum in water at 10.5C but since this is the day before we leave I decided to keep my towel dry! You can see a couple of block ships in the water by the barrier (which is a causeway for vehicles).
We had a final meal out in the Sands Hotel in Burray village, where we had eated on our first evening. It was, again, really good. Superb scallops!
