scotland-return2018

Saturday - first day in Orkney We had a very nice ferry ride from Shetland to Orkney but didn’t get into Kirkwall until 10:30 at night. Luckily we had ordered a cab to pick us up so we were in our room in the hotel by 11.  Nice hotel and nice room. Today we had scheduled a tour of Papay - a small island north of the main island in Orkney. Population 75. It took two ferries to get there. The tour was done by the “ranger” on the island - a nice guy named Jonathan. Turns out that we were the only ones scheduled that day so it was a private tour. Susan was not that interested in going so she stayed back in Kirkwall - I think the fact that the royal wedding was today was a huge factor. Apparently the TV coverage in the UK was over 5 hours. So I met up with the ranger and we explored the island.  It is primarily known for three things: Birding, neolithic settlements, and a magnificent coastline. They have a small airfield and three planes a day. One runway is paved ...

When the sun woke me at four a.m., I became convinced that living in the land of the midnight sun was not for me. But I like Shetland so much I might be able to force myself to adapt. If those river otters can live in saltwater, why can’t I trick myself into believing there are at least eight hours of true darkness? Despite its rudely waking me, I was pleased and yet again a little surprised to find a bright, sunny day lying in wait. We didn’t have any firm plans, other than having to be at the ferry by half four (I’m forcing myself to refer to time like the locals in order to understand them more quickly). During breakfast, I got online and picked a couple of things to do on South Mainland. There were three things that interested me, but I was fairly sure we’d only have time to do two. So we decided to visit a new (1970s) excavation of an iron age settlement, then take a ferry to Mousa Island to see their broch. The drive was pretty spectacular, with even fewer people liv...

Woke to a heavy gray overcast, with tiny slices of blue poking through. I was certain this would be a typical Scottish day, but no! By the time we’d finished with an early breakfast, the breeze had blown most of the clouds away. The day continued to clear until it was unreserved sun once again. Huzzah! One of the many beaches on Unst After driving across Mainland Shetland for about a half hour, we drove onto the first of two ferries that would take us to our destination: Unst, the furthest northern point in the UK. A large, heavily bearded, flame-haired guy, whom Carolyn thought was a woman (?) came up to the car for the fare. Note from Carolyn: In my defense I only saw the long blonde hair first - the beard came later <g> We didn’t know how much it cost, so I handed him a twenty. He made a face and uttered a string of words that I heard as pure gibberish, but Carolyn heard as asking for five more pounds.  I handed a fiver over and he frowned, then asked hi...

After breakfast at my favorite restaurant,  our guide for the day picked us up at our hotel.  Gary, our otter guide, was a nice fella, although a little quiet for my tastes. I like chatty guides <s>. But he was very knowledgeable, and willing, if not eager, to answer any questions. We drove all the way up the island and sat near one of the ferry terminals for a long time. Gobbling up cars The otters, who are actually river otters, allegedly hang out there. Since they are fresh water creatures, they’ve had to adopt to living mostly in salt water. They’ve done this by sticking close to fresh water and rinsing their fur off every day. Since there was a fresh water source that flowed into the North Sea near the ferry, Gary said it was the spot most likely to produce an otter or two. We waited around for a looooong time, but no otters appeared.  Abandoned but still pretty  a very loooong time So we drove for another bit and ditched the ...

Super pretty train trip from Glasgow to Aberdeen yesterday. It looked more like France than Scotland, with rolling fields full of blooming mustard plants, and a few with lavender. It was so scenic it was hard for me to read, and it’s tough to get me to put down a good book. Our luck with weather was holding strong all day. We walked to a tiny neighborhood locally called Fittie, properly known at Footdee, so named because it’s at the foot of the River Dee. It was the original Aberdeen fishing village, and was very tiny, very cute.  There’s a new, fairly fancy restaurant at the end of the point, and we just made it in time to have lunch. Our server had such a bad sunburn on his face he was hard to look at, and he wasn’t the only person I saw who has not listened to the NHS warnings about wearing sunblock! Restaurant is the building on the right - top floor all glass We had about four hours to kill after lunch, so we walked around Union St, the main commercial ...