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dave_future_predatorAbout time I posted my Summer holiday pics before Christmas is here :p
Okay, here are the stats:
1 camper
3 passengers
1 visitor
9 campsites
12 ferry trips
1 flight
2 libraries
1 Janitorial Supplies
12 islands
...and a crapton of photos...
We drove north to get the ferry over to Orkney from Gill's Bay, near John O'Groats. They have a catamaran-type ferry that I had to reverse on to... Well, if the 2 full-size lorries could do it, so could I.
Watching other people reverse on *g*
And we're in! Our camper from above.
Once we reached South Ronaldsay, there's only really one place to be, and that's the Tomb of the Eagles. They let you hold eagle claws that are 4000 years old. And you walk out to the tomb and haul yourself in on the skateboard *g*
Dave in the toooomb...
The walk back along the cliffs reminds us we have made it somewhere else.
And they have helpfully marked the local wild flowers to save us looking them up!!! Brilliant. Eye bright is the cutest little thing.
The campsite on that island wasn't very picturesque, but it was the site of an old aquarium and was sprawling and weird, so that's always interesting.
Next day, over the Churchill barriers and three more islands, past the wrecks, quick visit to the marvel that is the Italian chapel, and we reach the mainland. Now, we're on a tight schedule to see everything in our 2 weeks, so we head straight to one of the jewels of Orkney, Skara Brae. It's basically 5000 year-old stone houses :) Dave models in front of the dresser that each house seemed to have.
It is very cool, but you can't go inside to see their box beds, lobster tanks, and fireplaces close up, which is sad. Unlike other sites on the islands, more, and even older sites, later *g*
We then paid a visit to one of the newest and most exciting archaeological digs on Orkney, the Ness of Brodgar. They cover it each winter with plastic sheeting, tyres, and bags of earth, and then uncover it again for a few weeks in the summer to dig some more. It occupies an incredibly central and significant site, is ridiculously old, the stonework is so smooth with sharp 90 degree angles in the walls. Hard to see from a photo, much easier when you get a guided visit :) One of the coolest digs I've ever been at.
We made it into Kirkwall, the capital of Orkney, where we had a quick walk to the Library to visit their balls. Orkney and Shetland aren't the most populous bits of the UK, but there are a few Twitter accounts worth following from those northern islands, and @orkneylibrary is one of them. Their #bookface efforts are great, in fact they have some brilliant posts all the time. I wasn't prepared for their balls to be as big as they are!
We met my dad who had caught buses and the ferry to reach Kirkwall, and he was to join us on the next leg of the trip. This involved us getting another ferry to our sixth island of the holiday, Westray. We arrived at our campsite in Pierowall, the main town, the next evening, where the extremely lovely hosts gave us some tips on what to see and do. They told us where to see puffins, and that the evening was a good time to go. Success!
I just had my wee camera phone. My dad had a camera with a foot long lens, and they were too close for him to take pics! He was standing there, wondering where the puffins were, when one landed right behind him, about a foot away, fish in its mouth and everything, and he couldn't focus on it, lol. They are so cute and fearless.
The next day on Westray, we took this ferry to Papa Westray, a nearby island. As you can see, no camper. Papay only gets a car ferry once a week from Kirkwall. This wee boat goes all day from Westray though.
It was a bit choppy, and the mist was down. Not great news, as we were planning on flying back to Westray later on the shortest scheduled flight in the world. Yes, 1-2 minute flight. It's fine, they said, it will still fly unless the wind gets over 50 knots 0.o
Papay was a beautiful and wild place.
Now that's clean air.
We had a couple of miles to walk to the Knap of Howar, the oldest house in the Orkneys, and it poured the whole way. We were like drowned rats.
Dave was fine in the cupboard, with the... bones...
We made it to the airport!!! Hallelujah!!! You can't see the waiting room, because it is tiny and behind that dark hangar. In fact, the waiting room, and THANK GOD there was one, was basically the control tower. We cranked up the heater and steamed until it was time to go.
The plane was a little late, but as the winds were *only* 20 knots, we were on! Couldn't see a thing out the windows, hubster sat behind the pilot, a young guy who threw the little 10-seater plane around like it was a flying washing machine. It was hairy, hilarious, and we did it. This is a better video than the one we took, I can tell you. We even got a certificate!!!
We were so glad to get back to Pierowall and great timing for Jack's Chippy being open, yummy fish and chips to round off an amazing, if damp, day.
Naturally, as soon as our need for good weather had passed, it got super nice after that!!
I think every ferry we went on had a tractor on it. Back to the mainland now!
