Kenneth's Birthday (and Orkney Spring)

Spring is in the air here. Sudden rainstorms interrupt periods of searing sunlight. The spring tides are also here, so yesterday, we were an isolated island again when the barriers were closed for a few hours as there was too much 'wave action' (council-speak for tons of spray crashing down on the barriers when the waves hit them at high tide).

The next few photos come from a walk two days ago, when we went for a wander at Lythes, from where there is a lovely view across Newark Bay and the Pool of Cletts onto St Peter's Kirk on the appropriately named Kirkhouse Point. But they make a good introduction to our visit today, 12 March (Kenneth's birthday), to the memorial stone to my father and mother in the graveyard there.

NB

So on Wednesday 10 March, we found ourselves here

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At Lythes, there is a nice short walk along the cliff top which the boys and I enjoy.

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The light was so searingly bright that once or twice I could not even see well through the viewfinder of the camera. (Photography using the rear screen of the camera is out of the question most of the time here.) Note the dark shape of Grimness on the horizon to the right of the picture. This is a nearly round epiglottis of land attached to the north end of South Ronaldsay. It makes for a nice circular walk too but we haven't done in for a number of years now.

Looking over cliffs at the waves crashing below is fun but makes me nervous. After all, one is one and a half to two steps away from a nasty death!

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Another view of Grimness in the distance.

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This little walk takes one down to sea level and some nice rocks. But it also means a tiny bit of a walk back uphill to get back to the car. Hence this pause to get one's breath back (Orkney grass is deep and bouncy):

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This leads us on to today, Kenneth's birthday, and therefore a reason to visit the memorial stone. Unlike on Angela's birthday two weeks ago, the graveyard was a hive of activity as the accommodation for a new resident was being made right next to our lair. So we put a few flowers into the holder, passed on a hello to Kenneth from Geoff (with whom I had had a chat on the phone earlier in the day and who asked me to do so).

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We had a cheerful chat with the digger man and learnt that we each had our own slots reserved in the graveyard. There being not much point sticking around on a building site (or digging site, rather), we decided to have a little memorial walk around the Kirk. The light was once again stunning.

Here's the Kirk from the rear entrance.

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And here's the Pool of Cletts viewed from this side. Lythes, where we had walked two days earlier, is just out of this picture on the left.

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There is a lovely little ruined house behind the Kirk and we went and inspected it again for the umpteenth time. Today, the light was making everything wonderfully sharp.

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On the way home, we made a quick roadside stop to say hello to one of the standing stones that delightfully litter the landscape of Orkney. One only has to walk a hundred metres or so between two fields. This one is a good one (details here):

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And then off home to develop the photos and post this.

However, as an afterthought, here‘s the location: