A little bit more

As Sian intimated in her comment to my previous post, Rousay is a beautiful island.  I'll let the following photographs do all the talking ...

The view from our walk

More Rousay flowers ... just like little cotton wool balls

This massive stone is in a field on a hill side looking out over the northern islands

Gods of the Earth   Gods of the Sea

Weathering is an accepted part of life in Orkney, but I think this little fisherman's shed had gone beyond repair

 

Rousay in July

I've been away from my blog for far too long!  Even though Orkney can have up to 18 hours of sunlight at midsummer, there still don't seem to be enough hours in the day.  The Biker Man and I love the life here.  The countryside and coast is accessible and the wildlife is stunning.  I'll do my best to give a flavour of some of the things we have done over the last couple of months.  It will take a few blog entries to catch up ....

Just a perfect day

We took a trip over to Rousay for the day.  The weather was perfect and we managed to get a long walk in.  Here are some of the pictures  ....

On the ferry and leaving Tingwall

Further out ...

Reaching Rousay

Rousay is one of the inner isles to the north of Orkney.  We often view it when walking on the beach at Evie.  It is a beautiful island and from the North you can look across the sea to Westray and Sanday.  We managed to get quite a few lovely photographs.  I won't post too many today, and will save them for my next blog, but here are just a few of them.

A calm sea to the north of the island

Making do ...

Rousay wild flowers

 

A "Bonxie" (Great Skua) flying by ...

Longer days and lots to do

June was a busy month in the Learner Gardener household.  I had something personal in my life I had to complete, and this has taken most of my spare time over the last few weeks.  When I could, I put a little time aside and the Biker Man and I would spend a quiet hour or two out and about in the countryside and on Orkney's beautiful beaches.  We spent the solstice evening at Birsay, walking along the coastline and taking photographs at 10.30 pm.  We didn't stay up as late as Life on a Small Island but hope to make it to midnight one of these years.  Having to get up early for work put paid to doing the midnight watch this year.  However I think a good many people were intending to stay up late, we left quite a few people behind enjoying the view as we left Birsay that evening.

Barony Mill, Birsay

A couple of weeks ago we spent an afternoon out at Barony Mill near Birsay.  This is still a working mill in the winter months, producing beremeal and  flour for a local bakery and shops.  In the summer it is opened up for visitors. Beremeal flour is also available for purchase from the mill.  Of course I came away with some of its fine oatmeal and beremeal to try out in some Orkney recipes.  More can be found about Barony Mill here.

We had a wonderful guided tour which culminated in the setting off of the waterwheel which set in motion the millstones and the machinery of the mill.  These are some of the photo's from our visit.

As you can see it was a beautiful sunny day

An old mill stone

 Some of the ironwork

The waterwheel in action ... and the lovely little waterway the water ends up in.

I wish I'd managed to get some internal shots that were good enough to post, but I was so engaged with listening to the excellent tour guide that I forgot to get some photos until near the end.  Then they were so rushed that they are not worth publishing.  We will be going again though, as it is a wonderful place to look around. 

Spitfire over Orkney

The PT462 Spitfire flying over Kirkwall Harbour

 

We had a rare treat this week.  Probably a one off event that will never be repeated.  We had an air display on Thursday evening featuring two biplanes and a Spitfire.  What a wonderful evening.  The weather was perfect and the visibility couldn't have been better.  I've never seen so many people around the bay.  Visitors and locals alike all turned out to see the display which was put on with the support of local businesses.  My little digital camera is getting a bit long in the tooth, and can manage just 4 megapixels, but I am really delighted that I managed to get one close up image.  

Kirkwall is coming alive with visitors and the summer sunshine is highlighting the colours of the island.  Below are just a few more images from last week.

Small boats in Kirkwall harbour

The cruise ship Vistamar

A fishing boat returning to harbour

Lobster (or possibly crab?) pots on the harbour side

Orkney Folk Festival - how to party Orcadian style

We nearly didn't manage to get tickets to the folk festival.  Just days after they went on sale to the general public, many of the shows were already sold out.  I was lucky to get tickets for a couple of the late night sessions, starting at 10.30 pm.  Now given that I'm an 'early to bed, early to rise' type of person it was going to be a real challenge for me to stay awake - not only until the shows ended but simply until 10.30 when the shows started.

