Pierowall Hotel

... and secular patron saint of Orkney. They all know about him and are very proud of his achievements.
Our digs were about a 15 minute walk from downtown. The view from the bottom of our street is one of the many reasons I chose the Bella Vista Guest House. If you don’t rent a car, it might be kind of far for some but the walk is so fine, we considered it an advantage. A word about the Bella Vista, it is warm, brightly clean and very comfortable. Our room was ...

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.

... was occupied for about 600 years around 5,000 years ago. The site was found in the 1850's after a large storm had blown uncovered the tops of the ruins.

This small cluster of about 10 homes looks more like something a millionaire would make for his children as a play ground. The homes are built into the earth where they are sheltered from the wind and sea.

... What does the Duty Officer do?

The Duty Officer can be any crew member who was assigned by the Captain to stand "Duty." They are in the position for 24 hours from 7:30 AM to 7:30 AM. There is no Duty Officer while the yacht is in transit, but only when it is moored. During their Duty watch, they are responsible for the guests aboard. No one boards or departs without the Duty Officer’s assistance or knowledge. They keep an ongoing record of exactly who is ...

Hi Folks! We're home again. No problems with travel on the way, just the jet lag to get over now. Kristina and Dean are cooking dinner tonight and that's great. So, our trip has come to an end and we must get back to work on thursday. What a thought! Thanks for sharing the trip with us. Bye!

Our Dutch friends were, at least, consistent, in that they woke us up at 5:00 with their size 13 feet trampling everywhere. Last night I said they were nice guys, I still think they are, honestly! Seriously, we saw them off safely, had another couple of hours snoozing then had a super bacon & eggs breakfast before we too, started the engine at 08:30 and set off. I must confess to being a bit puzzled, in that the Dutchies (that's ...

... record for the number of bird species recorded - 345 in total. Its' importance as a bird sanctuary has resulted in the construction of a Bird Observatory and hostel and over 220,000 individual birds have suffered the indignity of being ringed for science. Today, the island has about 70 full time residents, who spend the summer months crofting and fishing and the winter months on the creative arts, not least of which is knitting the unique Fair Isle knitwear, with its ...

We were off to Fair Isle at 08:15. There was no, or little wind but the forecast was promising some wind later in the 24 hours and there was some chance that we would get some during our journey. In fact, it didn't happen until the last hour or so and we motored all the way, a horrible flippy floppy sort of motion, as we were moved this way and that by the passing swell. It took about 3 hours to pass down the point of Mainland ...

... Company - they process crab meat from all over the Orkneys and it's quite an operation - their product was excellent. It was quite a sunny afternoon when we went for a walk out to the western coast behind Pierowall and then back to the village, taking in the fascinating Noltland Castle, a grim building with over 70 gun loops ( holes in the walls), built by Gilbert Balfour, who was Master of the Household of Mary Queen of Scots and ...

... production of the manufacturers of our boat but the model escapes me. Anyway, Ed was a retired engineer and was sure that he would be able to help. I can describe the whole episode and he did try, but the net of it was that we used up my spare filter to end up at the same point, with a leak. Nothing daunted, we decided to head on up to Westray and at 15:15 we set off after Ed, who had left a few minutes earlier. We were soon able to switch the engine ...