ISLAND HOPPING Day - Eleven
After some very heavy rain in the early hours, I awoke to a lovely sunny day. I had planned to head home today via another island or two. Jean, the American lady I had met, was also leaving the hostel on Papa Westray and was booked in at the hostel on Westray for a few days. It was a bit of a mass exodus to be honest from the hostel that morning. First the two birdwatchers, who had been camping, and were weighted down with huge rucksacks, set off walking, then I cycled down, held up slightly as a farmer took a herd of cattle down the road for a walk. Jean had managed to get a lift down with her suitcase. We all met up at the pier waiting for the little foot passenger ferry over to Westray.
Next to the harbour is the small golf course for the island, the greens looked rather challenging, the grass and buttercups were about 5 inches high, don't think the ball would roll very well through that lot. The four of us were the only passengers across to Westray. When we landed there was a car waiting to take Jean to the new hostel. I had said to Jean I would have a wander around the island with her till mid afternoon when I would have to leave and cycle down the island to catch the ferry back to Kirkwall. I said I would take a few photos and meet her outside the hostel in half an hour to give her time to dump her things in her room.
The sun was blazing down, the tide was right in and the sea in the Bay of Pierowall was a wonderful greeny blue, and the village looked lovely. This was far too nice a day to go home on. So on a whim, when I reached the hostel I went into the hostel and asked if they had a room for the night. They did, so going home plans abandoned.
Jean had managed to borrow a bike from the hostel, and after a bit of tyre blowing up, and a quick call into one of the very well stocked shops for some supplies for later, we set off to explore the island. Last time I was here the weather was not very nice and I did not really get a good look around.
We decided to head towards Noup Head, at the top north west corner of the island. There are over 5 miles of cliffs here, around two hundred feet high, a lighthouse and a RSPB reserve. Oh, and a few birds. Well a few more than just a few, in fact only St. Kilda beats it for the numbers of nesting seabirds. A survey a few years ago found over 40,000 Guillemots, 1,200 Razorbills, 1,000 Fulmars, and nearly 25,000 pairs of Kittiwakes. Gannets have started to breed here and there are some Puffins as well.
As we cycled up the headland towards the Lighthouse, I silently cursed the motorhome parked outside the gates, it rather spoiled the photos from that side. However my feelings changed slightly as when we got there, the owners came out and offered us a coffee. We went around to the tops of the cliffs, to sit and have dinner, watching the numerous birds flying around and listening to the non-stop din from below. Leaving the bikes at the lighthouse, we set off to walk around the tops of the cliffs, it was very interesting, more so when a huge sea mist came in. It looked really unusual to watch the mist being blown up and over the tops of the huge cliffs and on to the fields. It was very thick and looked like something out of the film the Fog. Eventually we got back to the lighthouse, got the bikes, visited the Noltland Castle and made our way back to the hostel. We rounded the evening of with a lovely meal and a few drinks at the Pierowall Hotel.
Noup Head Lighthouse built in 1898, was the first to use a system of Mercury floatation in the rotation of the revolving carriage.
Islands Visited; Two
Total Visited; Twenty One
Ferries Used; One
Total Used; Twenty Eight
Ports Used; Two
Total Different; Twenty
If you wish to see the rest of todays shots just click on the link below..........
http://365project.org/markp/Alternatively/02-07-2015
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