Kirkwall, Orkney

It’s been a whole year since the last update appeared on this blog. All winter long the moment to finish writing up the Atlantic loop here kept slipping through my fingers.

I’ll try to make up for that quickly and write it after all, for nobody in particular really, but at least then it’s done.

I’ll also quickly write up the first weeks of this year’s trip, but first I’m going to get going non-chronologically, or it’ll never happen: putting a bit of pressure on myself, in other words.

On Tuesday morning, after settling up with the Peterhead harbour master, we left for the first bay on the east side of Mainland, called Deer Sound. We had a very relaxed passage in beautiful but cold weather. So nice and snug inside the deckhouse. By now we’ve got the hang of the new VHF and get warned in good time when a ship comes (too) close.

After a lovely night at anchor in water without a ripple, I saw Oester motor past in the morning. Once the tide had turned after midday we followed them and moored up in Kirkwall marina.

Kirkwall is the capital of the Orkney archipelago. The four of us were here in 2011 when we did a lap of the UK, but back then we (a) were in more of a hurry and (b) had somewhat worse weather. Since we’ve been heading for Orkney the weather has been colder than normal for these parts, but also much sunnier. Think beautiful spring weather in the Netherlands. Granted, the thermometer still only shows 12 degrees, but the sun is blazing from 3 in the morning until 11 at night. The batteries are even completely full again.

Orkney is a much more vibrant part of Scotland than the east coast (Peterhead), where the poverty has eased compared to 11 years ago but is still pretty noticeable. They probably owe their wealth to tourism, which is here on a fair scale. Around 200 large to very large cruise ships call each year, with up to 5000 passengers at a time. That gives a huge boost to the economy, which otherwise has to rely on fishing, a bit of (marginal) farming and oil processing. The last leg it probably stands on is the arrival of “rich” people from the rest of the UK who come here for a lifestyle change. From the guidebook I gather that if they last a few winters, they stay.

Over the past few days we’ve had a bit of a look around locally on foot and by bike+scooter.

The cathedral is 850 years old and very beautiful. This time we also visited the castle ruins that Marion had to do on her own last time. This morning we’d booked a tour of the (or so they say themselves) best whisky distillery in the world, Highland Park. A bit early for a “wee dram”, but very tasty and a great story. Followed by a visit to the cathedral museum and the Orkney Museum, that’s our cultural fix for the day sorted.

From tomorrow afternoon we have a car, so we can go and see the remarkable ancient sites. Orkney has been inhabited for some 8000 years, and there are remains dating from 5000 BC. Last time we saw them by bus, but the bus driver has apparently retired, because that route doesn’t exist anymore.

More to follow (and therefore also to precede)!