{"id":286,"date":"2026-10-02T15:43:45","date_gmt":"2026-10-02T15:43:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/eskerhazy.ca\/?p=286"},"modified":"2026-10-02T15:43:45","modified_gmt":"2026-10-02T15:43:45","slug":"st-magnus-way-finstown-to-orphir","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eskerhazy.ca\/?p=286","title":{"rendered":"Orkney Part 9"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

St. Magnus Way: Finstown to Orphir<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In which Lis traverses a high moor and sings a song<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The signage at the beginning of the trail was somewhat misleading…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The trail soon started to climb up the hill beside Finstown, and it was glorious moor filled with heather and peat cuttings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

At the top of the first climb was Cuween Hill – famous for its neolithic cairn containing dog skulls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

There’s something lovely about the desolate moors, walking from one way-post to the next. And don’t be fooled – it’s filled with life: birds and small mammals, bees and other insects love these places.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As I was walking, I remembered a song I haven’t sung in years, and it’s a good pilgrim song. I’ve also been missing my church choir, so I sat by a softly burbling stream and sang:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I want Jesus to walk with me;
I want Jesus to walk with me;
all along my pilgrim journey,
Lord, I want Jesus to walk with me.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In my trials, Lord, walk with me;
in my trials, Lord, walk with me;
when my heart is almost breaking,
Lord, I want Jesus to walk with me.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I\u2019m in trouble, Lord, walk with me;
when I\u2019m in trouble, Lord, walk with me;
when my head is bowed in sorrow,
Lord, I want Jesus to walk with me.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I recorded it for the choir, but it’s not in a format that I can insert here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As you can see, the mist and grey accompanied me off and on. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

But I saw some Highland Coos for the first time since arriving on Orkney.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Seriously, I love the moorland. Maybe because it reminds me of the tundra.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

And still the ubiquitous stoat traps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Once past Orphir, I came across a tree-lined path, and then some blackberry bushes filled with fruit – in the nick of time because my energy was seriously flagging.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

And I made my way to the Earls Bu and Orphir Round Church – a 12th century church, likely modeled after the Church of the Holy Sepulchre (by Earl Haakon who had recently returned from pilgrimage to Jerusalem – presumably to make up for murdering his cousin Magnus.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

At this point, the day’s walk was done, but Margaret suggested I walk back to the house (about 5 km), since that is the first part of the final stage of the pilgrimage, which I would be doing the following day. I didn’t realise that the bed and breakfast was so close to the walking route!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I stopped at a small art studio\/gallery on the way back and met this lovely feline friend. The artist at this studio has a piece in the Barony Mill art exhibit which I had seen a few days earlier. https:\/\/www.toumalart.co.uk\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Almost home – with the beginning of the final stage tacked onto today’s walk, it was around 20 km. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

St. Magnus Way: Finstown to Orphir In which Lis traverses a high moor and sings a song The signage at the beginning of the trail was somewhat misleading… The trail soon started to climb up the hill beside Finstown, and it was glorious moor filled with heather and peat cuttings. At the top of the first climb was Cuween Hill – famous for its neolithic cairn containing dog skulls. There’s something lovely about the desolate moors, walking from one way-post to the next. And don’t be fooled – it’s filled with life: birds and small mammals, bees and other insects love these places. As I was walking, I remembered a song I haven’t sung in years, and it’s a good pilgrim song. I’ve also been missing my church choir, so I sat by a softly burbling stream and sang: I want Jesus to walk with me;I want Jesus to walk with me;all along my pilgrim journey,Lord, I want Jesus to walk with me. In my trials, Lord, walk with me;in my trials, Lord, walk with me;when my heart is almost breaking,Lord, I want Jesus to walk with me. When I\u2019m in trouble, Lord, walk with me;when I\u2019m in trouble, Lord, walk with me;when my head is bowed in sorrow,Lord, I want Jesus to walk with me. I recorded it for the choir, but it’s not in a format that I can insert here. As you can see, the mist and grey accompanied me off and on. But I saw some Highland Coos for the first time since arriving on Orkney. Seriously, I love the moorland. Maybe because it reminds me of the tundra. And still the ubiquitous stoat traps. Once past Orphir, I came across a tree-lined path, and then some blackberry bushes filled with fruit – in the nick of time because my energy was seriously flagging. And I made my way to the Earls Bu and Orphir Round Church – a 12th century church, likely modeled after the Church of the Holy Sepulchre (by Earl Haakon who had recently returned from pilgrimage to Jerusalem – presumably to make up for murdering his cousin Magnus.) At this point, the day’s walk was done, but Margaret suggested I walk back to the house (about 5 km), since that is the first part of the final stage of the pilgrimage, which I would be doing the following day. I didn’t realise that the bed and breakfast was so close to the walking route! I stopped at a small art studio\/gallery on the way back and met this lovely feline friend. The artist at this studio has a piece in the Barony Mill art exhibit which I had seen a few days earlier. https:\/\/www.toumalart.co.uk\/ Almost home – with the beginning of the final stage tacked onto today’s walk, it was around 20 km.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[34,19],"class_list":["post-286","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-le-peregrinazioni-di-lis","tag-orphir-round-church","tag-st-magnus-way"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/eskerhazy.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/286","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/eskerhazy.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/eskerhazy.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eskerhazy.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eskerhazy.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=286"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/eskerhazy.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/286\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":307,"href":"https:\/\/eskerhazy.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/286\/revisions\/307"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/eskerhazy.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=286"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eskerhazy.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=286"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eskerhazy.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=286"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}