Kirkwall Hotel

Started off at the castle this morning and went to see the leaping salmon at Shin Fall. There were not many salmon around but after hanging around for nearly two hours I managed to get a couple of
pictures of them leaping, boy are they quick! I popped into the coffee shop for a look around the gift shop selling Harrods goods???

Back into the car and off to John O'Groats via Wick. I drove up following the A9 and ...

... in itself. There is no direct bus from Inverness and the quickest route seems to involve a slow bus to Wick and then another even slower bus (from the other side of Wick, of course!) to J O'G itself. Gazing out of the window I try to take in some of the landscapes I'll be walking over the next week and ponder why on earth I thought this was a good idea! The narrowness of the A99 and the twists and turns north ...

... We were very lucky and picked up tickets on a coach tour of the Mainland island in search of ancient Orcadians. Skara Brae is the oldest and most complete Neolithic site in Europe and with standing stones and circles, we addressed ancient Orkney. For me it was the trip across beautiful smooth landscape and vistas of slate colored water that made the day. Did I tell you that Orkney is beautiful?
I have to stop now and get this thing edited and posted.

... 14 degree weather. We also had some excellent cheese, but we didn't sample any of the 8.5% alcoholic beer.

The next part of the tour involved most of the ancient sites. We saw Skara Brae which is a stone aged village (from about 5000 years ago). It was uncovered in one of the huge storms they regularaly have up here, about 150 years ago. there are stone huts which were orignally in the middle of a midden, complete with stone ...

... it takes a lot longer at the level crossing than waiting for a train).

Despite thinking we might be cutting it a bit fine, we managed to pull into Freswick at about 7:30pm- still well over an hour of daylight left- gotta love the far noth! Our B&B has very cute attic windows and a lovely view, being quite secluded. However; B's planning isn't quite as good as she thought and we seem to have ended up in a room without an ensuite...

Rousay is a small island just a few miles north of Mainland, Orkney. It has been called the "Egypt of the North" because of the large number of prehistoric sites found on the island. Only about 200 people call the Island their home, but it is a popular tourist site because of its archaeological importance. We visited just a few of the hundreds of sites on the island where even today most of the sites have yet to be excavated and researched by archaeologists.

We didn't travel to the Orkney Islands to see a farm, but to see the prehistoric ruins near the Skail Home Farm—Skara Brae. The Orkney Islands are like an amusement park of Neolithic sites and this is just one of hundreds found across the islands.

Skara Brae is the most complete Neolithic village in Europe and is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site ...

... br>
Six guests arrived today that flew in from the United States (1 from Germany) to join us in our tour of the United Kingdom. They landed at the Kirkwall Airport where the Bosun and deckhands met them at the airport to help with their luggage and to take them to the yacht. It's the most guests we’ve had aboard so far. Once aboard, the chef had food for them, and they were given a chance to unwind and relax from their long journey. There is always a cocktail party on ...

... repeating patterns redolent of early Norse patterns. The morning proved to be bright and quite warm, in the face of the forecast which was for mist, winds and rain. Realising that the best was now and that the weather might well deteriorate, after seeing our American and Norwegian friends off, we had a quick coffee in the Bird Sanctuary and booked lunch, then set off to explore the northern part of the island. Here, there is little evidence of man's impact in that the land ...

... way. Initially, there was no wind so I was happy to use the engine, now that it was back in my good books and we motored north-eastwards up the Minch. I was anticipating winds of up to F4 and favourable for sailing, at least some of the time, as they were forecast as being 'cyclonic' which means changing direction, quickly. As luck would have it, when the wind did appear, it stuck stubbornly in the east so that it was not practicable to sail, we had to motor ...