Farewell Orkney

 

 Shetland or Orkney, which of the two did we prefer. Both had their own merits, but for us, Orkney came out on top. Maybe if the weather had been kinder, it may have been Shetland, certainly much more archaeology to see. And the beaches and walks would have been lovely too, but it was the horrible conditions that were against us this time with the wind, rain and so cold, it all helped to stop those activities. Ian loved the open spaces of Shetland, the landscape devoid of trees. For me, I craved a tree a two. Never mind, we made the best of what was on offer and so glad we made the effort to go across.

Orkney was very different, and the weather slightly better. We felt there was more to see and do, and the landscape did have a lot more trees! It was a pretty island, the cliffs spectacular, more so than Shetland I thought. And we did spend 11 days in Orkney, we were ready to leave Shetland after a week!  

I have worked out how many days we have had a glimpse of the sun since doing both islands, about 6!  That's awful considering we had been away for over three weeks!

Today we bid farewell to Orkney. Catching the 11 am ferry from Stromness to Scrabster, Thurso. This ferry had a different way of opening to allow the vehicles on and off.

The crossing was calm and one of the highlights was to see the Old Man of Hoy.

Approaching the mainland, the first thing we noticed was the warmth and as we came into Scrabster, the sun came out. It was so warm, coats had to be removed. We basked in the heat, oh how wonderful to be able to strip off!

 The idea was to travel to a place called Dunnet Head, the most Northerly point of mainland Britain. We had already travelled through the most Northerly town, Thurso, 

Dunnet Head was another RSPB site so, as the weather was good, set off towards the cliffs to see what birds were still around.

The air was clear and Orkney could be seen from this point. Looked very near, in fact only about 6 miles away at this point.

That large stack was the Old Man of Hoy.

Not many Puffins now, most have already left but the Fulmer's were still nurturing their young. The smell of Guano was strong, it even reached MB at our parking spot. We don't want to move, depends on how bad it gets! And now we have midges to contend with. They love calm, sunny and warm conditions but hate windy or wet days. I really can't have it both ways, wet, cold and windy.... no midges. Sunny calm and warm....midges. I still prefer the warmth to the cold, and we have plenty of anti midge spray to cover ourselves.

MB is that first white blob to the right of the lighthouse.

Seals were seen on the rocks below,

We decided to stay overnight as the parking meter showed 24 hour parking for £10. The smell didn't seem quite so bad when we returned, must be getting used to it!

And first Highland cows seen

 As well as this moth, which may be a Common Heath.