Polrudden Guest House Kirkwall

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 ...

... 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 ...

Signs with this phrase are up all around our B&B (love the no smoking!). Today we headed off to the Oarkney Islands which are home to many Puffins; however we sadly saw none. We did manage to see some seals though and many old monuments. The Oarkneys are home to many quaint villages as only 18 of the islands (there are about 70) are inhabited with just 19 000 people.

Today started with breakfast overlooking the sea from our ...

... suburbs of Edinburgh the rest of Scotland is surprisingly sparsely populated, with lots of little towns along the way. The towns here tend to have one high street, or main street, along the "highway" here and that's about it. Some of them are downright adorable like Creif with it's little flags and hanging baskets of flowers. The natural scenery is also amazing, with awe inspiring bens and glens. We hit what we think is the edge of the ...

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 ...

... 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 ...

... birds flew at me at quite considerable speed, to swerve away just inches above my head. Magnificent flyers, they really are. Our overriding impression of it all was of the magnificence of the landscape and the timelessness of it all, one felt quite immaterial to well, anything really. Returning to the Bird Santuary, we joined the walkers, twitchers, birders and people who had come just to absorb the atmosphere. They only charge £30 / night full board, so it is a cheap ...

... Stromness, which one normally gets to via the Hoy Mouth, which separates the hilly Hoy from its large, flat neighbouring island, called Mainland. Instead, we were being forced north and that gave us the option of making a landfall in Kirkwall instead, which is situated on the east coast of Mainland. Now Kirkwall can be approached either from the south or the north. The south passage is round the bottom of Hoy and takes one into the Pentland Firth, with its ...