The Orkneys--and golf

What a busy weekend! On Friday we picked up our pals Steve and Ina from Inverness Airport, and after a quick dinner in the cottage, we headed over (on foot) to the Royal Dornoch golf course, one of the best in Europe. It costs about $135 to play a round during the day. If you wait until after 6, you can play for $60. Since golf courses in Great Britain are public land, anyone can walk them, so Ina and I followed along all 18 holes. The first 8 holes take you north all the way up to Embo, and then the remaining holes follow along the North Sea back to the club house. I’ve never played such a challenging and well-groomed course, and I may try it next week, but it was a pleasure just to walk it. The fairways are quite difficult, with tall hedges of gorse on one side (your ball is lost if it goes in there—it’s far too prickly to walk through) and long grass on the other. Good news: there are no water hazards (if you don’t count the North Sea!). Both Steve and Don found themselves victims of the evil bunkers, and even the Wonder Wedge (64 degree loft) Don bought a couple weeks ago didn’t bring relief. The gorse claimed a few balls and the undulating, multi-level greens were extremely difficult, making two-putts rare. They finished at 9:30 and we headed to the Club House for some drinks. It was lovely looking out over the course as the sun began to set. There were no golfers, but lots of walkers with their dogs. We could see the lighthouse at Tarbat Ness with its bright light flashing a warning to approaching ships. Then it was home to bed for an early start on Saturday.



We began our drive at 6:50 the next morning. By 8:45 we were in John O’Groats boarding a ferry to the Orkneys. During the 40-minute crossing (very calm seas, but very foggy) we saw lots of sea birds—puffins, gannets, oyster catchers, sea gulls—and a dolphin! We opted for a bus tour of the Orkneys. The driver was very entertaining, and we learned many interesting things. For example, the Orkneys are made up of more than 60 islands, but only 16 are inhabited. There are four causeways built to join islands and to discourage foreign ships from entering the main body of water in the middle of the Orkney’s—Scapa Flow. These “Churchill Barriers” were built by Italian prisoners of war. They loaded tonnes of rock into the water and topped them with huge concrete blocks. Scapa Flow was used as a staging ground for the entire British fleet during WW2. Soldiers built aerodromes and excellent roads that made the islands more accessible. Before the barriers were built, the British sunk old ships to be used as “blockers” so German U-boats couldn’t enter Scapa Flow and threaten the fleet. However, on October 31, 1939, a U-boat managed to negotiate a passage between some blockers and enter the Flow. Fortunately, the majority of the fleet had left the day before. One battleship remained: the Royal Oak. The U-boat sent four torpedoes into her and she sunk almost immediately killing 833 soldiers asleep on board. The U-boat escaped and the German captain received a medal for his actions. Also in Scapa Flow at the end of WW1, 74 German warships were being held as spoils of war. Rather than letting the British take them, the German commanders intentionally scuttled them. They were later refloated and used for scrap metal. We also visited Skafa Brae, the best preserved group of prehistoric houses in Western Europe dating from 5000 BC. Did you know that there are virtually no trees in the Orkneys? This is because the winds are often hurricane force, and trees cannot withstand them. When the Churchill Barriers were constructed, local fisherman could no longer get out to the North Sea and North Atlantic, so they had to choose a different profession. They chose chicken farming, and made a great success of it. But in 1952 a storm hit the Orkneys packing winds strong enough to blow all the chickens into the sea! The chicken farmers became sheep and beef farmers. Farming and tourism are the major industries in the Orkneys today. Anyway, there`s far too much to say, so I`ll stop now! I highly recommend a visit there!





Only one week of holidays to go and then home again!