Blogs from Orkney Islands, Scotland, United Kingdom, Europe - page 3

Geo: 58.9804, -2.95626After a 90min ferry ride from Thurso, when we had a fine buffet breakfast, we arrived at Stromness in the Orkneys. We spent the day (a little windy and slightly overcast, but still a bottler) visiting various sites around the island. In the late afternoon we drove down to the very bottom of Orkney Island, driving over the four "Churchill Barriers" built in WWII to protect the British Fleet based in Scapa Flow from enemy maritime attack. The barriers also connect the closest southern islands to the "mainland".Mike and Rhona returned to Thurso about 4pm. We stayed on to catch the 23:45pm overnight ferry to Lerwick in the Shetland Islands.... read more

The day started cold because we are staying in a cold caravan. But that doesn't matter because we managed to visit the Orkney Islands on one of the 112 days per year that is doesn't rain. The passenger ferry from John O'Groats took just over an hour and we arrived at the very uninspiring Burwick on South Ronaldsay. The 'harbour' is a cracked concrete jetty with piles of rocks, obsolete fishing gear and rusty piles of scrap metal. We'd booked a day trip as it seemed easier, especially when you consider it took us almost 2 hours to just get to John O'Groats. Our coach driver, Stuart has won awards for his tours, but not his jokes. Good god, no. There's a bunch of causeways in the Southern Orkneys around Scapa Flow due to Churchill ordering ... read more

In the Orkney Islands off of the northern Scottish Coast they use "Mainland" to designate the principal island of the archipelago. We have just finished a wonderful six-day R&R in Stromness, Mainland, Orkney. This was meant to be a rest, for sure, from our End-to-End push, but it also provided good times, adventure, fellowship, and wonder. We even did a little bit of cycling. This use of "mainland" is only one of many differences that the Orcadian way of speaking has from ours. The language is influenced by the many years that the islands were ruled by the Norwegians. For one thousand years Orcadians spoke Norn, a variant of Old Norse. Today they speak their own brand of Scottish English, with a large number of words derived from those old Viking days. They use "peedie," for ... read more

Today was a very, very windy day--gusts up to 60 miles an hour. Sometimes there was hail. Little pellets of hail that when hit exposed flesh at 60 MPH, stung like frozen bird-shot. Still, it was a great day. The places we visited today have names that belong in a Game of Thrones novel: "A cold wind blew in from the North; so cold that the water in The Bay of Skaill foamed into a one hundred-foot Frost Giant that pounded the Broch of Gurness with his icy club--and the timeless Stones of Stenness almost toppled against the wind's wraith." The Standing Stones of Stenness are neolithic. Sheep were grazing between the stones when Charles and I arrived but they rushed to greet us when we entered the gate. When they discovered that we had nothing ... read more

I sniffled my way from my Inverness hostel to the bus station and wound up at the airport a whole hour and a half early. Anywhere else, and that would be expected. They always say to arrive 2 hours before your flight, right? Well, when I walked in a little before 8am, I was the only one in the entire airport. No employees in sight, no waiting passengers. If the lights hadn't been on and sounds coming from behind of the counter at the cafe, I would have thought that I was in the wrong building. There was a plane out back-- I probably could have taken myself for a little joy ride! I waited around and asked the first person I saw where I was to check in. Turns out, in a airport you can ... read more