Coming home....

Cold ride into Kirkwall in low cloud. Went along main road to avoid the hill and mist. Hard to tell when it was and wasn't raining but at least the wind was on our backs. 6 degrees C.

Staff in Locano's were very friendly. Sally was winner of the tastiest course with her seafood platter. I thought I might trump it with a tiramisu pudding but sadly it was a bit spongey and not up to Mallorcan standards. The restaurant is on a very narrow street with our bikes parked against the opposite wall alongside our waitresses car. There was some anxiety when a bus full of people filled the window. Not only were the people on bus able to look down on us eating our meals but the bus was obviously having difficulty squeezing past the bikes and cars.

Left Locano's at 10pm and made our way through a quiet (I mean nothing happening at all on a friday night) Kirkwall and out of town to the ferry terminal, which turned out to be where everyone from Kirkwall must have been. They probably decided to leave Orkney due to the terrible weather and I don't blame them. We were just about the last people on the ferry I needed to ask the man lashing our bikes to the railings to be gentle on the paintwork - he clearly didn't recognise a masterpiece in steel tubing when he saw one. Boat was lovely and new. Quick drink in lounge to relax and then to bed.

Woke up at 6am and quick breakfast on alpen mixed with wheatabix. Said goodbye to Jackie and Ian, who were catching an earlier train (4 bikes on one train not possible). We had thought of staying on the boat a while (foot passengers are allowed to stay until 9:30) but anxiety about getting off the car deck with the bikes made us get off at 7:30. The car deck reeked of fish!

Second good bye with J&I at the station and then we went to a cafe for porridge with toppings. Very good. Caught the 9:52 train direct to Kings Cross and now currently heading south from York. Sitting across the aisle is a mad dog lady with two very well behaved dogs and hangover lady who has one of the dogs wedged under her chair but doesn't seem to mind. Must stop drinking the free coffee.

Jack just called to say he came 2nd in the One Day in Dorset elite road race and is now a first cat rider. Very exciting!

Sally triumphs in Locano's

My pudding riposte that failed to impress

Kirkwall ferry terminal

Ferry breakfast

Aberdeen station

Mad dog lady and hangover lady - hope they're not following the blog ;-\

Meanwhile in Dorset Jack grabs a 2nd place and a first cat' license

Distillery tour and stone age cairn

Last day today and moving out of our apartment by 10am (Jackie and Ian were keeping their apartment for another day so we would all have somewhere to store our bags). Bus into Kirkwall and quick detour into the Magnus Centre to watch a film about the cathedral. Bit of a walk up to the Highland Park distillery and quite a good tour and tasting. I even got to finish Jackie's dram. Walk back into Kirkwall and lunch at the Reel. Sally and I caught the bus back to Finstown and went for a walk to the neolithic cairn on the hill above the firth. Very well built burial tomb with a small passage that can be crawled along to take a look. The "stones" above the cairn turned out to be piles of stone and perhaps quite recent. Jackie and Ian did the rest of the museum in Kirkwall and then returned to Finstown where we did tea and cake.

Tonight we are off to the Italian in Kirkwall and then to the Aberdeen ferry at 11pm. Should be interesting!

"Tastes like hairspray" said Jackie to the man from Highland Park Distillery

The rabbit hole from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (Orkney)

Going through the tunnel

There's no light inside but of course that's not so easy to show in a photo. It's beautifully made with 3 sub-chambers off the main chamber.

Propping the piles of stone upright in the Orkney wind

The view over to the Atlantis Apartments and the Firth

Kirkwall and the Folk Festival

Another wet, windy and cold day in the Orkneys so we caught the bus into Kirkwall and did the cathedral and museum with lunch and afternoon tea thrown in as well. Rather liked the 17th century stones all around the inside of the cathedral with transcriptions of the engravings.

Went to the folk festival in Evie this evening for the first night of the Orkney Folk Festival. Four acts of which my favourite was SVER from Sweden/Norway. Great energy and a fitting way to end a great holiday.

The transcription from one of the stones. Morbid. But I suppose that is the idea.

