The Long Way Round - 2018

A prison is a sad, frightening place.  Such a waste of lives.  So many failed people, some stupid, some devious, some vicious, some psychopathic, some innocent. Peterhead Old Prison A visit to Peterhead Prison museum is a salutary experience and well worth the entrance fee.  It housed grade A prisoners, the most dangerous.   The old prison is now open to walk around; cells, halls, kitchens, toilets, laundry, hospital.  It's well presented, even to the smells of a dirty cell protest (no photograph taken)! On the way out, we met with Jackie Stuart, prison warder, once a hostage of rioting prisoners on the prison roof.    He was in the hands of some very hard and nasty men, until rescued by a neat SAS operation.    Jackie is now old, not a big man but still exudes a quiet and strong confidence. Stretched Steel Netting Against Missiles and Suicides A Sad Place To Spend A Life And so back to the outside world and, onc...

On Tuesday 21st August we left Stromness for the last time and had a cold and blustery sail against a SE wind to Long Hope on the island of South Walls, attached to Hoy. On the Visitor's Mooring at Long Hope From here, we could wait for the best time to set out into the notorious Pentland Firth (the water between Scotland and the Orkneys) with its ferocious tides.  This had loomed large in my imagination for quite some time and the Pilot Book had plenty of sobering advice to ensure we paid careful attention. "One should expect the unexpected.  The change from smooth to broken water can occur very quickly.  Any swell opposing the tide causes such severe conditions that the safety of a small vessel can be in jeopardy.  The hatches and scuttles of all yachts should be secured and the safety harnesses of the crew should be properly attached before the passage is started.  If any of these conditions are present, the passage should not be undertaken: swell, s...

On 14th August our son, Dan and his girlfriend, Andrea made the long journey to spend a week with us on Orkney. They took the overnight train from London and then the ferry from mainland Scotland.  And, importantly, they brought a car with them (borrowed from Andrea's Scottish grandfather). So we were properly mobile and since the weather was rather blowy, we spent most of the week travelling round the Orkney sights by car. Dan and Andrea with us at The Ring of Brodgar We repeated some of the places we'd liked best from previous visits but added these: The Tomb of the Eagles, South Ronaldsay Maeshowe Tomb - no inside photos were allowed :( Maeshowe was said to be 5000 years old (like all the other Neolithic sites we visited) however the stonework was far superior to the other tombs and the space inside was tall and much larger.  We wondered if this was really the same age at those others...? The Brough of Birsay  This Brough dated from 1100 an...

Doug had been wanting to see whether our hull was growing weed, as he feared this might be slowing us down. So, when we saw another boat using the harbour wall to dry out against, we went to take a look and decided to do the same the following day. This is all OK if you have a long, supportive keel like the other boat...  But we have a fin keel that could easily tip us over if not adequately supported.  So, having tied alongside the wall at high water, we then proceeded to run a myriad of lines ashore to support both ends of the boat, stop the bow or stern rotating and hold the mast firmly towards the shore (no tipping away from the wall). We tied up to the useful rings on the quayside as well as to the railings running along the edge. In the end, we decided there was no room to fit any more ropes to the shore! Just to be certain, we shifted our 2 spare water containers and the heavy life raft to the inboard side of the boat.  We must lean towards the shore and no...

We had been encouraged to visit the upcoming Orkney County Show by the berthing master from Kirkwall Marina.  He had told us that it was a great way to view a slice of Orkney life, as everyone would be there from across the islands. So, spurred on by his advice, we took our places in a packed bus from Stromness to Kirkwall, along with a rowdy group of revellers from Scotland who seemed to be looking forward to spending their time in the show's beer tent. A Fine Example of Orkney Cattle Being Led Past The Show Judges Two Immaculately Turned Out Shire Horses The Closely Watched Contest You Can Buy Your Own Wind Turbine Here Too The show was very well attended and demonstrated to us how important farming is to the islanders.

