The Shag Beat Us To It!

Here comes the sun again at 3:30 precisely as if turned on by clockwork and the world  is transformed into colour.
At 8am it was two tone grey but the sea was like a mirror with not a breath of wind.
There were 10 of us ladies in the water and there was singing and chatter as we ploughed our way to the buoy and beyond.

Coffee was taken in a café at the pier and although it wasn’t exactly Söderberg it was gratefully downed before a gentle stroll round to the other side of Hamnavoe and  back to sit in the  Library overlooking the harbour.

I did an anti-clockwise  walk round the Ness after lunch down a deserted path with not a sound other than the dweeb dweeb call of the oyster catchers in the fields. Nearer the shore there came the sound of the tidal race between Hoy and Stromness.
I sat on a stone seat to watch the ferry from Scrabster round Hoy into Hamavoe before arriving at the harbour. I was joined by a 90year old lady out for a walk. She had been a nurse back in the day at the old RIE and she was interested to know that I lived there. She would be amazed to see it now.

 There are 2 cruise ships docked in Kirkwall today with a maximum of 6,500 people possibly disembarking to see the sights. Tomorrow there are 3 cruise ships docking and so it goes on relentlessly every day. The population of Kirkwall is 10,000. I know I’m scarred for life by the glut of tourists in Edinburgh so I hope Orkney thinks  it’s all worthwhile- at least there are no case pullers to contend with.