The Biker Man and I have never been to a folk festival - and we didn't want to miss the opportunity now that we are living on Orkney.  Next year though, I'm going to be queuing at the door of the box office the day it opens.  What a brilliant time we had at both events.

The highlight of the weekend was 'The Chair'.  Such a huge collective talent on stage - they had everyone foot tapping, clapping or dancing from the moment they opened their set.  Absolutely brilliant.  Orcadian's really know how to party.

More about The Chair can be found on their website The Chair - Stomp Music from Orkney

The youngsters are comming out to play

Everywhere we look there are young animals.  We've had lambs in the fields for about a month, skipping, gathering in little gangs and generally misbehaving.  The landscape is now being filled with cattle.  Baby calves totter by their mother's side or sleep in little nursery groups in the sunshine.  And now we are beginning to see young wildlife.  For the last few days we've had a young hare in the garden, often nibbling on the dandelion leaves just below the window.  The evenings are light until quite late now and we are able to go for long walks.  It's still a little chilly though.

The weather has been variable but it has produced a constantly changing light and, as you can see, the landscape is becoming greener and more lush.  Summer is on its way.
 

Sunshine ... it makes everyone content

What a different a little sunshine and warmth makes.  This week Kirkwall has suddenly boomed with visitors.  The cruise liners are now calling every week and the main street is full of people looking in shops or simply enjoying the atmosphere.  The tour guides are starting to get busy again.  Above is a photograph of St Magnus Cathedral with a tour group just outside the door. For Orkney, you could call this crowded.

Round the corner at the Bishop's Place it was a little quieter. Oh, and by the way we have more trees than many people think on Orkney.  In Kirkwall, Stromness and Finstown there are a number of small rookeries.  The birds are quite raucous and over the last few weeks have been nesting.  It's been quite an art to avoid being hit by 'little presents' as you pass by.  

Early mornings

It's just after 6am, the sun is shining and I've already been awake for 2 hours.  The light mornings are beginning to affect my body clock.  I must order a pair of blackout curtains for the bedroom or I'm going to be awake even earlier as the length of the day expands.

Happily, the benefit of waking so early is that I can get my exercise routine out the way and spend little more time online.  

Outside the birds are chattering away.  Below are a couple of photographs to show what it was like earlier on.  As you can see we are getting more and more cattle in the fields.  Many of them have young calves with them.

Not a cloud in the sky.

Long sunny days - weather to make me smile

The Biker Man is at work this weekend, so yesterday I took myself off to Stromness.  Mainly it was to purchase some tickets from the Orkney Folk Festival box office but that was only an excuse.  I just wanted to meander up and down the main street, popping in and out of the shops.
 

Stomness - a view up the main street

I love Stromness, it's quirky and there's always something to see up and down the narrow alleyways.  Every now and then you catch a glimpse of the harbour, or the islands across the water, through the gaps between the houses.

Glimpses between the houses

The streets are narrow and every time a car drives through you have to step back against a wall or into a gap or alleyway between the houses.  It's the sort of street that makes you stroll rather than hurry.  The architecture and style of the area is interesting, so you are always looking up at roof tops and down into tiny little gardens.  Last year the gardens were full of hanging baskets and pots of flowers sat beside doorways.  Already people are growing small plants in pots in sunny corners.

I think it's a shame that so many visitors appear to drive off the ferry and straight out of Stromness.  I'm sure that they catch up with the town later in their visit, but if they don't then they've missed a gem.  There are some wonderful craft shops down the main street and I spent a lovely morning getting ideas for birthday and Christmas presents.  I ended up at the library and left with three recipe books to look at for inspiration.  It doesn't really matter that I've got more than 200 recipe books on my own book shelves.  These were different ones, and there's always room for another idea or two. 


I spent the afternoon pottering and putting some more rhubarb in the freezer.  We are going to really appreciate this taste of spring next winter.  Rhubarb crumble and custard.  Lovely.


The days are getting longer and after dinner we decided to take advantage of the beautiful sunny evening and took ourselves off to Evie for a walk on the beach.  As we left the beach at 9pm, the sun was just setting.

