Fair Isle

Fair Isle

We stayed a couple of nights, walked around, had a meal at the hostel - the island is owned by the National Trust and more or less run as a nature reserve. They have wind generators but a lot of power is shipped in in diesel tanks.

Fair Isle

There is only 1 harbour on Fair Isle - it is difficult to see the entrance when approaching from the South, it was dark and windy when we arrived, this is the morning after, fortunately the directional light which shows the way in is left on all the time. The locals were friendly and a gentleman called Barry took our lines and got a couple of large fenders to keep us off the wall.

view from Stronsay harbour

Papa Stronsay

It was still blowing NE after a few days so we moved round to Whitehouse in Stronsay, where we anchored between Stronsay and Papa Stronsay. This is Papa Stronsay, supposed to be one of the holiest islands, occupied by Transalpine Redemptorist monks (who, it seems used to be based on the Isle of Sheppey, near by Kaemara's home port) .

Scapa Flow, Orkney

Mainland, Orkney

Kirkwall, Mainland, Orkney

nice weather as we arrive in Orkney

north sea common dolphin

A pod of around 30 dolphins joined us for a couple of hours.

orkney

Tough passage up the North Sea - 740 miles logged between Harwich and Kirkwall - beating the whole way up the North Sea, always overcast, occasional rain and fog, cold. We stopped for a couple of days on the Humber to take a rest, before pushing on.

The Orkney Isles are beautiful with many good walks and lots of ancient sites. There is plenty to do here to while away the hours whilst waiting for a change in the weather. We decided that the hard work was over when we got here and that from now on we'd be cruising, i.e. not beating into a Northerly force 5 or 6, which is what's on offer today, our next stop should be Fair Isle, en-route to Shetland.