Orkney day 3 photos

Orkney day 3

Our final day was quite sedate. K and her mum hit the charity shops of Stromness so I chilled on the sofa with my book. When they got back k and I went walk about the town.

We headed out for lunch and the Birsay Tearoom was our destination. It was a lovely wee place with loads of home baking. I had a baked potato with cheese and beans for my main course but I was really just waiting til I could order the bread pudding that I had my eye on. It was delicious and the coffee was great too. The other thing about the tea room is that they have amazing views down to the bay. Ann said you sometimes see whales there but not today sadly.

Our next stop was the Corrigal Farm Museum which was cool and FREE!  They had some little lambs and chickens too. The farm was cool and it was amazing to see how people lived relatively recently.

We headed back to Stromness and K and I hit up the Stromness Museum. It was a really comprehensive museum with lots of very different sections from Archaeology to ship wrecks to birds and wildlife of Orkney.

After the museum K and I then went and filled up the tank for our journey home tomorrow. I was making dinner tonight so we got some ingredients at the co-op on the way back to the house.

The house is stocked with loads of home and design magazines so I read living etc before cooking. Dinner was channa saag so it didn't take to long to pull together. Unexpectedly,  we got some Portuguese custard tarts in the co-op so we had them for dessert. I'd be delighted to find them at a supermarket in Glasgow so to get them in Orkney was a boon.

After dinner Wendy that owns the house came in for a chat. K's parents have been renting this house for years now so they are friends with her which is really nice.

We're currently watching Great British Sew Off (or whatever it's called) but we'll need to be heading to bed soon due to the early start.

All in all it has been a wonderful few days and couldn't have been more different than my holiday last week. We've been really lucky with the weather and I hope it holds out for a drive down the road tomorrow.

Orkney day 2 photos

Orkney day 2

We headed out quite early this morn to make the most of the day. We knew that today's weather forecast was scattered showers so we thought we'd get out when the going was good. In actual fact we managed to stay in the sun most of the day and seemed to be getting to places just as they perked up post rain shower.

A cruise liner holding 3500 people was docking at Kirkwall today so we knew the island would be a lot busier than usual. It was a bit of a shock to the system driving into Kirkwall and seeing the massive liner.

Our first stop was a wee remote beach in Deerness which was absolutely beautiful,  it the temperature was higher it could have easily been in the Caribbean. We then went a wee jaunt over the Churchill Barriers seeing some more wee beaches and some ship wrecks along the way. Before the barriers were built they sank some ships at the gaps between islands hoping that that would put the Germans off trying to come through (it didn't work). We also stopped at the Italian Chapel for some photos but didn't go in as we'd been before.

After our morning jaunting about we headed to Kirkwall for lunch and it was super, super busy. The cruise passengers were everywhere! We went into Judith Glue's for lunch and it was packed, we managed to grab a wee table though thankfully. Ann and I had cheese and ham on toast on super thick bread , it was incredible - exactly what I'd been fancying. K had soup and her dad had rollmops again. K and I also had raspberry milkshakes made with Orkney ice cream, yummo.

After lunch we had a look round the shop (still crazy busy) and bought some things for home. We took pictures of Orkney Cathedral from a distance cos it was so hoaching, the poppies from the tower of London are now there forming the weeping window, it looked pretty cool. We then browsed along the shops buying a few bits here and there.

We were headed back to Stromness now to see Colin and Jola before they left but we stopped at Gerri's Ice Cream Parlour en route. I had an obscene sundae with ice cream, banana slices, custard and skooshy cream - I managed to eat it no bother, fret not!

We got back to the house and had time to hear of Colin and Jola's day before they headed off for the 1645 ferry. Turns out when they got to Scarra Brae there were 8 coaches of cruise passengers ahead of them! Thank toot we've already seen most of the sights.

We waiting for the ferry to pass the garden and waved wildly to them then jumped in the car and drove round the corner a bit to see them some more from an amazing old graveyard.

We then drove about for a bit seeing loads of birds and animals including some goslings and a baby lapwing. We went back to the cliffs but didn't see any puffins this time unfortunately.  We then took k's parents for dinner at the Merkister Hotel to thank them for their hospitality. The Maclarens all had haddock and I had lasagne cos I'd spotted someone else's and it looked good. The portions were massive and everything was delicious.

K had to drive back cos her mum had wine with dinner. It was pretty exciting since she hasn't driven since we arrived.

Back to the house where K did treasure hunts for her folks to find some sweets she'd bought them. No treasure hunt for me sadly.

Now it's bed time and tomorrow is our final day in Orkney sadly.

Orkney day 1 photos

Orkney day 1

We got up reasonably early but Colin and Jola had already left for a scuba diving class at Scapa Flow. K was delighted to be reunited with Felix, the cat that comes with the house. He is the sookiest cat I've ever encountered.

After breakfast k and I went a walk down the main street of Stromness, popping into some shops including the Argo Bakery for some baked goods to take home and a lovely deli that is better stocked than most in Glasgow. We also popped into the Pier Arts Centre which is a lovely like contemporary art gallery. The temporary exhibition wasn't as good as the last time we went but the permanent collection and the general beauty of the building didn't disappoint!

After we got back to the house the 4 of us headed out, Ann knows everywhere to go in Orkney so she was the driver. We've been to Orkney before so we've already been to all the big sites: Scara Brae; Churchill Barriers; Italian Chapel; Maes Howe; Kirkwall Cathedral etc. We won't be visiting them again but they are all great, Maes Howe was my favourite.

We headed out to try and find some puffins as Ann had promised I'd see some this time after failing last time we were here. We headed to the same cliffs as last time and I didn't get electrocuted on the electric fence this time! After a wee walk in the iciest wind I've ever encountered we got to the cliff face and it looked bare - I was bealing. Then we noticed that there were a few birds and through the binoculars we discovered that one of them was a puffin! Hurrah! It was too far to get a photo but I was glad to see it. There were also some guillemots which were cute too.

We then drove about for the rest of the day with a few stops. We saw loads of birds including an owl, curlews and a lot of oyster catchers. We also saw rabbits and hares as well as millions of lambs and calfs.

We stopped at the Orkney Brewery for lunch and beer juice. I had a flight with Dark Island, Red Mcgregor and Corncrake and K had Corncrake - delicious. I had an Orkney platter with Orkney cheese and Orkney ale chutney with bere bannocks (an Orkney specialty like a soda scone but made with bere meal). K and her mum had soup and her dad had rollmops (yuck). We bought some beers in the shop and we were on our way.

Our next stop of note was a beach neat Evie with white sands,  it was beautiful but a wee bit too blowy to enjoy it fully. Our next stop was Happy Valley which was awesome and serene except there were too many kids running about.

We stopped for tea and cake at Woodwick House, it was great. A big house with loads of bluebells in the garden and delicious scones and cakes. I had a super delicious victoria sponge.

After that we just drove about seeing gorgeous vistas all over the place.

Back at the house we had a great dinner of beef olives but filled with skirlie (an oatmeal stuffing) instead of sausage meat. It was super delicious and Colin produced some fruity Orkney liqueur that he bought which was great too.

After that it was time for Eurovision, hurrah! We missed our usual gathering but by the power of whatsapp we kept in touch with everyone. The new scoring system is great, I was on the edge of my seat! I didn't predict the winner at all.

Journey to Orkney photos