Day 8 Cows, Sheep and Winston Churchill

Everywhere you look on Orkney you see cows and sheep grazing.  Indeed, Orkney has the highest density of beef cattle in Europe.

Busy, busy day.  First a picture of what greets us first thing in the mornings.  The local rooster and his girls.  All friendly.  Also, a picture of our cow shed Airbnb.  Small inside but a rather cool place to stay for two nights.

First, we went to the Kitchner Memorial on Marwick Head. Briefly, toward the beginning of WW I, Lord Kitchner, the British Secretary of War, boarded HMS Hampshire, a royal battleship, for a secret trip to Russia to discuss the war effort against Germany.  Right after launching from Orkney Island, they hit a floating mine and all but 12 of 768 drowned.  Minister Kitchner was one of them.  This memorial is on the headlands above where the ship went down.

Other Great sights on the Marwick Head.

Next we traveled south to small islands surrounding the Scarpa Flow, Britain’s northern most naval base.  At the end of WW I, as Germany surrendered, they had 52 warships surrounding Scarpa Flow.  In their last act of defiance, the Germans scuttled all but seven.  Partially blocking and reducing the effectiveness of the Flow as a naval base.

Now WW II comes along.  Although the Brits had a partially blocked harbor, they felt they had one that was easier to defend.  Not so.  The Germans determined there was a way in, dispatched a submarine on October 14, 1939 and torpedoed a fully equipped and manned battleship.  834 sailors went down with the HMS Royal Oak.  Soon after, Winston Churchill himself developed a plan to seal off the eastern perimeter of Scarpa Flow by bringing in Italian prisoners of war to construct barriers between the small islands.  They still stand in place.  See the picture below.

This brings us to our final story.  The generous Brits allowed the Italian POW’s to build a small chapel for their Catholic services.  They were given two Quonset huts.  What they created was a mini Sistine Chapel.  Everything used was cobbled together from scraps and junk.  Indeed, the war ended and one of the POWs stayed to finish the art work!  Amazing.

Incredible views of Orkney Island.  We ferry back to 'Scotland" tomorrow and head south again.