Day 5 - Orkney Tour, April 17th

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Otter Crossing Sign Outside Kirkwall

We spotted this sign on our first day, but didn't find it again until our last day on Orkney.

Highland Park Distillery

The Northernmost distillery in the world.

Hobbit Outside Highland Park Distillery

We piled up our baggage to make a wind break so that Hobbit wouldn't get cold.

Wendell's Summary of Orkney

Just the highlights here. I’m on a $6 per hour internet connection, so I can’t detail everything that’s happened in the past week. We landed in London just in time to participate in an evacuation of Heathrow. We flew into Kirkwall thinking that our SCUBA gear had been mislaid by BA – we were filing the missing baggage paperwork when it was disgorged by the LoganAir baggage conveyor. Toured Orkney Island within minutes of our arrival and saw the Ring of Brodgar, a ring of standing stones of Stonehenge vintage. Only, we can go up and touch them. The next three days, we dove Scapa Flow and the WWI German wrecks. On the last day of diving, we were dropping on a destroyer wreck in 24 m of water in 4 foot seas and 40 knot winds. I got so nervous/excited that I jumped in the water having forgotten to turn on my air. Hobbit was kind enough to turn it on for me after a few minutes of moderate panic.
Our last day on Orkney Island, we toured the Highland Park distillery (northern most distillery in the world, beating out Scapa Distillery by Ľ mile). We toured Glenfiddich distillery the next day and saw a BUNCH of the highland distilleries, plus toured Balvenie Castle. Concluded that Scotch whisky names are either (a) a noise you make when clearing your throat (e.g. Lgavulin) or a little known internal organ (I’ve got a terrible pain in my Balvenie.) Visited Urquhart Castle on Loch Ness and Culloden Battlefield (Scotland’s Gettysburg.) We’re in London now, dropped off our SCUBA gear at Paul’s [Nixon, our AnimalList host in London] place and toured the city today. Tomorrow, we continue our London tour. Then off to Bath, Portsmouth on Sunday (Royal Navy, Royal Marines museums) Normandy, St. Bernard Hospice, Leonberg (Leonberger dog show), Prague, Munich, Rome, Paris, plus side trips to Transylvania and Pompeii/Herculaneum.

Wendell Adds More Summary of Orkney

Once again, a quick post from an outrageously expensive internet cafe. We had a great time visiting Glenfiddich distillery and Balvenie Castle
Visited Culloden battlefield in Scotland – proof that you can have fine, brave infantry; however without artillery support, a tactician and a logistician, you’re screwed. Culloden is the Scottish Gettysburg, I’d opine.
Loch Ness was entertaining (no Nessie sighting), but Urquhart Castle is worth the trip time. Skip the tour bus; take the city bus (Bluebird line) instead. I’d recommend investigating a Scotland Bus Pass – point-to-point tix are EXPENSIVE.
On the night train down from Scotland, we discovered listed on the menu, Haggis flavored Potato Crisps – Haggis flavored potato chips.
We’ve got lots of Pancho Porn – hundreds of hot, naked teen sheep, including close-ups – some even shaved. Will post to our website shortly.
We’re in Bath now. Tomorrow we visit the Royal Navy Museum and the Royal Marines Museum. After which, we’re off to Normandy to attempt to climb Pont du Hoc and retrace my Uncle Frank’s footsteps 60+ years ago.

Hobbit Writes Up Our Last Day on Orkney

The ground has stopped moving, but now I have a cold. I wouldn’t have been able to dive today anyhow.
Our boat captain has a small farm. They are crofters. We went out to see their farm. They have many lambs that are still being bottle fed. They are so cute! Generic cats in Scotland look different than generic cats in the US. They have little round heads, and they are smaller. They are very appealing.
The fourth day, we were supposed to dive, but I had said I didn’t want to as the water was choppy and I had a cold. But as it turns out, we couldn’t dive because the water was too choppy. It’s not a problem for the diving part; it’s a problem for the boat picking us up and dropping us off part.
Reflecting back on our journey...
Wendell kept advising shopkeepers, etc. that we are visiting from America. I teased him by saying that it was a good thing he was letting them know as our flat American accents wouldn’t give us away.
Wendell has done a marvelous job of arranging for transportation and getting us to where we need to go. He’s much better as asking people for help, etc. than I am. Our B&B host drove us out to Skara Brae and waited for us to finish seeing it. That night, Captain Hazel picked us up in Kirkwall, showed us her farm and then drove us to the ferry. All because Wendell is a social fellow and was willing to ask.
We are traveling through Scotland on the train. Except for the castle perched on the hill and the occasional odd medieval building, it looks like Washington. They even timber farm here, so it looks like Weyerhauser land.
All Scottish guys have the same short haircut. The guy on the train sitting in front of me is snoring loudly. It is funny.

G The Sheep

Hazel Feeds The Deer

Hobbit Feeds The Deer

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