To The Land Of The Norse

We had a very pleasant stay in Dunnet Head B&B. The rooms were comfortable and the breakfast was very good. John and I had our last, FULL SCOTTISH BREAKFAST!!! till forever I guess. Sob!
A little walk from the B&B took you to the beach where seals lounged by the shore.

Since we had some time we went back in to Thurso for a little look around and found that they have a wonderful museum there which we would have liked to see more of, but we had to get to Gill Bay by 1 to catch the ferry to St. Margaret's Hope on Main Island Orkney.

The crossing was windy, sunny and bumpy. John, Von and Sheelagh spent the whole trip of one hour on the open upper deck in the lea of the bridge. I birked out for part of the trip and went down into the lounge. My ears were freezing.

 The Orknies are grassy with a slight roll to them I had expected more rock, but no they are covered with grass. They look a bit like Saskatchewan with an ocean around it. They are small and everywhere has a sea view. The islands used to be part of Norway, and still has a Norwegian looking flag.

The first small island we passed was dotted with empty stone cottages. There were a few sheep wandering about. It was sad to see that so much had been given up. Another island had cows on it which have gone wild since they were left by their owners over sixty years ago. A man told us that the people just walked out of their houses and never went back.

As we entered the little harbour of St. Margaret's Hope we passed beside Scapa Flow. This was the graveyard for many ships during WW1. John says that many have been reclaimed, but many are still there.

The drive from St Margaret's Hope to Finstown is about 1/2 hour, but we stopped at a Tesco for groceries on the way. We easily found The Auld Kirk apartements. We were stunned at this place. There are three apartements in an old church. The place has been completely redone and is ultra modern. There is hardly any appliance here that we can operate without the manual.

Sheelagh and I went to the pub quiz night and came in second to last. When the last catagory was snippets from last week's local newspaper, we beat a hasty retreat before we slipped into last place.

This morning we went to the church nearby for a lovely service among very welcoming people.

We are doing Thanksgiving dinner for these Aussies, and we wish you the very best of Thanksgiving too.