{"id":2104,"date":"2019-05-31T17:38:12","date_gmt":"2019-05-31T16:38:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.holloway.me.uk\/?p=2104"},"modified":"2019-05-31T18:17:26","modified_gmt":"2019-05-31T17:17:26","slug":"orkney-in-the-rain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.holloway.me.uk\/index.php\/2019\/05\/31\/orkney-in-the-rain\/","title":{"rendered":"Orkney in the rain"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium_large\" title=\"Stromness \/ Scotland \/ United Kingdom - 5\/31\/19\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.holloway.me.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/BIRU-WP-20190531T131507GMT0100-768x1024.jpg\" alt=\"Stromness \/ Scotland \/ United Kingdom - 5\/31\/19\" width=\"768\" height=\"1024\" data-json=\"\" \/><\/p>\n<p>All day long! But it didn\u2019t stop us going to Maeshowe, an impressive and important Neolithic cairn dating from 2750BC.<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium_large\" title=\"5\/31\/19\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.holloway.me.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/BIRU-WP-20190531T131241GMT0100-768x576.jpg\" alt=\"5\/31\/19\" width=\"768\" height=\"576\" data-json=\"\" \/><\/p>\n<p>We bent down to stoop along the low corridor and came out into a stone chamber which was nice and dry!<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium_large\" title=\"5\/31\/19\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.holloway.me.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/BIRU-WP-20190531T131629GMT0100-768x1024.jpg\" alt=\"5\/31\/19\" width=\"768\" height=\"1024\" data-json=\"\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium_large\" title=\"5\/31\/19\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.holloway.me.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/BIRU-WP-20190531T131644GMT0100-768x1024.jpg\" alt=\"5\/31\/19\" width=\"768\" height=\"1024\" data-json=\"\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Our guide, Ellie, was extremely good and informative. She explained how the Vikings had sheltered here in a storm in the 12th century leaving rune graffiti which correlates with Norse sagas. This is a wolf (PC)<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium_large\" title=\"5\/31\/19\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.holloway.me.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/BIRU-WP-20190531T173303GMT0100-768x1126.jpg\" alt=\"5\/31\/19\" width=\"768\" height=\"1126\" data-json=\"\" \/><\/p>\n<p>At the winter solstice the entrance is perfectly aligned so that the setting sun illuminates down the passage to create an orange glowing \u2018door\u2019 on the opposite wall &#8211; a door to the afterlife.<\/p>\n<p>We aren\u2019t allowed to take photos inside but I bought a postcard so you can see:<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium_large\" title=\"5\/31\/19\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.holloway.me.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/BIRU-WP-20190531T173239GMT0100-768x531.jpg\" alt=\"5\/31\/19\" width=\"768\" height=\"531\" data-json=\"\" \/><\/p>\n<p>As we came out it was still raining hard!<\/p>\n<p>A museum is dry: &#8211; and if it\u2019s the Stromness museum it is also very interesting.<\/p>\n<p>Orkney is on everyone\u2019s journey, be they navy, explorer, fisherman or whaler. And the museum is a wonderful eclectic, though well organised, mix of artefacts from the last 300 years.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium_large\" title=\"5\/31\/19\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.holloway.me.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/BIRU-WP-20190531T153512GMT0100-768x1024.jpg\" alt=\"5\/31\/19\" width=\"768\" height=\"1024\" data-json=\"\" \/><\/p>\n<p>John Rae (of the monument in cathedral) was an arctic explorer and probably the first to use an inflatable boat. I think he was a bit annoyed with the chap who forgot the oars&#8230;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium_large\" title=\"5\/31\/19\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.holloway.me.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/BIRU-WP-20190531T155138GMT0100-768x576.jpg\" alt=\"5\/31\/19\" width=\"768\" height=\"576\" data-json=\"\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium_large\" title=\"5\/31\/19\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.holloway.me.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/BIRU-WP-20190531T155903GMT0100-768x733.jpg\" alt=\"5\/31\/19\" width=\"768\" height=\"733\" data-json=\"\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Unlike many contemporary adventurers he was prepared to learn from the indigenous Inuit and used their knowledge and techniques to survive<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium_large\" title=\"5\/31\/19\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.holloway.me.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/BIRU-WP-20190531T160345GMT0100-768x958.jpg\" alt=\"5\/31\/19\" width=\"768\" height=\"958\" data-json=\"\" \/><\/p>\n<p>He found out from them what happened to Franklin\u2019s doomed voyage to find the North West passage.<\/p>\n<p>Another adventurer was Jack Renton who got castaway on a Solomon Island in 1870 for 5 years living with the natives who gave him a teeth necklace.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium_large\" title=\"5\/31\/19\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.holloway.me.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/BIRU-WP-20190531T154546GMT0100-768x502.jpg\" alt=\"5\/31\/19\" width=\"768\" height=\"502\" data-json=\"\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Quite a bit of scrimshaw from the whalers showing a more sentimental side<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium_large\" title=\"5\/31\/19\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.holloway.me.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/BIRU-WP-20190531T161550GMT0100-768x692.jpg\" alt=\"5\/31\/19\" width=\"768\" height=\"692\" data-json=\"\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium_large\" title=\"5\/31\/19\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.holloway.me.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/BIRU-WP-20190531T161435GMT0100-768x260.jpg\" alt=\"5\/31\/19\" width=\"768\" height=\"260\" data-json=\"\" \/><\/p>\n<p>And of course a bit more of Captain Cook\u2019s dinner set<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium_large\" title=\"5\/31\/19\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.holloway.me.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/BIRU-WP-20190531T152949GMT0100-768x1024.jpg\" alt=\"5\/31\/19\" width=\"768\" height=\"1024\" data-json=\"\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Still raining!! Let\u2019s hope it stops tomorrow as we are spending the day on Hoy!<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium_large\" title=\"5\/31\/19\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.holloway.me.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/BIRU-WP-20190531T151238GMT0100-768x1024.jpg\" alt=\"5\/31\/19\" width=\"768\" height=\"1024\" data-json=\"\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium_large\" title=\"5\/31\/19\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.holloway.me.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/BIRU-WP-20190531T162903GMT0100-768x1024.jpg\" alt=\"5\/31\/19\" width=\"768\" height=\"1024\" data-json=\"\" \/><\/p>\n<p>This cat had the right idea<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium_large\" title=\"5\/31\/19\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.holloway.me.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/BIRU-WP-20190531T163508GMT0100-768x576.jpg\" alt=\"5\/31\/19\" width=\"768\" height=\"576\" data-json=\"\" \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>All day long! But it didn\u2019t stop us going to Maeshowe, an impressive and important Neolithic cairn dating from 2750BC.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.holloway.me.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2104"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.holloway.me.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.holloway.me.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.holloway.me.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.holloway.me.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2104"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blog.holloway.me.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2104\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2123,"href":"https:\/\/blog.holloway.me.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2104\/revisions\/2123"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.holloway.me.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2104"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.holloway.me.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2104"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.holloway.me.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2104"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}