The stone itself

Stone pillars in the cathedral

The audience go wild for Manran

SVER pose for the camera

Rousay

The main island on the Orkneys has seemed much less remote than I expected.The main road between Stromness and Kirkwall is busy and there's little sense of remoteness like you get on Uist or even Lewis on the Outer Hebrides. Despite the weather forecast we decided to go to Rousay today (well Sally and I did - Jackie and Ian sensibly chose a visit to the sites of Kirkwall) to see if we could find something a little quieter on the Orkneys.

We set off in the rain along a 10 mile route I had mapped that avoided the main road and took us on single track all the way to the ferry at Tingwall. We sheltered in the small ticket office and boarded the ferry as instructed when the one car that was making the journey was loaded on by the lady in the orange oil skins. We were the only passengers in the lounge (cabin or hut would be a better description) so I assume the car driver stayed put for the 30 minute journey.

It was raining heavily when we docked on Rousay and we soon established that the cafe was closed on a Wednesday but the craft shop did teas and coffees until 5:30 every day. The ferry returned to the main island at 3:20 and 5:30 so it looked like we were sorted for pre ferry refreshments later on.

The road around Rousay is 13 miles of single track. Rousay is apparently known as the Egypt of the North. I can only imagine that this is to do with the amount of sun it gets and not the number of stone age monuments. We decided to do it clockwise because the Taversoe Hotel is only a couple of miles from the ferry that way and we wanted lunch. On route we parked the bikes up and went to look at a 2 storey cairn through the grill that blocks ones view of the interior.

We soon found the hotel and after removing our waterproofs in the porch made our grand entrance to be greeted by fresh towels and very friendly staff. They were most helpful with Sally's gluten free requirements and did me an excellent fish and chips.The lady who served us had moved from England 8 years ago and loved the island life. She said there were 250 people on Rousay and they formed a tight knit community. Many people on the island commuted daily to the main island to work.

We had contemplated returning for the 3:20 ferry but encouraged by our host we continued clockwise around the rugged landscape until we came to Saviskaill Bay in the north of the island where you can see seals according to the guide. They are correct because within 2 minutes of standing by the beach we realised that we could see grey seals to our left and sea lions directly in front of us who were busy watching us. There is something quite magic when a wild animal is as interested in you as you are in it. We could have stayed there all afternoon but if you miss the 5:30 ferry then you are on the island until morning, so we hurried on with the wind (and rain) on our backs back to the port.

The craft shop was still open and tea/coffee/hot choc (not hot chic as previously posted - thanks spell checker!) was only a £1 a go on a help yourself basis. Sally bought a hand knitted hat and we chatted to the owner and another lady waiting for the 5:30 ferry.

The ferry home was quite busy with people commuting back to the main island, including the district nurse who had passed us in her car earlier. She was a bit surprised that we were cycling all the way back to Finstown.

Came back home using the main road, which was incredibly quiet. Bought some duck eggs from an honesty box at a farm gate and I diverted briefly to the Finstown local shop to get a bottle of beer.

Sally sitting sensibly by the life jackets

Lunch is good when you are wet and a bit cold

Spot the seal competition

Rousay road - it's like this all the way round

Craft shop parking

£1 for tea or coffee = happy woman

Stone age man

Stone age man and woman

Stone age man with binoculars looking for seals

Italian Chapel

Lazy start to the day. Porridge and scrambled egg on toast for breakfast. Headed off to Kirkwall around 11:30 and straight into a strong head wind. Lunch at the Reel next to the cathedral and then off to the Italian Chapel and the Churchill barriers - both built by Italian POWs in WWII. Very slow journey there and very fast journey bcd to Kirkwall due to strong southerly wind. Shopping and tea/hot chocolate/cake back at the Reel and then home over the hill to Finstown.

