Monday March 27th, Week 4 Day 4

{Addendum from yesterday evening. When I returned from my day out, my electric hookup cable was not where I'd left it, attached to the power outlet. But I did now have a new neighbour, with a cable attached, and I just  wondered if they might have just chosen to use mine, because if not, then it must have been moved by the site warden or, worse, stolen. I called the office, who sent a man with a spare cable (which oddly didn't fit my van's plug point, though I thought they were all standard fittings). Anyway there wasn't much else I could do, and could easily survive without external power, like wild camping, but I sat in the van for nearly two hours anyway waiting for my neighbours to return. They did, and they confirmed they were using my cable, thinking it was supplied by the site. Clearly they are inexperienced campers, or stupid, or both, and they unplugged and got their own cable from their van, without so much as an apology. Takes all sorts, I guess. Reminded me of the quote about dying: you don't know anything about it once you're gone, and it's other people who suffer; and it's the same when you're stupid.} Anyway back to today: two more missions accomplished. First, Skara Brae. 

The site was just as I remember it with Cate, but now also has an excellent exhibition in the Visitor Centre. (And a nice surprise - it's free entry to EH members.) I'm sure all of you know the story of the site: a small neolithic village occupied around 3100 BC, on the shore of Skaill Bay, which at that time had been fertile land, where the inhabitants were self-sufficient with land and sea produce. For reasons still unknown, the villagers abandoned the site and moved somewhere else - also unknown - and the village gradually became covered over with sand dunes. So the site was lost until severe storms in 1850 blew away the dunes, leaving the houses exposed again. They now of course have been thoroughly excavated, and the visitor can walk around the perimeter with spectacular views of the walls and the well furnished interiors of the stone homes, with hearths, built-in beds and cupboards. A marvellous view of 5000 years of history revealed. 

Second mission - Yesnaby Stacks. Like my visit to the Ferry Inn in Stromness yesterday, the reason for this visit was that it featured heavily in Albastan. It is the place where the Resistance hid Dmitri, the defector from the Russian fleet in Scapa Flo, while awaiting his debriefing to join the movement. A Russian spy who previously had tried to trick his way into the group had been hurled from the cliffs. I'd never been there in real life, and that plot was constructed from my imagination, aided by the OS map. So of course I had to go and see it, 'IRL' as they say. It was a long walk along the clifftop to reach the dramatic sea stack known as Yesnaby Castle, but worth it for the view, despite the biting wind which thankfully was blowing me inland rather than off the edge. 

To round off my busy day, a watched The Whale at the Phoenix Cinema in the leisure centre. An enjoyable film with a small cast of superb actors including Brendan Fraser who won an Oscar for best actor. I found it a strangely moving experience.