On the 7th Day He Rested

27^th July 2014

8:37am

Kirkwall, Scotland, UK

This hostel has breakfast. It’s the only thing that’s getting me out of bed this early. The way I see it, my choices for the day are three:

a.      Bike around Kirkwall to collect data on nearby cairns.

b.      Take a ferry to one of the Northern Islands and collect data on cairns there.

c.       Take a day off.

The bible says God rested on the 7^th day. Well I’m not God, nor have I been busy creating anything but I have been travelling for the past 6 days almost non-stop. I reckon I’ve earned myself a day off. In a small fit of poetry, I mentally compose the following poetic summary of the previous six days.

It would have bugged me if I did nothing productive all day, and so after breakfast I head out to the travel centre to get some ferry time tables. I’m not going to go anywhere today, but this will make it easier to plan out later days.

After marking my calendar, I begin wandering the town. It’s a nice little town, Kirkwall. The shops are a bit touristy, but that doesn’t mean they’re not fun to poke around. 

It's easier now

But there is more paperwork involved.

I buy another post card, and put a few coins into the hat of a girl playing the guitar.

Eventually, I walk into a café that is supposed to have WIFI. Unfortunately, their WIFI is on the fritz, but even still I’m able to get a lot done while I sip tea and eat scones. I don’t know how you spend your days off, but that sounds pretty ideal to me.

Eventually the sun comes out, and I go back outside. 

This is St. Magnus Cathedral it was built in the 12th century and sits right in the city centre.

I find myself in the Kirkwall Museum which has all kinds of artefacts from the Ness of Brodgar excavation which is going on right now. It’s some pretty remarkable stuff if you’re into that sort of thing (which I’m sure you know I am).