Another great breeze free day greeted us. Bronnie decided to embrace the Orkney life and get started on her beanie creation with her lovely Orkney wool whilst I headed out to Deerness to go to another Brough.

The drive over was nice again and I basically had the walk to myself. A little bit apprehensive because the reviews said there is some exposed clifftop section and a chain needed to assist with climbing in some sections, but I decided to see how I went. Glad I did. Certainly it was a bit jangling for me in places but I kept the urge to sit down stuck in the one spot down enough to get through the very exposed sections and all in all I really enjoyed the 7km walk around the brough and Mull headland. The ruins there were of a chapel which has a history of pilgrimage for early Christians, but as with so much of the historical things, they all have seemed to pale to obscurity somewhere between 1600 and 1850. Hands of time. I did have a section where midges even made an annoying appearance as I battled an uphill section through low growing shrubs in the mud too, where trying not to sweat my ass off but at the same time not leaving too much skin exposed made for an awkward time. On arriving back at the carpark, it was actually busy. I think it was a local group of older people who seemed to be taking advantage of the low wind and mild conditions to enjoy this beautiful spot.

Back to accommodation to see Bronnie's progress (looking good!) and a plan for the afternoon. We decided to visit the officially closed but sneaky open gate at the Brouch of Gurness. The original Broch was built at 6-13m high but had suffered subsidence prior to its later occupation by picts who have constructed their own village around it 500BC-time the Norse arrived. There are over 50 brochs on Orkney and 500 or so in the British Isles. It's not clear why they were built but maybe as a show of dominance or strength/status. They have a windowless outer wall with inner staircases inside the featureless inner cylindrical wall, with 2 levels of occupation at the top of the Broch.

The remains of it had clearly been repurposed into an interesting pictish village with the customary hearths, beds, places for stock, places for belongings. This one was different in that there was a clear interest in water troughs/bathing or something like that. It also seemed that fear was part of the setout of the houses...all close to the Broch and 3 deep large ditches surrounding the town built up against the coast. Interesting to imagine again!

A nice drive home and a real fish and chips from the local chippie for dinner was good! Tomorrow our last day here...see what we can find that's open.