Battling the Wind on Skye

Fortunately for this, my last excursion of the cruise, I was going on an afternoon trip. In the morning the rain bucketed down.

Unfortunately, the sea was very rough and we were anchored in the bay. This means being taken across the waves by tender to Portree. There were several problems with this. There are only two docking spaces in the port. At midday people were returning to the ship for lunch. This meant long queues are the tenders were offloaded, then re-loaded them with people returning to the ship. On the ship itself, people who wanted to stroll around Portree were boarded onto the same tenders as those of us on excursions. It would have made life easier if the strollers waited until the excursionists had been ferried across.

We eventually reached Portree half-an-hour late for the excursion and I suspect we missed out a photo stop. Nevertheless....

I loved the tour despite the grey skies and gale force wind.

The rugged terrain backed by the mountains made for wonderful vistas. So many shades of green from the grass to the shrubs and trees interspersed with the 'bonny' purple heather and backed by granite mountains. The first stop was to see the Old Man of Storr. Not a venerable old gentleman but a very large single slab of rock overlooking the surrounding land.

The next stop was at Kilt Rock - so called because of its 'pleats'. Stupendous views all around and a waterfall dancing down the cliff face to the sea.

 

I am sure you have heard of Flora Macdonald and Bonnie Prince Charlie. Even simply from the song 'Over the Sea to Skye'. This fearless young woman rescued Charles Stewart (the Young Pretender) from the Scottish mainland and the Duke of Cumberland's forces, and kept him safely on Sky until he could be rescued and taken home to France. Having been on a tender in the rough seas I am even more amazed that she managed it in a small rowing boat.

Flora is buried in the cemetery at Kilmuir and her grave is marked by a very tall monument. Even though I have problems walking uphill I was determined to go to the monument. The biggest problem once up there was the wind which made it very difficult to hold the camera still.

 

Also at Kilmuir, at the bottom of the hill is the Skye Museum of Island Life with thatched stone cottages and some of the implements that had been used for farming in days of old. Each of the cottages (or crofts) bears its name. For example, the Weaver's House, The Old Ceildh House, the Forge.

Our guide, John Mackay was excellent. As he is also a singer we were treated to a couple of Scottish songs, one of them being in Gaelic. And he was proudly wearing his kilt. To be honest, listening to his soft Highland accent reminded me of my Scottish granddad who came from Aberdeen.

It was, despite the weather, a lovely afternoon out.

Oriana anchored off Portree

A Circular Tour from Kirkwall

Ducks come out to play

Now we are in the Orkneys moored at the capital, Kirkwall. And there was a bit of miscalculation on my part so far as my seat on the coach was concerned. The tour didn't go in the direction I had expected so I was sitting on the wrong side of the coach for taking some of the photos.

(By the way, if taking photos through a window do remember to switch off the flash otherwise you take a photo of the flash. Flash photography? Groan.)

We drove northwest to the coach road with its stunning views of the Island of Rousay and the tidal roost on either side of the Isle of Eynhallow. This is where the Atlantic Ocean and the North Sea meet. There we saw a number of basking seals but brown on brown rocks made them difficult to photograph.

Near the RSPB Reserve we made a stop at Birsay Bay. From there we could see the sea bird cliffs at Marwick Head. Very noisy it was too. And, of course, we couldn't miss the Neolithic Ring of Brodgar, a World Heritage Site. We didn't stop there but we did stop at the Standing Stones of Stenness.

For me the icing on the cake was a chance to stroll the streets of Stromness. This is a small fishing harbour across the water from the island of Hoy. One of my favourite modern day classical composers lived, for many years, on Hoy and wrote a gorgeous piano piece entitled 'Farewell to Stromness'. Sir Peter Maxwell Davies who died in March 2016 at his home in Sanday.

You want to know where the Old Man of Hoy is? The other side of the island from Stromness.

As it was a Sunday all of the shops were closed - except one where I bought a box of delicious home-made shortbread. Really melt in the mouth. Yummy. Made me wish I'd bought two boxes.

The blob is the marker buoy over HMS Royal Oak

The return journey was along the coast road overlooking Scapa Flow, the stretch of water which played important roles in both World War I and World War II. It was here at the end of WWI where the German Navy was interned - and scuttled their ships which are still on the seabed. And it was in October 1939 that a German submarine torpedo-ed and sank the HMS Royal Oak, which also rests on the seabed.

For a day that had begun showery it ended up beautifully sunny, for which we were grateful and it was a wonderful day.