With April’s arrival, it was finally time to leave Scotland for the first time since January – but not without a trip to a new Scottish destination first – the magnificent Orkney Islands! The rest of April was spent between Bergen in Norway and East Jutland and Lolland in Denmark, all the while writing my final two assessments of the term.
Destinations visited in April 2023
Scotland
- Aberdeen
- Orkney Islands (Mainland, Brough of Birsay, Lambs Holm, Glims Holm, Burray, South Ronaldsay, Rousay, Hoy, South Walls and Sanday)
Norway
- Bergen
Denmark
- East Jutland (Hov)
- Falster (Nykøbing)
- Lolland (Rødby)
Top 3 favourite new destinations
- Sanday, Orkney, Scotland
- Rousay, Orkney, Scotland
- Ulriken, Bergen, Norway
Daily life
Life in Aberdeen
My April did not start off very well… I could hardly eat or speak because of tonsillitis so I spent April Fools’ Day in bed, desperately trying to get better before my trip to Orkney.
As you might’ve guessed from the intro, I wasn’t actually in Aberdeen much in April, except for a few days in between Orkney and Bergen and one day at the end of the month. Those days were spent repacking, catching up with friends and writing on my essays.
Travels and local adventures
A field trip to Orkney
On April 2nd, I set off to the Orkney Islands along with a bunch of other postgrad and undergrad Archaeology students, for a three-day field trip! I was super excited to explore a new part of Scotland, although it could’ve come at a better time considering it was mid-exam time. However, I was able to switch off my brain for the most part, and the trip did really help with my stress levels. Thankfully, my tonsillitis cleared up during the ferry journey over!
Our three days were jam-packed with sights and activities. We spent all the days on Mainland (Orkney’s biggest island) plus the islands of Lambs Holm, Burray and South Ronaldsay, which are connected by causeways to Mainland. Our first day was all about the classic sites that make up the UNESCO Heart of Neolithic Orkney World Heritage site; the two stone circles of Ring of Brodgar and Stones of Stenness, and the incredibly well-preserved settlement of Skara Brae. We also paid a visit to one of Orkney’s many well-preserved Neolithic chambered cairns, Cuween Hill!
We travelled forward in time the next day and explored medieval and post-medieval Kirkwall, where St Magnus Cathedral steals the spotlight. During our lunch break, I found time for some thrift shopping (I can’t help myself…), and then we were off to Brough of Birsay, a tidal islet with a Pictish and later Norse settlement. In the evening, we presented our academic posters about various archaeological sites around Orkney, and our professor and I celebrated our shared birthday with cake, candles and a birthday song from the others!
Our last day was spent exploring more Neolithic tombs; Wideford Hill (which was “my” poster site), Unstan and the famous Maeshowe, which is also part of the Heart of Neolithic Orkney UNESCO site. In the afternoon, we had lunch at St Margaret’s Hope on South Ronaldsay, explored a curious structure in the sand dunes of Burray (which we think is an old ship encased in concrete) and paid a visit to the Italian Chapel on Lambs Holm which has an interesting hidden dark history.
Our field trip was a great introduction to Orkney, and it was incredible to finally see the famous archaeological sites that I’ve wanted to explore for so long!
Island hopping on Orkney’s smaller isles
My classmate Sara and I weren’t quite done with Orkney once our field trip came to an end, in fact we weren’t even halfway through! We’d decided to add an additional five days to our trip as we wanted to see some of the other islands in the archipelago! We rented a car and slept in it all nights except one where we pitched my tent.
Everything about this trip was smooth. Even the weather behaved and we even had a t-shirt day – in April! On Orkney!!! I’m super glad we stayed as it gave us a much better idea of what Orkney is all about, which goes way beyond Mainland and its ‘classic’ sights.
We did spend some time on Mainland as well as Glims Holm, Burray and South Ronaldsay to see the places we’d missed on our field trip, but we mostly focused on new islands. We managed to visit the islands of Rousay, Hoy, South Walls and Sanday, the latter of which was our favourite!
