ShirleyNZandOrangs: Svalbard 2015-4: July 2nd ctd ~ Jarlshof & Mousa Broch on Shetland

Day 4 Part 2: July 2nd ctd ~ Jarlshof, & Mousa Broch on Shetland

Gary in a zodiac on his way to pick up his boat-load

We arrived off Sumburgh & Carol took a boat-load of us to the beach near Jarlshof.

Michael takes a pic

It was a wet landing, meaning we got out of the zodiac into a bit of water, & the suction of the wellies & wets stopped our feet getting wet.

It was a short walk to the site & entry came with the cruise.
Carol ~ as our history buff, gave us lectures about the various bits of archaeology dating from the stone age.

Some of the oldest buildings ~ unearthed after a big storm at the end of the 19thC, were reminiscent of those at Skarra Brae.

I photographed some of the info-boards: they're at the end of this blog.

It was a very interesting few hours, & all made possible by the wind & rain combining to uncover the remains of Neolithic, Iron Age, Bronze Age, Viking, Medieval & Victorian human occupation.

The buried houses looked like they'd be very cosy in winter, albeit a bit smokey from the central fire.

Main Street, Jarslhof??

Scrambling out of a house

The alcoves would've been rooms

They must've been short folk.
This is a 10yr old who'd have to duck
or bang his head on the way in

Normal-sized 20thC adults had plenty of head-height

The walls were all made of stone, so the builders had a long hard job to construct their homes by hand & neolithic tools & technology.

After wandering around the remains ~ the most recent being a Victorian Laird's manor house, I went east along the coast a little way: I'd seen what looked like a tall cairn & wanted a closer look.

On the way, I came across these colourful ducks

The cairn & the PP

Ditto, with pretty flowers

Jarlshof was pretty impressive with so many layers of human civilisation on one site, but after an hour or so we all went back to the beach for transfer back to the PP & north to our next stop.

When I got there, the Aus family males were messing about in the sea. It had gone out since we arrived & there were quite a few slippery rocks to negotiate to get back onto the zodiacs. One of my fellow passengers was very wary of falling so I gave her a hand.

The canoeists had paddled to Jarlshof ~

so I got some pics of them all getting
themselves & the canoes back
aboard. It was quite an operation.

Gary directed the winching of the zodiacs which
were stowed ready for Part 3 of our day

It's 14 miles from Jarlshof to Mousa Broch by land, plus a sea crossing from mainland Shetland to Mousa, & on the way there from Sumburgh on the PP, I got arty-farty with a hole!

Shame about the rust

We had a 3rd stop to make that day, so we were given an early dinner at 1900: we'd be ashore till after 2100.

Next stop ~ the Broch of Mousa at nearly full zoom

Wiki has this to say about it:

Broch of Mousa (or Mousa Broch) is the finest preserved example of an Iron Age broch or round tower. It is in the small island of Mousa in Shetland, Scotland. It is the tallest broch still standing and amongst the best-preserved prehistoric buildings in Europe. It is thought to have been constructed c. 100 BC, one of more than 500 brochs built in Scotland

Travels by zodiac

The staff had gone ahead with candles, so by the time we had all congregated inside the Broch, there were lights in alcoves & up the internal stairwell.

Carols told us stories as well as the
history of the Broch

A view of the central chamber from
one of the 'rooms' in the walls

Going up

I missed some of the lecture, but lay
on the top of the wall & listened to some

A perspective of how tall & vertical the walls were ~
& all constructed with Iron Age skills & tools. Incredible!

Andy with his little video camera
That's Mainland in the background

According to the PP's Puffin Post, "Carol did us proud, regaling us with tales of the Orkney Inga Sagas of formidable chieftains, blood-curdling battles, and eloping lovers"
Andy sent me a pic of me lying on the top of the wall in my lilac ski-pants, but I can't find it anywhere :-/

Back down the stairs

Despite being around 9 in the evening, we were only 2 weeks beyond midsummer & quite a way north, so sunset wasn't due for a while.

As there was still reasonable light, I decided to go walkabout up the hill behind the Broch.

That may be Andy still up there?

It was time for a Rule 10, anyway ;-p

Mousa Broch, PP peeps, the PP & the Mainland

Ditto, but looking NW-ish

At about 2130 it was eventually time to get back to the jetty & on the zodiacs for our sail to Unst, the most northerly of the inhabited Shetland Isles, & the 3rd largest after Mainland & Yell.
Carol answered Qs & told more stories about Jarlshof & Mousa Broch in the bar, & I got some sunset photos between 2330 & midnight.