Category: Miscellaneous

After an insane home-cooked B&B breakfast, we started yesterday with a stop at Dunnet Head:

It was windy but not too cold, and from a high hill there are 360 degree views of the entire northern coastline. We also saw many seabirds (including Puffins) flying offshore to their nests on the cliffs.

A bit later on the drive to the ferry we stopped at Dunnet Beach:

It was long and rough and very windy but not as cold as you may think (about 13C) so shorts weren’t an issue.

Add the North Sea to the list of bodies of water I’ve now dipped my fingers into 🙂

That’s on the ferry to Orkney, which was large and comfy and one of the more pleasant transport trips I’ve ever taken. Plus, I only got about 30% seasick! It took a bit under 2 hours total before spewing us out…

In the charming seaside berg of Stromness, on the Orkney Islands:

Orkney is quite different again from what we’ve seen on the mainland. No trees for starters! Also the island is covered with farms, and apparently beef is one of the major industries.

Orkney is also famous for a multitude of well preserved historical sites, some of which we will visit today. It may also (finally!) start raining this afternoon, so we’ll get to experience an authentic Scottish summer. 🙂

We drove up north yesterday. It took about 3 hours and as is common here the landscape changed many times during the trip.

Our goal was the northernmost mainland town of John O’Groats, which is a famous tourist attraction. I say ‘town’ but there’s not much to it except for a few tourist shops and some windswept caravan parks.

But we had fun! The above sign is famous so we had to have our photo taken, plus we had some great fish and chips…

And visited the best postcard store I’ve ever seen and then mailed some cards from Scotland’s northernmost post office:

And here’s a shot of what things look like at the end of the world road:

The island over the water on the right is Orkney. We’re heading there today on a car ferry to get even farther north and even further back into Scottish history…

Another full day resting in Inverness. We spent the morning visiting a 4000 year old burial site (Clava Cairns):

And Culloden battleground, where the 1745 Jacobite rebellion ended. This was an exceptionally well presented museum and historical site and absolutely worth the visit!

And then, before some afternoon R&R, we sampled the cuisine of the MacDonald clan:

We’re driving North right now. Will I have internet and be able to Blog? Time will tell…