After the 90 minute ferry ride from Thurso to Stromness on Orkney Island (known as the mainland by the locals) we had a nice lunch on the side of the harbour and strolled through the 'dead on a Sunday' town. Our next ferry took us away from the world's drunkest locals (bank holiday weekend) and a bit back to the south to the island of Hoy. Once unloaded onto Hoy at the vacant pier, a gentle cycle between the mountains brought us onto the south side of the island where we had a nice view of Thurso back on the real mainland of Scotland.
This night was spent in the most beautiful campsite that we came across in Scotland - we pitched our tent in the yard of a stone bothy, surrounded by a roughly built, waist high stone wall. The bothy was on the grassy area just above the rock strewn beach. There was a nice living area inside the bothy, with room for a few to sleep on the rock bench seats that ran along most of the walls. It also had a separate toilet and dishes area.
We shared this crystal clear night with 4 others - a French couple, and 2 Welsh fella's who were here to climb The Old Man Of Hoy, a world famous rock stack off the western end of Hoy Island.
The morning of Monday, the first of June had us salivating at the dawning of another perfect day for us to enjoy and use to its fullest. On days like this, for folk lucky enough to be starting them from within the 'ripstop' confines of a tent, or a swag, you really do wonder why not everybody is waking up the same way, and why some choose to never do this, and why on earth would anybody want to live in a city, and who really needs anymore than what we've managed to fit on our bikes (which does include a computer, so are we really missing out?), and why can't people camp wherever they want if it's just for a night or 2, and why do people with no attachment to 'their' land more than mowing the lawn every Sunday, claim it as their own and make it private???
Anyway, we hiked to The Old Man Of Hoy and were treated to some inspiring views of the rock bathed in light, and the 2 welshies preparing to climb. They had told us the night before that it's a 5 pitch climb, and the difficulty level translated into the Australian ranking system, would be somewhere between 17 and 20.
We sat and watched whilst playing with the bumble bees until the end of their first pitch, then moseyed back over the cliffs, through the crofter's town on Rackwick, and back to the bothy for lunch.
After returning to the Orkney mainland we pedaled our way up the western side of the island to Skaill Bay to camp.
We had been told that Marwick Head was a likely place to see some puffins, so that was our main objective for the next day. But it quickly became our second stop, as whilst en route we called in to one of the many workshops of talented local craft merchants. This one happened to be the residence/workshop/shop front of a husband and wife silversmith team. In this shop Nadia found thee ring that she had been searching for (no mum, settle down), with beautiful inlaid Celtic designs. And as her birthday was fast approaching, and as it isn't too easy to hide a present from a tent mate and cycle partner, that was purchased, happy birthday was said and everyone was happy.
Arriving at the Marwick Head car park we locked the bikes and powered up the cliffs, surprised to be making up half of the number of people on the cliffs on this slightly overcast morning.
Initial sightings of seabirds were of razorbills, kittiwakes, and a goodly number of fulmars. The shy little puffin kept himself hidden for a few minutes extra, before poking his beautifully, multi-coloured beak out of a small gap between some rocks. This was later followed by the head, and his sad looking expression. Ohh, so cute, with a mix of shy and helplessness thrown in.
This puffin, and the others we were to see, was a little bit smaller than a fairy penguin, was made up mainly of beak and feet, and could fly as well and as far as the conditions required.
Further along on top of the cliffs proper there was a sizable memorial for Lord Kitchener - a decent chap from the war days who seems to have found time to do a lot of good deeds along the way.
Heading towards the NW corner of the mainland we visited another silversmith before enjoying an ice-cream in Birsay. We then headed for a ferry at Tingwall, winding our way across the north coast. At one stage we were stopped while the local farmers moved their cattle along the road to a different paddock. Their method was as simple as tying a rope across the road and as the cattle neared it they turned without even challenging the flimsy barrier. This day being the perfect day that it was, when we arrived at the ferry we rolled straight on and the ferry rolled out to Rousay island, a half hour ferry ride to the north.
Once on Rousay we started a loop of the island straight away looking for campsites as we went. We called into the local pub and discovered that the monthly trivia night happened to fall on this exact night. Perfect. Whilst there we were given a car by one of the locals and told to go and check out possible campsites for the coming night. The man (an ex-camp host in the Northern Territory) didn't even feel the need to tell us his name so he remains nameless to us. Once returning the vehicle and setting up camp we asked the neighbours if we could camp in their paddock. This was answered with 'It's not my paddock' and 'Would you like to come in for a home-brew?' To which we said 'YES PLEASE!' As a result we were late to trivia, but as it turned out we were no threat at all with running away with a victory. This perfect day was finished off with an Orkney Fudge Sundae, delicious.
Wednesday started with stronger winds and overcast skies. Our first cold day in Orkney. After packing up it was only a short 10 minute ride to 'the most important archaeological mile in the UK', as they told it. We wandered along old ruined homes and farms including a 24 chambered burial mound. Within the mound they found 9 whole skeletons and the remains of up to 25 people. Today the mound is enclosed in a modern building to protect it. After spending some time here we decided we had seen our fair share in old ruined buildings. Back on the road we enjoyed a short downhill into a fierce headwind before turning to unfortunately see the ridiculously and unnecessary steep climb up the north side of the island. Needless to say, we pushed. Halfway up, one of the men from the quiz who we'd met the night before, stopped in an ambulance to have a chat before motoring in a very low gear the rest of the way up the hill. At the top we had a magnificent view toward some of Orkney's other islands before launching into a fast downhill where we both set new maximum speeds, and would have been even faster if we didn't stop at the milk bar on the way down to have some lunch. We once again timed the ferry perfectly and rolled on just in time for a return trip to the mainland. Now on the north eastern side of the island we headed south and ended up near the famous Standing Stones of Stenness for the evening. There are a few chunks of this island that are World Heritage listed, because many many years ago somebody decided it was a nice place to build a house. Then a few years (give or take a century) later they got bored and stood some sizeable slabs of rock up on their ends. Well, the palaver that has caused in the last century is quite impressive. Maybe these ancient folk would be proud to know that their kitchens and standing stones are keeping a healthy amount of people employed today. And if you listen to these storytellers you'll be told that it wasn't just one ancient peoples, but the Picts, the Celts, the Vikings (not necessarily in that order, and this might not be a fully comprehensive list)...
We woke up to a damp tent, but nothing too serious as it dried before we left off for the day. This was the first rain we had seen in Orkney and we thought it perfect that it arrived during the night, and not while trying to pack in the morning. First thing we went and saw the Standing Stones close up. It was a little strange because they were sitting in a paddock with sheep, surrounded by farmland. Now this is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, something boasted about by locals and advertised everywhere in Orkney, but upon arrival seems like Wobbies World compared to Disneyland. Don't get me wrong, it is impressive that centuries ago they managed to somehow stand the 6 metre slabs of rock up on their ends, but after all the hype we expected some sort of development surrounding the sites. I guess it is a good thing though, that the Stenness Stones and Ring of Brodgar remain where they are without ice-cream and souvenir vans.
The weather got better as the day went by and we continued towards Kirkwall via Scapa Flow, famous for the scuttled German fleet of WWI. In town we had some time to kill so we wandered around town checking out the craft stores and also St Magnus Cathedral, built in 1137. Dodging the rain we then gutsed ourselves on pizza before boarding the night ferry to sail to Lerwick, Shetland.
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