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.