We said goodbye to my dad back on Mainland and we had a night at Evie. Amazing view from campsite there, looking over to Rousay which is apparently amazing for archaeology - next time maybe!
And there was the cutest campsite cat!!!
Yes, she did end up inside for a while, and got cuddles later when the sun went down.
Despite our best efforts, we missed the tide at Birsay, but we've been before. We just enjoyed the cake and watching seals and got a great tip for our next island, Sanday... Missed the tide, but rockpool time!
We spent some time at the Broch of Gurness, which is fabulous. Lovely weather, wandering around and right inside the remains of what was a huge tower with rooms in the double walls.
And for our trip to our eight island, Sanday, make sure we get in the right lane at the ferry port!
Sanday is a low-lying island that they are monitoring for global warming purposes. Such a shame it will probably disappear, as it was the most wonderful place, I loved it. And not just for the sandy beaches :)
Just here there was a picnic table, and the man at Birsay had told us to come here and put out some bits of apple on the wall and wait. We did... It's an Orkney vole!! Not exactly a different species, but a population that is much bigger than voles elsewhere in the UK. He grabbed that apple and pulled it into the hole! What fun, though. So cute.
They had a heritage centre, see the But'n'Ben house, and this recreated burnt mound house.
Inside the But'n'ben, really well done, aways love a good box bed.
We went on a guided walk with the Sanday Ranger to a chambered cairn, but the best thing about the walk was seeing harbour porpoises playing in the waves off this gorgeous beach.
Truly beautiful place. It was shorts and t-shirt weather. Scarf off, Dave!!
We had great walks on Sanday, though the cattle were very curious... eep. I was happier on the beaches *g*
It was a shame to leave Sanday, but as soon as we were back on Orkney mainland it was time to get in the queue for the ferry to Shetland!! So excited. Never been there before. Overnight ferry from Kirkwall, we had a cabin, it was big enough to have a cinema etc. Thankfully the weather was lovely and it was a smooth crossing to bring us into Lerwick. Hurrah! Shetland achieved. First stop... Shetland Janitorial Supplies!!! In my opinion, one of the finest Shetland Twitter accounts :p Plus, we had to pop in and collect the bag I had won *g* It's not too hard to win their competitions, g'wan, g'wan :D Also, they have 'shopped Dougie Henshall with their bag, so props. They were very lovely people, we all went in and had a good chat about what we were up to and they were just really nice.
The centre of Lerwick is very pretty in parts, the old houses, little streets. Dave loved the viking boat *g*
This picturesque house and the clear waters were lovely, with the new ferry, lifeboat, and viking boat!
And here it is! If you watch Shetland, this is the outside of Jimmy Perez' house!
And up the hill in the new town, the building they use for the Police Station is the courts, with the real polis building behind :)
Near there is the wonderful @ShetlandLibrary often the butt of jokes by the library in Orkney. Their Twitter spats can be priceless. Shetland Library was very useful, free wifi, sofas, phone charging, just a nice place to be for a wee while, and in a beautiful old church.
Shetland has a very different feel to Orkney. Orkney has the rolling hills and fields of north east Scotland, but Shetland has a more Scandinavian feel, with moors and wild landscapes, like western Scotland. Except when you are driving *across* the runway down at Sumburgh Head. Not many places a road crosses the airport, I imagine.
Down near Sumburgh we visited Jarlshof, a site where you can see the remains of settlements spanning thousands of years, from Bronze age to 17th Century. It was well cool!
And around the lighthouse at Sumburgh there were so many puffins we got fed up of puffins. Nearly.
Here's another interesting place. This spit of sand between the mainland and St Ninian's island is always there, never completely convered but the tide, but no grass or land on the sandy bar, either. It's called a tombolo, and this is the largest one in the UK.
It was evening by now, and it was still warm and sunny. While we were there, the report came in that Shetland had been sunnier than Cornwall in July! Here I am paddling in the Atlantic off the tombolo...
The next day hubster cycled all the way from Sumburgh head in the south of Shetland mainland, all the way up through Yell and up to the top of Unst, as far as the road goes. That's three islands and a couple of ferry trips. I followed in the camper :) We stopped on the west side of Yell for cake at Burravoe, at the most remote cafe I have probably ever been. Pretty garden, spot Dave time!
It's about 90 miles and Google maps won't even let you walk all the way to the end of the road at Skaw, never mind anywhere further north, but I can assure you it is there.
And the cliffs behind the beach at Skaw were amazing, all folded, and pink and glittery too. It's apparently the potassium-feldspar in the porphyritic granite...
