Glorious

Of course today was going to be our best weather…I had to stay home to be on zoom interviews all morning then be in on an important budget call at lunchtime, but nevertheless the afternoon and evening were gorgeous.
The day had started with a shock…hearing about the sudden death of someone I’d only met a couple of weeks ago and had a lovely conversation with about future plans for potential working together. He had been lovely and so positive and interested in supporting young people and the arts. What a loss…
Interviews went very well, as did the budget call, so I was feeling upbeat as I drove up to meet S in Kirkwall where she’d gone by bus (and chat with the locals) for a mooch around. We drove to Deerness for a walk to see The Gloup, a geological feature a bit like the various geos we’ve seen elsewhere around the coast. More cloud here so we decided not to do the walk to the ruined castle and instead drove back over to the west, stopping at Loch Hannay since the views were so stunning across the water and green rolling hills, with the Ring of Brodgar stones piercing the sky. So much history here, and we talked about what influences decisions to start excavations.
An early dinner at Hamnavoe restaurant in Stromness. Very delicious and quickly became packed out…we shared scallops and tempura vegetable starters, then had miso cod and featherblade beef, then both had a dark chocolate cremeux for dessert. Yum!
It was still sunny when we left the restaurant so we decided to take in one of the last places we wanted to see…Yesnaby cliffs, Whilst the wind up there was really strong the views were amazing, with the hills of Hoy, huge expanse of sparkling sea, and spectacular cliffs. The surface at the top was strewn with small rocks over massive horizontal slabs that made up the cliffs. Can just imagine the ancient people seeing the potential of this kind of natural quarry to get their building materials.
It didn’t feel as sunset-ty as it looks in the photo, but this captures the beauty.and another time would be great to follow the coastal path for a walk to see the various stacks and other rock formations further along,
Drove home, still in bright sunshine, with the island looking its best, then did a bit of packing up and watched some TV.