Rousay was incredible because it’s jam-packed with Neolithic tombs and we also happened to stumble upon a pub quiz at the local bar! Hoy was the most beautiful in terms of nature with its mountains and vertical sea cliffs. We really enjoyed our hike to the Old Man of Hoy (a 137-metre high sea stack!) and exploring the curious Neolithic rock-cut tomb, the Dwarfie Stane. South Walls was the least interesting of the four islands, but it is connected to Hoy by a causeway so it was an easy detour to tick off another island. And last but not least was Sanday, our favourite. The island has it all; incredible archaeology, gorgeous beaches, cliffs with accessible caves, some of Scotland’s highest sand dunes, friendly and welcoming locals and a nice community feel. I would move there in a heartbeat if someone would gift me a house (pretty pleeeease)!
Visiting my best friend in Bergen
Ever since I visited my best friend in Bergen, Norway’s second-largest city, for the first time in November 2021, I had been dying to return. I missed her something terrible, and I also missed the city and all her friends I’d been lucky enough to meet. Since she’s writing her Ph.d. and I had to write my essays, I thought it would be the perfect time to visit her so we could work together. It was great, and I actually managed to finish one of my two essays (I wrote about the Little Ice Age on the Faroe Islands!), plus I handed in my dissertation proposal. It was a very productive week!
When we weren’t working, we hung out with her friends (including two adorable kitties!), cooked delicious meals and went thrift shopping (found a few gems, too!). We also took a day off to go hiking in the mountains and climbed the highest mountain in Bergen (Ulriken at 643 m.). On my last evening, I went for a long sunset walk along Fjellveien to the beautiful neighbourhood of Sandviken. The weather was absolutely stunning with sun and clear skies the entire week – very very rare for Bergen which is notoriously rainy!
A trip home to East Jutland
On April 19th, I flew from Bergen home to Denmark to visit my family in East Jutland. It had been too long since I’d seen my family, so it was really nice to be home again.
Unfortunately, I didn’t have much time to just hang out as I had another essay due, and this one was a struggle for me (I had to write about infant mortality in Early Medieval England… Infant mortality in prehistory is interesting, but the Medieval period is a bore). But I did find time for evening walks with my mum and grandmother plus plenty of cuddles with my adorable kittie.
An hour before I left my hometown, a package arrived with four beautiful T-Swift vinyls. I am a lot weaker than I thought because I caved when she released a limited edition vinyl (which sold out in a few hours!), and as y’all might know, I’m a recently obsessed Swiftie… So now I have to find myself a record player!
A few days on Lolland, my other home
My last stop during my Spring travels was Lolland, the flat Danish island that was my home for two beautiful years. It was so funny seeing the dogs reaction when I walked in – their barking soon turned to frantic jumps up and down my legs! I was just as excited to see them and my host family!
I spent three days on the farm near Rødby, mostly writing my essay which I finally finished at 4.30 AM on the deadline day! When I wasn’t writing, I was out walking the dogs. I took them along the streets of Rødby and on a visit to an excavation where my old colleagues were digging an Iron Age settlement. It was great to see my colleagues again, but it only made me miss Lolland more…
New on the blog
Most popular post
- My March 2023: Exam time in Aberdeen – My last full month in Aberdeen before my crazy busy Spring+Summer of travels began!
The other posts
- …. April was exceptionally busy, so I didn’t even have time to look at the blog beyond the monthly recap :'(
Most popular Instagram picture
A happy selfie goes a long way… but it was obviously the T-Swift quote that made those likes roll in!
Coming up in May 2023
I’m back on the Faroe Islands – for my 14th visit!!
But this isn’t just any ol’ visit. This time is different as I’m not here for a holiday, but instead to do research for my dissertation!
I’ll be conducting fieldwork at eight different abandoned settlements, including surveys and 3D models using a drone! At the moment, I’m staying with my friend Lucie in Tórshavn and I’m spending the days gathering literature and meeting with some folks that know exciting stuff about the settlements! But tomorrow, I’m catching a helicopter to my first site…!
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