So my little hen friends at Hammersmith Bed and Breakfast on Orkney were adorable and trotted below our window. I meant to ask if the eggs at our scrumptious breakfast were provided by these friendly chickens but I'm sure they were.
The northern view from the B&B window doesn't look like much with the grey sky this morning but it was quite spectacular with Northern Lights the night before. I didn't even have to leave the bedroom. I just stood by the window and enjoyed the show. Of course I had to rouse the Squire to see the show. Apparently they had been much more spectacular the night before when we were in Thurso but I didn't check my sources! Oh well. It wasn't strong enough to photograph but lovely to watch.
After our wonderful breakfast we set out in the more typical Scottish weather. Wind and misty rain made for some moody photos.
The Italian Chapel, built by Italian prisoners of war is quite something to see. Unfortunately a busload of pensioners soon chased us away.
To the right of this photo is one of the Churchill Barriers which are causeways joining some of the small islands of south Orkney around Scapa Flow (built by the Italian POWs). There were divers exploring the wrecks which are showing up as small lumps of metal in the water in this photo. Brrrr!
A stop at the Highland Park Distillery, world renowned for its distinctive Orkney peat flavoured Single Malt Whiskey was easy as we drove right past it. It would have been a terrible pity not to stop! We passed on this 40 year bottle but picked up some 12 year which was more in the budget.
The rain didn't bother us at all and we got to watch their short film and have a wee dram, which I enjoyed even though I'm not a Scotch drinker at all. I asked whether it was true that Prince Andrew had a cask put down for him and the answer was YES!
I had promised Gillian that although she wasn't on this trip with me this year, I would bring her back a stone from Orkney, to keep her piece of flint from last summer company. So on the way back to the ferry at Stromness, we stopped at the Stones of Stennes again. You can see how choppy the water is in the Loch of Stennes behind the standing stone.
This photo (an odd selfie of my hand and the stones) was for Gillian. She was REALLY excited to know there was a wee Stone of Stennes coming her way!
Unfortunately the ferry had to leave early due to the inclement weather. The sun had come out by this time but this photo out the ferry window towards Hoy gives you a bit of an idea why some passengers were green on arrival back in Scotland at Scrabster. A note if you are travelling to Orkney, book your ferry rides first and then plan your trip around that. Also, check the ferry website the day before sailing and the day of sailing in case there are last minute changes like we had. It would be terrible to miss your ferry as they only go twice a day most of the year.
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