The Orkneys

The Orkneys weren’t on my original list of places I was going to go to but the possibility of meeting up with an ex-colleague planted the idea in my mind. So after thinking about it I decided that I would come over, but I’d come on my bike with a tent to save the cost of bringing Bertha over. Then I saw the weather forecast and thought I would freeze as I’ve only got a summer sleeping bag with me and would probably spend as much on campsites and eating out as I would by bringing the van over so the plan was in place, Me and Bertha were off to the Orkneys for a couple of weeks.
So far I’ve been here for 4 days. 
Day 1: Some military history – the Islands are rich in Naval history in particular with a lot of reminders of what has happened here. Coming in on the ferry you pass a WW2 coastal battery site, concrete blocks now with cows grazing around them so I walked to see them. Then, possibly one of my favourites of the trip so far – The Italian Chapel. Grandad told me about this from one of his visits here so it was on my list even before I read any tourist brochures. Designed and built by two Italian Prisoners of War, it’s a couple of nissen huts which they turned into a beautiful chapel using scrap material and homemade tools. The inside is all painted – those aren’t tiles on the walls…

Day 2: Finally a day with no wind forecast and no rain until the afternoon. Bike time! Within about 10 minutes of leaving Bertha I was soaked, I stopped for an early lunch to try and warm up, before starting the ride back and getting soaked again. Back at the van I took my wet kit off and got into bed to try and warm up a bit. It did mean I saw a good chunk of Orkney mainland though and had a day on my bike which has been fairly impossible with the wind for the last couple of weeks.

Day 3: Rain. I had a walk planned so donned my waterproofs and drove the 10mins to the car park. That was the plan, Bertha had other ideas though and after a couple of minutes, her fan belt was screeching, the oil light came on, along with the battery light, rev counter went to 0 and I figured I’d better stop. It’s raining, I’m in the middle of nowhere and I have no phone signal. I decided to carry on for a minute as I knew there was a shop coming up and hoped nothing would explode in that time! It didn’t and I called my breakdown from the shop. Within an hour and half the islands recovery man came out and towed me into Kirkwall to a garage who said they’d be able to sort her out that day. At first I thought what a rubbish place to break down, but it was actually about the best place of my entire trip so far that it could have happened. Maybe it’s Bertha’s way of reminding me that I was thinking about leaving her on the mainland whilst I came over, but she seems fine now. 

Day 4: Rain, wind, cold. It’s like winter! Today was the first day that I’ve admitted defeat. I did go out for a couple of short walks but it was no fun so I parked up mid afternoon and haven’t been out since. The forecast is slightly better for the next few days so hopefully they’ll be less eventful and the sun might even make an appearance.