John O'Groats and the Orkney's

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Hi from the northern most point of the UK mainland!

This also happens to be on the east side of Scotland - all the time we were on the west side the east had had good weather, we expected great things, but no we took the bad weather with us! Unbelievable.

We stayed at a site about 10 miles from John O'Groats right on the gorgeous two mile long Dunnet Bay, beautiful golden sand perfect for lazing about on if the weather had been good. It was for about an hour and we tried to make the most of it until Jackie sat on a bee which promptly stung her! In the end we donned wet suits and headed for the surf - which was excellent and not as cold as we feared.

At one end of the beach was the rocky Dunnet Head, the furthest north we could go without a boat, the cliffs were fantastic with lots of nesting seabirds including the very fluffy baby fulmars, although you couldn’t go too close as if they get scared they spit nasty fishy stuff all over you.

We picked a day when the weather forecast wasn’t too bad and headed for the Orkneys from the rather run down John O’Groats. What a fantastic day, the weather was great and visibility perfect (which the coach driver said was very unusual!). We found the history of the islands fascinating right from the start. To get to the main island (there are 70 altogether) we crossed three others joined by the Churchill barriers. These were built during the second world war by Italian prisoners to keep the Germans out of Scarpa flow, where the British fleet was anchored, following a successful raid by a U boat which had got through the original barriers formed by sunken ships. The Italian prisoners requested a chapel and were given two nissen huts that they turned into the beautiful Italian Chapel. You would never guess, either from the outside or inside, that they were only nissen huts, or the materials the prisoners had used. The interior decoration was painted so well that the tiles and mouldings looked real, you had to keep touching them to make sure. The alter was made of polished concrete and the ornate wood panelling, cardboard. The Italians had worked so hard and settled in so well that the British government had invited them to stay at the end of the war and many wanted to, but the Italian army ordered them home.

On the way back from our trip we noticed a sign in the local village of Mey advertising Highland games and couldn’t resist going. It was a bit like going to a village fete, but with different activities. The dancers kept going all afternoon to the sound of the bagpipes and at the other end of the roped off arena the ‘heavies’ tossed all day. How did they manage to throw a weight equivalent to a sack of potatoes over a bar so high, and how come it never landed on their heads? Tossing the caber was hilarious, men staggering around in skirts with a telegraph pole, we never knew where it, or they, were going to go. Fair play though, it looked very heavy. The highlight of the day had to be when Prince Charles drove across the field, waving at us as he went by. He parked up and spent the afternoon there (didn’t have a go with the caber though, but then nor did Trevor). The locals just ignored him as if he dropped by every day and there were just a very few tourists (including us) trying to get a photo.

Okay time to head south (well a little bit).

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Photos

End of the line
Maybe

Another deserted beach
This one stretched for 2 miles in front of the camp site

Great for surfing
Didn't taste any better than usual

The most northly mainland point
Orkneys in the background

The Orkneys
The first four linked by the Churchill barriers

Skara Brae
A five thousand year old village

Comments

[Em]

North Pole
I love that you have a picture of a sign post to the North Pole. Which isn't actually that far.