Tongue to Finstown (Orkney)

Silke’s B&B at the Bothy in Tongue is very good. Not only did she do our laundry and deliver it the next morning fresh and dry but she let me have an extra large bowl of porridge for breakfast and then took photos of us in her garden. The ride from Tongue to Thurso (where the ferry goes to the Orkneys) is quite hilly, with most of them loaded in the first half. We had a cafe stop in Betty Hill with top class cheese scones fresh from the oven and planned a lunch stop at the hotel/bar in Melvich, however it was closed. Luckily the village has the West End Stores, a small shop but enough for lunch and what’s more the owner was happy for us to picnic out of the wind by the shop. The hills gradually gave way to slightly flatter countryside though also slightly dull stuff. Down Reay nuclear power station and one section dominated by over hanging trees and the sound of crows. The 3pm rain settled in as we approached Thurso and it was heads down to grind out the last few miles. Stocked up with supplies at Tescos and then found a cafe in a bakers shop in town. Another trip to the nearby co-op to get the things forgotten at Tescos and then we were ready for the ferry - in fact about 2 hours ready. It’s only a short ride to Scrabster and we arrived before the ticket office was open, however it was quite sunny and warm outside the terminal building so we didn’t mind. 

The ferry to Stromness arrived around 6:30 and we were soon on board. The ferry men were most particular about securing the bikes with ropes, which was a bit ominous. Evening meal on the ferry was excellent - I don’t think anyone didn’t enjoy their meal. Also, fantastic views of the Old Man of Hoy and the Hoy cliffs (all 330m high of them). Arrived in Stromness around 8:30 and straight out on to the busy road. Had expected a much quieter place but it seemed as busy as most places in England. Beautiful sunset to our left as we cycled over to Finstown (about half way between Stromness and Kirkwall). The Atlantic apartments are very nice - clean and well equipped. Quick supper and straight to bed.

All photos courtesy of Ian today...

Posing in front of Ben Hope - photo taken by Silke

Ben Hope

Picnic preparations at the West End Stores

Hoy Ahoy

Sunset on our way to Finstown

Just arrived on the Orkneys

It's been a long day of travelling and waiting for the ferry and we've just arrived in Finstown on the Orkney mainland. Will blog and do photos tomorrow.

Gaulin to Tongue

Another day arriving soaking wet at a B&B. It seems to rain heavily at 3pm every day and so our last hour is spent in full waterproofs, cycling at a speed that doesn't boil us up too much.

We managed to make Marlene at our B&B very happy this morning because nobody wanted the full Scottish breakfast. Ian and I both opted for giant helpings of porridge followed by scrambled egg on toast. Both the porridge and egg were very good and there was flax and fresh fruit for topping off the porridge.

The day started out quite sunny and the road to Durness was largely downhill, passing the passenger ferry to Cape Wrath. Brief stop in Durness for Jackie and Ian to visit the Smoo Cave and then onwards to Loch Eriboll and the cafe by the loch for baked potatoes. The loch was the location for the surrender of around 33 German U-Boats in 1945, though there is little to suggest what happened. It takes quite a while to work your way up one side of the loch and back down the other but at least it's faster than the days when a trip from Inverness to Durness would involve a 7 hour trek on foot to reach the road at the loch.

After Loch Eriboll the road climbs and descends to the sea twice before reaching Tongue. The second hill is 220m of ascent from Loch Hope to Loch Maovally. I gave it full steam with the loaded tourer and managed a respectable 12 minutes from bottom to top. At the top we picnicked on the considerable amount of food we have been carrying in case we can't find lunch stops. The rain started as we sat at the side of the road, so we must have looked a sad bunch of troops to the passers by the cars, however with full waterproofs it doesn't really matter.

The descent into Tongue is quite long and cold, even in waterproofs. Then across the causeway and up the hill into the village. The B&B is comfortable and the plan is to eat at the Tongue Hotel this evening which is a little way up the road.

A Scottish picnic by the road

A fine Roberts bike by a ruined croft at Loch Maovally

Jackie and Ian on the road to Durness

Scourie to Ard-na-Bruthaich (Gaulin)

I’m currently sitting in Marlene’s lovely B&B, on the highest point between Scourie and Durness, with the rain lashing the windows and a view of the lower half of a hill across the road and loch. We arrived in the rain this afternoon and it’s only become worse since. Meanwhile the rest of the UK is having a mini-heatwave. Well I can report that the north west of Scotland isn’t.

