Sanday (Day 842)

Today started a lot earlier than normal, and I was out with the dogs before 6am. The weather was showing a distinct improvement on yesterday, which was a major relief.
Back home, and after a quick breakfast and loading of stuff and things into the car, my beautiful wife and I corralled the woofers in the car and headed to town to catch the ferry.
Today we visited one of the other 70 odd islands in the Orkney archipelago, namely Sanday. The boat heads north from Kirkwall and takes about 90 minutes to get to Sanday. The crossing was smooth and uneventful, and as we got closer to the destination , the sky was clearing and the sun was beginning to poke through. There was a clear defining line between cloud and clear sky.
Off the ferry, HV dropped me off at a customer to look at the possibility of doing a biomass boiler install. The couple I spoke to are lovely and I had a good look around their house and discussed things over coffee for a couple of hours. The return ferry wasn't until after 6pm, so HV and I had plenty of time for a bit of an explore.
What a beautiful island! We started off by visiting Quoyness chambered cairn (see the extra). I always enjoy being able to go to a Neolithic site which has no custodian, is unlocked, and has no admission fee. The tomb has been completely excavated, and the remains of at least 12 people were found in pits below the floor. A modern addition to the cairn is a skylight window allowing light into the middle of the cairn so that the structure can be seen. I am always left in awe at how these places were built, entirely by hand, using such massive stones.
After the cairn, and a wander on the beautiful beach below it, we drove along casually until we found a nice spot for a picnic in the sunshine. The dogs spent their time crashing through the undergrowth looking for rabbits whilst we enjoyed the view, the peace and quiet, and the glorious sunshine.
After lunch we drove further north to the car park at the end of the track to Start Point Lighthouse. Unfortunately the tide was in and we couldn't get to the lighthouse, but it looked fabulous under the clear blue sky. Have a look at it in the extra.
Back to the car and south, then west and north again to Whitewall Bay, which is today's blip. Imagine the scene. Saturday afternoon, on a warm, sunny day and a beautiful beach with not a soul on it. Heavenly! We sat next to the beach and watched as the dogs dug massive holes in the dunes trying to catch rabbits, then had a wander on the beach, took pictures and left footprints, see the third extra.
Today has been exceptional, and reminded me of the reasons I love this special place so very much. It has been all the more fabulous to have the company of my beautiful wife to explore a place we have never been.
Hopefully I will return to Sanday to fit a boiler. If not, we had a great day.