The other big attraction in the north of Unst is Bobby's bus shelter! Every year it has a new theme. Bless.
Unst was so wild and fabulous. I spotted a rusty shack on a hillside and just had to walk up to take some pics.
And I'm telling you, the views from our campsite at Gardiesfauld that night, wow. We sat and watched an otter swimming and feeding in the bay.
And the cliffs and walk we did the next day were insane!
This is a massive hole in the ground that goes down to the sea coming in below.
And we saw a weasel!!! I got a pic!
And then we came across this shallow lake with an island of wildflowers. It was incredible. This is taken from the island of flowers looking back out to sea. All this on the clifftops, amazing.
And the campsite here near Eshaness, just wow.
We were eating outside all day in Shetland, breakfast, and dinner too! Gorgeous. I got a tan on Shetland!!! That evening we ate some fish that had been caught by guys who were also staying at Gardiesfauld, they had sea canoes and were giving away massive packs of cod :D
Here's another interesting place! It's called Mavis Grind, ooh errr, and the road runs between the North Sea on one side and the Atlantic Ocean on the other. Apparently one of the few places you can chuck a stone between them! In the old days, it saved a bit of a boat trip if you could drag your boat up and across :p
We visited a ridiculously remote place called Lunna Ness. As you can see from the graveyard in the church, there is a connection to Norway. It was from here that a very secret project called the Sheltand Bus operated in World War II. Far from anywhere, Norwegian fisherman came to and from Norway with secrets and refugees. Eventually it moved further south on Shetland as Lunna Ness was just so remote and had no shipyard for repairs or anything. Some incredible stories of bravery in the war connected to the Shetland Bus.
We also went to the Cabin museum near Vidlin set up by Steven Robertson's grandad, Andy. Amazing place!! War memorabilia, uniforms, motorbikes, gas masks, general historical objects, the lot.
Randomly, here's a red beach we visited. The weather on our last day was not as good, boo.
But thankfully still reasonable weather for our ferry back. We passed Fair Isle in the evening, they announced it and everyone went on deck to take a look...
So did Dave!!! Hold on tight, Dave!
And then we were saw Wonder Woman in the cinema, went to our cabin, and woke up in Aberdeen!! Amazing.
If you made it this far, I hope you enjoyed my holiday pics! No wonder it took me 3 months to do this!!! *goes for a lie down*
~
Okay, here are the stats:
1 camper
3 passengers
1 visitor
9 campsites
12 ferry trips
1 flight
2 libraries
1 Janitorial Supplies
12 islands
...and a crapton of photos...
We drove north to get the ferry over to Orkney from Gill's Bay, near John O'Groats. They have a catamaran-type ferry that I had to reverse on to... Well, if the 2 full-size lorries could do it, so could I.
Watching other people reverse on *g*
And we're in! Our camper from above.
Once we reached South Ronaldsay, there's only really one place to be, and that's the Tomb of the Eagles. They let you hold eagle claws that are 4000 years old. And you walk out to the tomb and haul yourself in on the skateboard *g*
Dave in the toooomb...
The walk back along the cliffs reminds us we have made it somewhere else.
And they have helpfully marked the local wild flowers to save us looking them up!!! Brilliant. Eye bright is the cutest little thing.
The campsite on that island wasn't very picturesque, but it was the site of an old aquarium and was sprawling and weird, so that's always interesting.
Next day, over the Churchill barriers and three more islands, past the wrecks, quick visit to the marvel that is the Italian chapel, and we reach the mainland. Now, we're on a tight schedule to see everything in our 2 weeks, so we head straight to one of the jewels of Orkney, Skara Brae. It's basically 5000 year-old stone houses :) Dave models in front of the dresser that each house seemed to have.
It is very cool, but you can't go inside to see their box beds, lobster tanks, and fireplaces close up, which is sad. Unlike other sites on the islands, more, and even older sites, later *g*
We then paid a visit to one of the newest and most exciting archaeological digs on Orkney, the Ness of Brodgar. They cover it each winter with plastic sheeting, tyres, and bags of earth, and then uncover it again for a few weeks in the summer to dig some more. It occupies an incredibly central and significant site, is ridiculously old, the stonework is so smooth with sharp 90 degree angles in the walls. Hard to see from a photo, much easier when you get a guided visit :) One of the coolest digs I've ever been at.
We made it into Kirkwall, the capital of Orkney, where we had a quick walk to the Library to visit their balls. Orkney and Shetland aren't the most populous bits of the UK, but there are a few Twitter accounts worth following from those northern islands, and @orkneylibrary is one of them. Their #bookface efforts are great, in fact they have some brilliant posts all the time. I wasn't prepared for their balls to be as big as they are!
