Farewell to Stromness

We left Orkney this morning on the 6:30 am ferry to Scrabster.
In my head I was hearing Peter Maxwell Davies's music, 'Farewell to Stromness'' as the mooring ropes were removed and the boat slid away from the pier.

With the stretch of water between the ferry and land increasing, I had that familiar lump in my throat that I get when leaving an island, without knowing if I will ever return.

It has been a wonderful month for me, perhaps not at first so wonderful for his Lordship who exhibited the classic signs of anxiety at being away from his study, but who was won round eventually by the cycle runs through a beautiful and gentle countryside full of lochs and tiny hamlets with cattle standing in buttercupped meadows.

And so our holiday for next year in Stromness has already been booked, although unfortunately not for so long after a compromise was reached. I hope we make it- Deus Volens!

Our journey south was quite challenging: thick haar in Caithness, delays in Inverness-Shire for road resurfacing and torrential rain in Kinross-shire and Fife, but thank goodness no accidents on the A9.
I'm already yearning for the quiet roads of Orkney and my beloved harbour in Stromness.