No Nessie.

Sunday 29th July

After the bleak day yesterday, and the wind overnight, we expected it to be a rough crossing back in the ferry, but this morning the sun was shining and the wind had dropped a bit. We had a quick visit to the supermarket for dinner items for tonight, and a couple of photo shoots on the way to the ferry, then joined the ferry for our 11.30 crossing. It only takes one hour and we spent the time on the sun deck hoping for whale sightings - no such luck.

I've already posted photos of hielan' coos (highland cows - think Scottish accent),
well we heard about woolly pigs and spotted these on the way
to the boat - we've called them 'hielan' pigs'.
Rob has been battling with his cap and the wind for the whole
of our time in Scotland. Well, it finally blew off into the pig paddock.
We though that was it but remembered my hiking poles
and were able to retrieve it with those.

Boats wrecked in the channel between a couple of the Orkney islands.

Beautiful looking town of St Margaret Hope - note the blue sky on the day we are leaving.

WWI and II gun emplacements on Orkney islands protecting
the Royal Navy's fleet in Scapa Flow.

Final puffin shot.

A few days ago on our trip to Wick we noticed a sign on the road 'Autocross here Sunday' so we stopped there for a look. We could have been at home in Australia but the quality of the hamburgers was better. We spent a couple of hours there and then moved on before the heavens decided to open.

The area we are in at the top northeast of Scotland is very different to the northwest. It seems to be mostly grazing land, gently undulating, and some treed areas. Mostly sheep, some cattle and some cropping. Another feature we spotted in this area is farm fences of slate flagstones - the area produces a lot of slate tiles.

Our accommodation tonight is a cute little cabin with views to the ocean, and as we were getting organised in the cabin we spotted 2 deer crossing the paddock out front.

Monday 30th July

A short distance today to a place called Tore, only about 10k from Inverness. Along the way we stopped at Dunrobin Castle which is home to the Dukes and Earls of Sutherland. Its first building was in around 1275 but has had many additions. It has 189 rooms and is still lived in. We managed to be here when the castle opened so we were in and out before the tour buses arrived.

Front entrance to the castle.

Taken from the back of the castle on the seafront.

I remember seeing beautiful manicured English gardens like these
from way back in 1979 when I first visited England.

Must have been (still is?) a very popular sport back in late 1800s.
Lots more on all the walls in the main entry and gallery
spanning early 1800s to early 1900s.

Beautiful table setting with lots of silver. The dining chairs were embroidered
by Lady Sutherland between 1932 and 1939.
Each chair has a different crest embroidered on them
- I think there are 22 chairs. 

These tapestries eere embroidered in preparation for the visit of the Queen Mother
- I can't remember the year.

Main staircase with family tartan carpet.

From there we travelled to Dornoch to visit Cocoa Mountain, said to have the best hot chocolate in Scotland. It was pretty good, as were their hand made chocolates. Competition for The Chocolate Mill near Daylesford. Dornoch was a lovely village with a pretty nice cathedral built 1239 - reading our guide book later we found that Madonna got married here.

This stone is for measuring your length of tartan.
It is in the church graveyard in Dornoch where the town market
used to be held. There are only a handful of these left in Scotland.  

The Dornoch Cathedral where Madonna was married.

That is Mum on top of the headstone and baby at the foot squawking for food.
Biggest baby I've seen. Lucky she doesn't have to carry him around.

There were 2 chocolates on each plate.....

Lunch today in the town of Beauly - I thought it was Beauty until we came back through it this afternoon. Terribly slow service - lucky the food was ok.

Urquhart Castle and Loch Ness. I have never seen so many tourists; at least 12 tour buses plus a car park full of cars. All sorts of nationalities. We watched the short film about the history of the castle, and at the end of the film they open the curtains and in front of you is a floor to ceiling wall of glass looking straight at the castle. Spectacular!

The view of Urquhart Castle when they opened the blinds.

Odette came for a look too.

Beautiful setting for a castle. Right on the edge of......

Loch Ness.

One step in front

Saturday 28th July

A big day today - knowing that a cruise ship was in town with 900+ people possibly out seeing the same stuff as us, we made an early start. The weather was very iffy - mist, fog, drizzle, wind - what is supposedly typical Scottish weather. We had a list of sites to visit and our aim was to stay ahead of, and pass, the coaches filled with Viking cruise passengers.

Standing stones of Stenness - there used to be a ring of probably 12 stones,
with a hearth in the centre of the ring. Now only 6 still remain standing.

Standing stones of Stenness - trying to shelter from the wind.

Ring of Brodgar

The hordes have arrived - time to go. 