We met my dad who had caught buses and the ferry to reach Kirkwall, and he was to join us on the next leg of the trip. This involved us getting another ferry to our sixth island of the holiday, Westray. We arrived at our campsite in Pierowall, the main town, the next evening, where the extremely lovely hosts gave us some tips on what to see and do. They told us where to see puffins, and that the evening was a good time to go. Success!
I just had my wee camera phone. My dad had a camera with a foot long lens, and they were too close for him to take pics! He was standing there, wondering where the puffins were, when one landed right behind him, about a foot away, fish in its mouth and everything, and he couldn't focus on it, lol. They are so cute and fearless.
The next day on Westray, we took this ferry to Papa Westray, a nearby island. As you can see, no camper. Papay only gets a car ferry once a week from Kirkwall. This wee boat goes all day from Westray though.
It was a bit choppy, and the mist was down. Not great news, as we were planning on flying back to Westray later on the shortest scheduled flight in the world. Yes, 1-2 minute flight. It's fine, they said, it will still fly unless the wind gets over 50 knots 0.o
Papay was a beautiful and wild place.
Now that's clean air.
We had a couple of miles to walk to the Knap of Howar, the oldest house in the Orkneys, and it poured the whole way. We were like drowned rats.
Dave was fine in the cupboard, with the... bones...
We made it to the airport!!! Hallelujah!!! You can't see the waiting room, because it is tiny and behind that dark hangar. In fact, the waiting room, and THANK GOD there was one, was basically the control tower. We cranked up the heater and steamed until it was time to go.
The plane was a little late, but as the winds were *only* 20 knots, we were on! Couldn't see a thing out the windows, hubster sat behind the pilot, a young guy who threw the little 10-seater plane around like it was a flying washing machine. It was hairy, hilarious, and we did it. This is a better video than the one we took, I can tell you. We even got a certificate!!!
We were so glad to get back to Pierowall and great timing for Jack's Chippy being open, yummy fish and chips to round off an amazing, if damp, day.
Naturally, as soon as our need for good weather had passed, it got super nice after that!!
I think every ferry we went on had a tractor on it. Back to the mainland now!
We said goodbye to my dad back on Mainland and we had a night at Evie. Amazing view from campsite there, looking over to Rousay which is apparently amazing for archaeology - next time maybe!
And there was the cutest campsite cat!!!
Yes, she did end up inside for a while, and got cuddles later when the sun went down.
Despite our best efforts, we missed the tide at Birsay, but we've been before. We just enjoyed the cake and watching seals and got a great tip for our next island, Sanday... Missed the tide, but rockpool time!
We spent some time at the Broch of Gurness, which is fabulous. Lovely weather, wandering around and right inside the remains of what was a huge tower with rooms in the double walls.
And for our trip to our eight island, Sanday, make sure we get in the right lane at the ferry port!
Sanday is a low-lying island that they are monitoring for global warming purposes. Such a shame it will probably disappear, as it was the most wonderful place, I loved it. And not just for the sandy beaches :)
Just here there was a picnic table, and the man at Birsay had told us to come here and put out some bits of apple on the wall and wait. We did... It's an Orkney vole!! Not exactly a different species, but a population that is much bigger than voles elsewhere in the UK. He grabbed that apple and pulled it into the hole! What fun, though. So cute.
They had a heritage centre, see the But'n'Ben house, and this recreated burnt mound house.
Inside the But'n'ben, really well done, aways love a good box bed.
We went on a guided walk with the Sanday Ranger to a chambered cairn, but the best thing about the walk was seeing harbour porpoises playing in the waves off this gorgeous beach.
Truly beautiful place. It was shorts and t-shirt weather. Scarf off, Dave!!
We had great walks on Sanday, though the cattle were very curious... eep. I was happier on the beaches *g*
It was a shame to leave Sanday, but as soon as we were back on Orkney mainland it was time to get in the queue for the ferry to Shetland!! So excited. Never been there before. Overnight ferry from Kirkwall, we had a cabin, it was big enough to have a cinema etc. Thankfully the weather was lovely and it was a smooth crossing to bring us into Lerwick. Hurrah! Shetland achieved. First stop... Shetland Janitorial Supplies!!! In my opinion, one of the finest Shetland Twitter accounts :p Plus, we had to pop in and collect the bag I had won *g* It's not too hard to win their competitions, g'wan, g'wan :D Also, they have 'shopped Dougie Henshall with their bag, so props. They were very lovely people, we all went in and had a good chat about what we were up to and they were just really nice.