To be fair we haven’t had a bad day, it was just the last toil up the hill that was a little damp. It started raining as we left the seafood restaurant in Tarbet, where the ferry runs to Handa Island. The island is a SSSI that can be accessed by passenger ferry for £12.50 per person. The island has a clearly marked path which takes you to all the best places to see the abundant birdlife. Luckily I had my small binoculars and we were able to see most of the birds that are known to use the island. Great Skua, Arctic Skua, Fulmar, Guillemot, Razorbill, Kittiwake, Oystercatcher, Red Grouse and a couple of puffins in flight. We also spied a pair of grey seals in Boulder Bay and Ian spotted a porpoise on the ferry ride. The ferry boat man said it was the first of the season. I really enjoyed lying on the grass and looking over the edge of the cliff at the huge number of birds nesting, flying or swimming around the cliffs.

The food in the restaurant in Tarbet was very good, assuming you like seafood. Ian and I had hot mackerel and Sally had fresh salmon. There is a monster hill to get out of Tarbet and the pint of beer I had with lunch weighed heavy on the legs.

Marlene’s B&B is lovely and comfortable. The dining and sitting room is like a great hall with a wood fire at one end. We had a lovely meal of venison and are now trying to listen to the archers on Sally’s phone. The internet connection is via a satellite which doesn’t seem to be working at the moment so this won’t get posted until tomorrow.

Internet just started working. Won't push my luck with too man photos today - wait until tomorrow evening.

Here's one of the tea break on Handa Island...

Dynamo update

Still haven't charged my phone or garmin from the mains - they are totally dynamo powered at the moment. Nice wheel Sam!

Stoer to Scourie

Woke up to even stronger winds than yesterday - 27 mph from the SW with gusts of up to 50 mph. Not ideal cycling conditions but at least we were heading north and it was sunny to begin with. The coast road from Lochinver to Kylesku is fearsomely hilly with the worst of the hills after Drumbeg. In the 18 miles from Stoer to Kylesku you ascend 2800 feet, which is hard to beat in the UK.

Breakfast was very good - porridge with lots of toppings. Our landlady Maggie sent us on our way with a message for Madeline at the next guest house in Scourie - "we're still here". Ambled our way to Drumbeg and picked up chocolate and oat cakes in the village store. Another coffee (and some cake) at the Secret Garden tea rooms and then on to tackle the real hills (the map is full of double chevrons). Dennis at the B&B reckoned we would have to walk up the steeper hills but although they are steep they are not as bad as the ones we rode in Yorkshire last year. 26% being the worst I spied on the Garmin screen.

The wind was the worst factor today with gusts on exposed corners causing real problems on the narrow single track road. One gust turned me by 90 degrees and very nearly into a ditch. At least it was usually with us and on at least one hill I was pushed up hill with out peddling! The road constantly went up and down - no flat and by the time we arrived in Kylesku it was lunch time.

Kylesku used to be a ferry crossing but was by-passed a few years back when they built the bridge. The hotel does excellent food though (and beer). There was a curious group of English people dressed up in plus fours and one in a kilt - must be playing at lairds.

The rain rolled in as soon as we left Kylesku and the 10 miles to Scourie were with lashing rain towards the end. Did some filming for our take on the Rapha Continental Assynt Video which will be created when I return. Sheltered in the Scourie hotel with a cup of tea until we thought the B&B would let us in.

Eating at the B&B tonight. Last time the meal was fabulous so looking forward to it.

Between Drumbeg and Kylesku

Cullen Skink at Kylesku

Secret Tea Garden at Drumbeg

Very high winds between Drumbeg and Kylesku

Jackie's cheese board at Kyesku

A few snaps from Sally

Jackie tests out the en-suite at Stoer

Banana time at the Assynt grotto

Brucie!

Jackie forgets the basics

Stone hugging - feel the energy

Stornoway Arts Centre - a good shelter from the weather

Callanish cake

New age types getting in the way of a good photo

Jackie in a big sandy 'ole on Barra 

The old man of the sea on a beach in Barra

Your plane awaits on Barra