Lots of heather to photograph today.

A bit cold for Odette - warming her toes again.

Skara Brae - a neolithic village about 3100 bc.
Unearthed after a major storm washed away a lot of sand covering the village.

The inside of one of the homes.

Skaill House - the home of the family who found Skara Brae.

The dining room. Exhibited in a glass case here was a dinner set
believed to have come from Captain Cooks ship.

A cannon at Skaill House.

Maeshowe - chambered cairn and burial chamber.
Believed to have been built about 2800bc.
Appears to have been built with the entrance to align with the winter sun. 

The Italian church built by Italian prisoners of war who were used
as labour to build the Churchill barriers
(designed to block the eastern entrance to Scapa Flow).

Just beautiful inside.
This church is made from 2 nissan huts laid end to end.
Was supposed to be used as a school
but the prisoners felt they needed a place of worship.

The metal hanging lanterns were made from bully beef tins.

We paid a visit to the town of Stromness for lunch and were not terribly impressed. People had told us how nice it was but it didn't rock my world. There were very few eating places for lunch and I was glad that I had changed our accommodation from Stromness to Kirkwall - the reason for doing this was actually the cost of the ferry to Stromness vs the one to St Margaret's Hope.

Huffin' and puffin

Thursday 26th July

We had a fairly relaxed day today visiting the town of Wick about half an hour away. Wick used to be a huge herring fishing port with hundreds of boats setting out from the port each night. We visited the Heritage Centre where they had an exhibition of photos taken by 3 generations of men in one family. Thousands of photos showing the herring industry in the town and other aspects of the town. Heaps of other stuff on display - possibly one of the better museums we have seen this trip.

This fireplace was rescued from the old maternity home.
Each tile tells a nursery rhyme. The last three on the top are
Mary Mary Quite Contrary, Jack Sprat and Old King Cole.

One of the old herring fishing boats from around 1900s.

The old castle at Wick.

From the clifftops near the castle we could see this off in the misty distance.
We think it is the rig used for erecting windmills in the sea
- we could see quite a few in a line a few k offshore.

The harbour at Wick.

Nearby was a memorial garden to the 15 citizens of the town killed by German bombing raids in 1940.

Plaque in the memorial garden.

From there we headed north around the coast to Duncansby Head where there were some pretty impressive stacks in the water - the locals are quite proud of them and reckon they rival the 12 apostles.

Ruins of Keiss castle along the coast.

Nybster Broch - settlement and burial mound from the iron age.

We couldn't see the Castle of Mey from the main road but being nosy Australians we figured we might be able to see it from the sea side. Got photos from as close as we could get, but no cuppa waiting for us.

I'm  guessing the flag flying has the same meaning as at Buckingham Palace
ie the royals are in. The Mey highland games are on 4th August
and apparently Prince Charles always attends.

Last stop was Dunnet Head - everyone knows John o' Groats as the northern most point on the UK mainland, but it is actually Dunnet Head which is 2.35 miles further north.

There are some pretty spectacular cliffs around the coast.
Rob likes to take photos of the birdlife. 

And here at Dunnet Head we found more puffins.

We tried the second eating out place in Halkirk tonight - very slow. Should have gone to the pub again.

Friday 27th July

We left our very comfortable B&B early this morning to catch the ferry to the Orkneys. Only one hour and thankfully a smooth trip. Whilst it wasn't a brilliant day weatherwise, it was ok; no rain and not too windy.

No whales to be seen on our trip to the Orkneys - just sea birds.

Backing in to St Margaret's Hope.

We first visited the tourist information office and got the low down on where best to see puffins so after lunch that was where we were headed - the cliffs on the far northwest corner of the mainland. We walked/clambered up the path to the cliff edge and I found myself lying on my belly, head hanging over the edge, looking at the puffins on the ledges below. I could have stayed there all afternoon and now I just have to decide which one of the 100 or so photos is the best.

St Magnus Cathedral in Kirkwall. Very striking with the red brick.

Also red brick inside the church.

There was a craft exhibition in the town hall
- a lot of knitted items, including socks,
but £18 for a pair of socks is way too much.

Not very sure-footed - I made sure not to get too close.

The lighthouse is at the most north westerly point on the mainland.

A great gull and chick - pretty big chick.

You don't get a true feeling of just how high up we were.

An oyster catcher.

At the same location as the puffins was the Brough of Birsay which is the site of a norse village from 1100s.

Finally, we went to a session tonight called Peatfire Tales. I found it a bit weird telling of some of the myths of the area - I thought it was going to be more about life from older times in the Orkneys. Oh well, a little something different never hurts.