The centre of Lerwick is very pretty in parts, the old houses, little streets. Dave loved the viking boat *g*
This picturesque house and the clear waters were lovely, with the new ferry, lifeboat, and viking boat!
And here it is! If you watch Shetland, this is the outside of Jimmy Perez' house!
And up the hill in the new town, the building they use for the Police Station is the courts, with the real polis building behind :)
Near there is the wonderful @ShetlandLibrary often the butt of jokes by the library in Orkney. Their Twitter spats can be priceless. Shetland Library was very useful, free wifi, sofas, phone charging, just a nice place to be for a wee while, and in a beautiful old church.
Shetland has a very different feel to Orkney. Orkney has the rolling hills and fields of north east Scotland, but Shetland has a more Scandinavian feel, with moors and wild landscapes, like western Scotland. Except when you are driving *across* the runway down at Sumburgh Head. Not many places a road crosses the airport, I imagine.
Down near Sumburgh we visited Jarlshof, a site where you can see the remains of settlements spanning thousands of years, from Bronze age to 17th Century. It was well cool!
And around the lighthouse at Sumburgh there were so many puffins we got fed up of puffins. Nearly.
Here's another interesting place. This spit of sand between the mainland and St Ninian's island is always there, never completely convered but the tide, but no grass or land on the sandy bar, either. It's called a tombolo, and this is the largest one in the UK.
It was evening by now, and it was still warm and sunny. While we were there, the report came in that Shetland had been sunnier than Cornwall in July! Here I am paddling in the Atlantic off the tombolo...
The next day hubster cycled all the way from Sumburgh head in the south of Shetland mainland, all the way up through Yell and up to the top of Unst, as far as the road goes. That's three islands and a couple of ferry trips. I followed in the camper :) We stopped on the west side of Yell for cake at Burravoe, at the most remote cafe I have probably ever been. Pretty garden, spot Dave time!
It's about 90 miles and Google maps won't even let you walk all the way to the end of the road at Skaw, never mind anywhere further north, but I can assure you it is there.
And the cliffs behind the beach at Skaw were amazing, all folded, and pink and glittery too. It's apparently the potassium-feldspar in the porphyritic granite...
The other big attraction in the north of Unst is Bobby's bus shelter! Every year it has a new theme. Bless.
Unst was so wild and fabulous. I spotted a rusty shack on a hillside and just had to walk up to take some pics.
And I'm telling you, the views from our campsite at Gardiesfauld that night, wow. We sat and watched an otter swimming and feeding in the bay.
And the cliffs and walk we did the next day were insane!
This is a massive hole in the ground that goes down to the sea coming in below.
And we saw a weasel!!! I got a pic!
And then we came across this shallow lake with an island of wildflowers. It was incredible. This is taken from the island of flowers looking back out to sea. All this on the clifftops, amazing.
And the campsite here near Eshaness, just wow.
We were eating outside all day in Shetland, breakfast, and dinner too! Gorgeous. I got a tan on Shetland!!! That evening we ate some fish that had been caught by guys who were also staying at Gardiesfauld, they had sea canoes and were giving away massive packs of cod :D
Here's another interesting place! It's called Mavis Grind, ooh errr, and the road runs between the North Sea on one side and the Atlantic Ocean on the other. Apparently one of the few places you can chuck a stone between them! In the old days, it saved a bit of a boat trip if you could drag your boat up and across :p
We visited a ridiculously remote place called Lunna Ness. As you can see from the graveyard in the church, there is a connection to Norway. It was from here that a very secret project called the Sheltand Bus operated in World War II. Far from anywhere, Norwegian fisherman came to and from Norway with secrets and refugees. Eventually it moved further south on Shetland as Lunna Ness was just so remote and had no shipyard for repairs or anything. Some incredible stories of bravery in the war connected to the Shetland Bus.
We also went to the Cabin museum near Vidlin set up by Steven Robertson's grandad, Andy. Amazing place!! War memorabilia, uniforms, motorbikes, gas masks, general historical objects, the lot.
Randomly, here's a red beach we visited. The weather on our last day was not as good, boo.
But thankfully still reasonable weather for our ferry back. We passed Fair Isle in the evening, they announced it and everyone went on deck to take a look...
So did Dave!!! Hold on tight, Dave!
And then we were saw Wonder Woman in the cinema, went to our cabin, and woke up in Aberdeen!! Amazing.
If you made it this far, I hope you enjoyed my holiday pics! No wonder it took me 3 months to do this!!! *goes for a lie down*
~