There are many large ship wrecks, lying on the bottom of Scapa Flow, some quite close to the surface.   These are mostly naval ships and it is a little bit eerie, sailing quietly over them.   Some are the last of the German High Seas fleet, scuttled in 1919.   Others, such as Royal Oak were lost in action and contain the remains of hundreds of sailors.   Parliament has now designated the latter as war graves and this has stopped the Admiralty from their previous practice of cutting them up for scrap.   Personally, I’d be happy for my bones to be scattered about a bit, in the interests of recycling, but others seem to feel differently. Continuing the World War II theme, we sailed from St Marys Holm, west across Scapa Flow, to moor at Lyness.   We had the huge dock mostly to ourselves, save for the occasional fish farm workboat, who were happy to share their extensive dock with us. Rapport Alongside - Lyness Harbour Lyness used to be a huge ...

We set off from Stromness for a few days to explore Scapa Flow and the surrounding coastline. The strong Scapa tides surged us on our way and we had a good sail with fair winds to St Marys Holm on the furthest side.  We picked up the one and only visitor's buoy (no other takers as usual) and we settled down for the evening. Next morning, we rowed ashore to see the impressive "Churchill Barriers" that were built between 1940 and 1944 to protect the Royal Navy fleet within Scapa Flow from attack by enemy submarines.  The barriers closed off the eastern entrance into Scapa Flow by joining together the islands between Orkney Mainland and South Ronaldsay.   They consist of mighty concrete blocks with a roadway on top. Doug on the Churchill Barrier Between Lamb Holm and Mainland The project to build the barriers required a huge labour force and it was decided to draft in 1300 Italian prisoners of war, captured in North Africa, to do most of the work. Churchill as ...

We were keen to return to Stromness and there seemed to be a suitable weather window ahead. So we made the short journey from Papa Westray to the south end of Westray and anchored in Rapness Bay for the night, ready for an early start the next day. The winds were too light for sailing, so we motored across a glassy sea, with mist obscuring our view of the nearby land.  The conditions seemed to have a strange effect on the sea birds who clustered in large groups on the water's surface .  I counted 41 puffins to starboard of us at one time, just sitting together on the water.  We were used to seeing a few birds together but nothing like this. The following day we set off in a fresh SW wind that soon rose to F6.  We were ready for a windy sail back to Stromness but had no idea quite what hard work this trip was going to be! For 5 hours we toiled to round Birsay island, where we could at last turn South with a free wind.  We had forgotten how hard it is to ma...

The little island of Holm of Papa, off Papa Westray is only about half a mile long.  However, this little island has lots to see.  At one end are the ruins of houses, at the other a particularly large cairn, with 14 burial cells.  Once again, these ruins are about 5000 years old, sweeping us back in time.  In between are some very indignant seabirds. We paddled ashore, past the inquisitive seals, and landed on the slippery seaweed covered rocks. Common Seal, Keeping Watch Although ruined, the house was clearly similar to the one we saw the previous day, at Knap of Howar, nearby on Papa Westray. Dwelling With Typical Partitions Arctic Terns are pretty little birds but that doesn't stop them getting aggressive when they feel threatened. Rosie Dive-bombed by Arctic Tern As usual with these burial cairns, the top has been capped with concrete to protect it.  In this roof are basic skylights and an entrance hatch. Holm of Papa Westray...

From Stronsay to Papa Westray was a mere 15 miles, sailed in mainly light conditions.   This took us to a beautiful, almost deserted bay, tucked inside Holm of Papa (a little island) and surrounded by lands rich in ancient history.   Again, the Orkney Council had provided a visitors buoy, free of charge.   Again, we were the only yacht around and had the buoy and the bay to ourselves, except for a couple of local boats on their own moorings. Rapport from Papa Westray looking towards Holm of Papa The water was beautifully clear and the seaweed strands could be seen, growing from sandy bed up to the surface.  Sand eels swam in small shoals and velvet crabs wandered on the bottom. Papa Westray Looking SE and Down Into The Water Ashore, we admired the local livestock. Strange Local Sheep Near South Wick aerodrome (shortest commercial flight in the world, about 2 minutes to Westray, fastest recorded flight time being 55 seconds) was the ruins of a 5...