Stronsay, Orkney's 'Island of Bays'
Finest Blended Scottish Island
To the eye, the perfect balance between subtle, sweet notes of coastline, landscape, and the spirit of musicians
Welcome to Stronsay Bays
A Perspective on the Island of Stronsay, Orkney
After living in Orkney for about two decades, my connection to Stronsay remains deep.
These pages are not a generic directory; it's a personal collection of the sights, the
changing weather, and the quiet beauty of the Orkney Islands that
I've come to love intensely. Whether you are looking for the latest
Loganair flight updates, checking the Stronsay weather, or simply wanting to see the
white sands of our bays through a local lens, I hope these pages offer a helpful glimpse into island life.
These pages are a personal collection of reflections and observations; it is not a formal academic or historical site. The author is not a professor or a PhD, and does not seek to impose a "universal truth" or scholarly authority.
Please note that AI was used as a tool to help organize these thoughts. You will find no formal bibliography, academic sources, or list of references here. This is simply one person's perspective—a modest attempt to share the beauty and reality of life.
Beyond the Algorithm: What the Egyptians Built That AI Still Can't Replicate
In 2026, we are surrounded by Artificial Intelligence that can map the stars, drive cars, and solve complex equations in milliseconds. We often look back at the builders of the Old Kingdom (c. 2600 BCE) as "primitive," assuming that because they lacked computers, they lacked sophistication.
However, as someone who spent decades watching the tides and the stone of the Orkney Islands, I've learned that modern technology often prioritizes speed, while ancient technology prioritized permanence and precision.
Here are three things the Egyptians achieved 4,500 years ago that we still struggle to match—even with the most advanced AI.
1. The "Impossible" Alignment
The Great Pyramid of Giza is aligned to True North within three-sixtieths of a degree. To put that in perspective, it is more accurate than the Meridian Building at the Greenwich Observatory in London.
The AI Limit: Today, we use GPS and satellite mapping to align buildings. But satellites rely on a constant stream of data and a fragile electronic grid.
The Egyptian Win: They achieved this using nothing but the stars and a "gnomon" (a simple stick). They didn't just calculate a coordinate; they understood the rotation of the earth so perfectly that their stone "hard drive" has remained aligned for four millennia without a single software update.
2. The Mystery of the "Super-Abrasives"
In the Aswan quarries, there are granite blocks with drill holes and saw marks that imply a feed rate (the speed at which a drill sinks into stone) that defies modern physics for manual tools. Granite is one of the hardest stones on Earth, yet the Egyptians cut it like it was pine wood.
The AI Limit: We can ask an AI to simulate the perfect diamond-tipped drill bit, but we still require massive amounts of electricity and cooling fluid to cut granite without shattering the tool.
The Egyptian Win: They used copper saws and simple sand. Modern experiments have tried to replicate this, but we often fail to match their speed or the "mirror-finish" they achieved on the inside of granite sarcophagi. They possessed a "material intelligence"—a deep, intuitive understanding of friction and pressure—that we have replaced with raw mechanical force.
3. Logistics Without the "Cloud"
The construction of the Great Pyramid involved moving 2.3 million stone blocks, some weighing up to 80 tons, from hundreds of miles away.
The AI Limit: If we tried to build the Great Pyramid today, we would use AI logistics software to manage thousands of trucks, cranes, and fuel supplies. If the Wi-Fi goes down or the fuel price spikes, the project stops.
The Egyptian Win: They used the "Nile Highway." By timing their construction perfectly with the annual flooding of the Nile, they used the planet's own water cycle as their heavy-lifting engine. They didn't need a "Just-in-Time" delivery algorithm because they were in sync with the rhythm of the Earth itself.
The Takeaway for 2026
We often think AI makes us "smarter" than the ancients. But there is a difference between Calculation and Wisdom.
The Egyptians built for eternity. They knew that a 19-knot boat that never fails is better than a 50-knot turbine that breaks in a storm. They understood that the most powerful "computer" isn't made of silicon—it's the human ability to observe the natural world with extreme patience.
As we look at our modern world of "Fast Tech," perhaps we should take a leaf out of the Egyptian book: Build it once, build it right, and build it to last.
"The Giza Pyramid Complex. Photo by Ricardo Liberato, via Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 2.0"
The Orkney Connection: Why the North Remembers
Someone who spent years walking among the fields of Orkney, could often see a silent conversation between the stones of the Ring of Brodgar and the pyramids of Giza.
While the Egyptians built for the sun and the afterlife, the Orcadian Neolithic builders—who erected the Stones of Stenness and Maeshowe 500 years before the Great Pyramid—built for the landscape and the winter solstice.
The parallels are striking:
The "Engineered" Landscape: Just as the Egyptians harnessed the annual flooding of the Nile for transport, the Orcadians harnessed the sea. They were masters of moving 10-ton slabs of flagstone across open water using little more than tide-tables, seaweed, and human coordination.
The Precision of Silence: The Egyptians left us inscriptions; the Orcadians left us stone. But both societies achieved a level of "structural empathy"—they didn't just place a rock; they understood how that rock would vibrate, settle, and age over 5,000 years.
If an AI today were asked to build a monument to last 5,000 years without maintenance, it would likely fail because it relies on high-energy materials like steel and concrete that eventually crumble. The Orcadians used the land itself, splitting sandstone along its natural joints and seating it into the earth so perfectly that it has outlasted every empire since.
In both Egypt and Orkney, we find the same truth: true longevity isn't built with more computing power. It is built by understanding physics and the laws of nature, and by managing them. But when it comes to Christendom, supernatural Truth, and eternity, this is where people like Father Cummins, with his Bible, are needed!
Photo by Martin McCarthy (Tumulus) - https://www.ancient-scotland.co.uk/site.php?a=20, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=2929958.
Soul of Christ, sanctify me
Body of Christ, save me
Blood of Christ, inebriate me
Water from the side of Christ, wash me
Passion of Christ, strengthen me
O good Jesus, hear me
Within Thy wounds hide me
Suffer me not to be separated from Thee
From the malignant enemy defend me
In the hour of my death call me
And bid me come unto Thee
That with Thy Saints I may praise Thee
Forever and ever.
Amen.