Our shadows on the beach

Looking across to Rousay

Orkney Weather. Orkney Colours.

Evening colours on Orkney

We've had sunshine.  We've had cold wind.  We've had hail.  We've had snow.  And that is all in the space of one day.  Even in the space of half an hour at times.  It's never boring, weatherwise, on Orkney.

Many of the seeds I've planted are refusing to pop their heads up, and I don't blame them.  This week we've had Artic winds bringing colder weather to the islands.  Yesterday I looked across to the hills on Hoy to see them snow covered and glittering in the sunshine.  Half an hour later they were capped with clouds.

What the changing weather does bring is a constantly moving palette of colours in the landscape and sky.  Absolutely beautiful. 

 

Playing hookie - going to Rackwick for a walk on the beach

It's been a little busy in the Learner Gardener household just lately.  The rhubarb is growing faster than I can pick it and I need to get some more beds dug for some of the seeds I've been buying.  I'd like to get a herb bed established this year.  We've also had one or two days of nice weather.  Which in this household means a trip out to see some of the local views.  We always play hookie when the weather is good.  Just over a week ago we went across to Hoy and, after visiting the museum at Lyness (well worth a trip I must say) we spent a lovely afternoon at Rackwick.  We had two guests with us and had a lovely time on the beach.  Here are some of the photo's of our trip.

 The ferry from Houton to Lyness - blustery and chilly but a nice sunny day

 Looking across at Hoy from the ferry

Rackwick - it's difficult to show the scale of this beautiful bay from this photograph

However, 'J' took her trainers and socks off and walked down the beach - what look like pebbles are actually multi-coloured boulders - stunning

Closer to the cliffs

The other side of the bay

The Bothy at Rackwick

These images don't really show just how beautiful the place and the day was.  We had the beach to ourselves until two surfers joined us.  Who, by the way were incredibly hardy given the temperature at the time!  We watched the birds nesting on the cliffs.  Watched Bonxies (the Orcadian name for the Great Skua) flying over the beach and inland over the moorland. A little bird (and I still don't know what it was) followed us on our walk down past the small river to the beach, chit chatting at us all the way.

Days like this are something special.  The garden just had to wait for another day. 

Start of the Season

The Statsraad Lehmkuhl in Kirkwall

The Orkney Islands attract a large number of cruise ships each summer, and this year will be no exception with 74 cruise and 7 training ship calls expected between April and September.

Last week saw the start of the season with the Statsraad Lehmkuhl arriving in Orkney.  She is a three-masted barque sail training vessel and she looked simply stunning berthed in the harbour.  As you can see in the close up photograph there were four people up in the rigging.  What a view they must have had of Kirkwall in front of them.  Not my idea of fun, I have enough trouble going up the loft ladder!

Hares and Short Eared Owls - nature on the doorstep

Sunshine on the vegetable garden wall

The weather has been inconsistent over the last few days.  We have had sunshine but with a bitterly cold wind and then misty, rainy days with higher temperatures.  Spring is most definitely here though.  The wildlife is focussed on producing the next generation and the days are getting longer.  Over the last few days we have watched great V shape formations of geese travelling northwards over the house, presumably leaving Orkney for the summer.  There are certainly less of them in the fields.

More new arrivals in the flower border

Today we saw a Small Eared Owl hunting low over the paddock, most likely for the Orkney Voles.  At one stage he, or perhaps it was a she, was mobbed by the Common Gulls from the next field.  They are nesting there, along with Oystercaters, Curlews and Lapwings, and don't want any hunting birds near their nests.

Hares are very much in evidence now.  Quite a few come through the garden and often sit not far from the house.  It being mating season, they often chase through the long grass, oblivious to anyone or anything else.  Today we had two hares engaged in a full on boxing fight, and fur was literally flying.  Being able to see these lovely creatures from such a close vantage point is a privilege.  

Lambing has also started and the young are starting to appear in the fields with their mothers.  I haven't been able to take a photo of them yet.  However another sign of spring on Orkney is the cows being let out into the field with their young.  And yes, I have managed to get a photo of one family.

 Contentment

In the summer, the fields on Orkney are full of cattle.  It's quite a sight.