...Buckle's Tower in Finstown. We had read about this curio and wanted to see it for ourselves. It's just a tower built by a bored shepherd to kill time. You can read about it here. It's up on a hill above Finstown and after scrambling across a hill sinking up to our knees in heather, moss and Orkney grass (like trying to walk on a trampoline) for several hundred yards in searing sun and cold air, we gave up and decided to see if there was not an easier way to reach it. Mind you the views on the way were not too bad. Like this
and this
I took these while we had a bread and salami snack and we then we went shopping. Tomorrow being Sunday, we need three Aberdeen Angus steaks for our Sunday treat.
After that we drove back to St Margaret's Hope, arriving 3pm-ish. By then the sun was so low in the sky that it was the peak of golden hour. I decided I must stop taking pictures of grandiose views in searing light and should perhaps try to photograph some of the beautifully lit buildings in the village. This is the Old Smithy, now a museum
And this is an abandoned dwelling from back when the islands were poorer. The owners probably still live in the village in the better house their parents or grandparents built to replace it.
This used to be a pub but is now a hostel/hotel. I had a drink in there in 1980 when I first came to Orkney with wife Katya.
And this my 'arts shot' of the day, taken from the pier that runs down to the water just to the left of the white house in the picture above. (No re-arranging, the creels are exactly as I found them.)
And talking of arts, this is our local arts and crafts shop, looking very pretty and inviting in the evening light.
And tha's the last picture I took today, since from there its only a minute's walk to the house.