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.

Zoomed building on mainland Shetland at sunset

10 to midnight

Before bed, I used 2 teaspoons to open the porthole in my new cabin. I bent them a bit :-0

A straight one's in the middle for comparison!

Here are the info-board pics about Jarlshof I mentioned. The one about the earliest structures are at the bottom & the Victorian stuff is 1st up:~

OAO

Svalbard 2015-3: July 2nd ~ Fair Isle, puffins, & Swim 2

Day 4 Part 1: July 2nd ~ Fair Isle & Swim 2

Due to the water entering through the open porthole during the night, the seat got wet too, as Lyndall found out next morning when she sat down.
I woke at 0700 & there was no sight of land, but once dressed & up on the bridge I could see Fair Isle in the distance to port.

The entrance to North Haven was round the rock

It also turned out we'd got there about midnight & that's when I woke when the engines stopped. Apparently we'd been sailing to & fro since.

Our 1st Zodiac trip with Elena driving

After breakfast, it wasn't long before the tannoy announced our departure for land & we all congregated by the ladder & got into the zodiacs for our transfer to North Haven.

Carol leaning backwards with Fair Isle ahead

North Haven breakwater

Lovely beach dead ahead

Sailing boats at North Haven

On the way in I spotted a possible swim-spot, but the weather didn't look too promising at that point, & was defo a tad dreary when we all piled out of the zodiac. 

Disembarking the Zodiac

Jimmy & his minibus

Doffing our life-jackets, Margaret, Jenny, Warren & I climbed into Jimmy's minibus for a jaunt across the island to South Haven.

Fair Isle's main road

South Haven's holey rocks

After a look at the Haven, Jimmy took us to the little kirk. 

It doesn't seem to be dedicated to a particular saint, but it's very cute.

It also has some unusual stained glass windows, which google says were dedicated to Agnes Stout - a Fair Islander.

Polar Pioneers looking at the colourful
kirk windows

'Awaiting the going down of the sun' window

'In remembrance of Agnes Stout 
Beloved wife of Jerome Stout'

Back at North Haven, Jimmy dropped Warren & I off at the Visitor Centre / Bird Observatory.
You had to take your boots off if you wanted to use the loo, so I wandered about in my socks while I looked at the exhibition & bought a Fair Isle pen for my cat sitter.
Most passengers had gone up to the cliffs to the east ~ where most of the puffins were, but I went out through the back of the building & up the opposite cliff & got some great pics.

North Haven beach from the western cliffs

Steep cliffs!

Vertiginous cliffs! But puffinless

The east end of North Haven beach

By now, the sun had come out, so it was time to be very patient & get some puffins on film, so I made my way back down the western cliffs, walked across the isthmus ~ where the beach was, & up onto Buness, the eastern promontory.
On the way there I met a couple from Stoke who'd flown in for the day! 
Er? 
Where was the airport?????

I was quite excited, as I'd never seen puffins in the wild ~ only on telly.

Camopuffin! ;-)

The sun was now out & it had turned into a lovely day. 


That was a good job, as I spent a long time sitting or lying on the grass trying the get THE puffin pic.

This would've been great, but I cut his/her legs off :-(

Very zoomed!

Pleased I caught this one having a chat :-)

Andy's were much better!

Thanks, Andy, for sharing your wonderful Puffin Pics :-D

The view from the puffin cliffs to the south

Before I got wet I went back to the Observatory building & found a volunteer becoming acquainted with a couple of lambs.

Why have a car like that with single-track roads? Uh?

The Swim2 beach. You can just make
my footprints coming up from the water

I'd dressed to swim - kinda.

I had a pair of leggings & a crop-top underneath the trackie, so I was in the water in no time.

It was lovely, & Much warmer than Kirkwall's had been :-)

Was that an old path up the cliff?

I'd nearly dried off by the time I got back to the zodiacs & found Elena waiting.

She said she'd join me next time.

The Aus families showed up & the lads seemed not to know whether I was mad, or whether to leap in themselves!
But see Jarlshof later that day.

Michael, the Aurora photographer, & GF

Life-jackets back on we sped back to the PP as the sun made its way westward

It was great we were so far north: days were nice & long, enabling Aurora to allow us 2 more expeditions that day.

The PP awaits us

I'd enjoyed Fair Isle, & note the Puffin Post told us that "in the Heroic era of polar exploration, several Antarctic expeditions were kitted out with Fair Isle jerseys to ward off the cold of the ice".

Awesome!

Shame I can't afford one in cashmere. I can't wear sheep wool. It makes me itch something chronic :-/

Back aboard, we headed north to Shetland, passing Fair Isle's northern lighthouse before the 30 mile crossing to Sumburgh.

Fair Isle North lighthouse

On our way there we had a late-ish lunch, & Robyn showed me to my new cabin afterwards.
It was great - ensuite & everything. 
No more climbing down from the top bunk in the night ~ sorted :-D
And no £ or $ were mentioned, so I got a bargain :-)))
It did take me 5 trips up & down the stairs, tho. Never mind - it helped to offset the calories consumed in all the lovely food.

My new cabin ~ 1 deck up from the old one

My en-suite

As I said above, we were to visit Jarlshof near Sumburgh that afternoon, & were also to have a 3rd stop that day:  Mousa Broch ~ on Mousa, an island to the east of Shetland mainland.

On the way, most of my fellow passengers seemed to be having a kip, but I got a John Mortimer book out or the little library & read a few pages before following them into zzz-land!

Approaching Jarlshof

Jarlshof & Mousa Broch are on the next blog along, so for now ~
OAO