let's take it back to . . . 6/9/2004 ("ALL PLAYERS OUT")

6/9/2004 9:45PM at Skara Brae. I’m here, finally. It was a very difficult 8 mile bike ride over three very difficult hills to get here, but now I’m trying to warm up and dry off in the café here. Yes, it has a ticket office and a café. I was slightly gratified to see several other mountain bikes parked out front; I guess I’m not the only idiot to try to ride in the rain. I tried to use the hand-driers in the loo to dry my pants, but they’re still clammy.
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Last night I stayed at the Orca hotel. Unfortunately, they don’t have any vacancies tonight, so I’m not sure where I’m going to stay. No sheepman either, though there are sheep scattered all over the island. I won’t miss the Orca hotel, because breakfast cost me about 5 pounds, and wasn’t particularly good. Compared to safeway in Inverness, that’s exorbitant. I purchased some canned corned beef (which tastes like spam) for 68p each, a can of kippers for 48p, and a can of sardines for 44p. With bread and some brie, it was all under 6 pounds, and show allow me to eat for 2 days. This is probably the only way for me to rein in my budget.
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Anyway, last night while it was still light out I strolled over to the posh Stromness Hotel, and had some beer in their mahogany dining room/bar. It was quite a cozy place to be, but the only young people were the bartenders. It’s not exactly a scene that attracts people like me. Nevertheless, I ended up about an hour later drinking whiskey, and playing dominoes and jenga (mysteriously misspelled ‘jenja’ on the box) with Justin, Mark, Elaine, and Vicky (all staff of the hotel). Funny things happen when you travel alone.
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Today, I biked 40 miles. First I did a loop from Stromness, to Skara Brae (too crowded, I decided to put it off to another time), to the Orkney Brewery (Skullsplitter ale! but otherwise nothing to see. . . ), to Ring of Brodgar, to the Stones of Stenness (utterly fouled by a group of sheep who somehow were let into the enclosure, the dirty, unrepententant bastards), to Maes Howe (couldn’t book a tour this time), and back to Stromness.
Coming back, I realized that I really had no place to stay. The youth hostel was closed, and nobody seemed to notice. Or at least, no one decided to let me know until I went up there at 5:30PM. No choice, I had to stay at the posh Stromness Hotel. Ugh. That totally derailed my budget, and I won’t tell you how much it cost me. A shower and a nap later, I noticed that the sun was shining brilliantly outside. IT was about 9:00PM, and the skies were clear. Not wanting to waste the sunlight, and still renting the bike, I decided to make another trip over the hills to Skara Brae. My legs were sluggish, and my knees hurt, but the prospect of seeing a moongate at dusk. . .
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9:45PM with the sun hovering over the sea to the west, and my long shadow stretching across the ancient ruins. The wind was groaning across the excavated pits, and ringing like it was blowing across the lip of a bottle. Somehow it reminded me of the Valley of Wind. A gigantic bull watched over me as I entered the site, but otherwise I was alone with the sun, sea, and the giant midden mounds.