Whatever the weather
Aug. 3rd, 2025 08:47 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shewhomustThe plan, since D. had invited us to celebrate his birthday in Aberdeenshire, was to sneak in a week in Orkney beforehand (because once you are in Aberdeenshire, you might as well); then we could catch the overnight ferry on Monday, and be with D. for the morning of his birthday. And a very good plan it is, too: except that as the week goes on, warnings about Monday night's weather become less and less encouraging. We currently have an amber warning for storm Floris (who sounds less like a storm than the hero of a Victorian fairy tale) and a message from Northlink Ferries, saying they'll be in touch in the morning.
Perhaps it's because this was on our minds that we were so easily discouraged from island-hopping today. We'd planned to take the ferry to Shapinsay as foot passengers, but the forecast was for rain, it was raining when we woke up, and pottering about doing nothing in particular is less fun in the rain. So we made alternative plans.
Of course, by the time we had lingered over breakfast just a little too late to take the ferry we had intended, the sky was clearing, and it went on to be another beautiful day. But never mind, all the better to enjoy our drive to the South Isles. We started with a visit to the Italian Chapel, which continues to charm, despite the presence of Other People (some of them in groups, with guides). Then across the sequence of Churchill Barriers, causeways slung across the darkly glittering sea, ringed by low green hills on all sides, and just the shadow of the higher hills beyond. We stopped in St Margaret's Hope, and saw that The Creel is on the market again - and so is the Old Bank House, across the road. Such stuff as dreams are made on... The Community Garden is still looking good, too; and we lunched on lentil soup at Robertsons.
We weren't quite ready to call it a day, so we detoured to the beach at Scapa:
Bright still, if not as bright, and getting breezier; those clouds must mean something. We'll see what tomorrow brings.
Perhaps it's because this was on our minds that we were so easily discouraged from island-hopping today. We'd planned to take the ferry to Shapinsay as foot passengers, but the forecast was for rain, it was raining when we woke up, and pottering about doing nothing in particular is less fun in the rain. So we made alternative plans.
Of course, by the time we had lingered over breakfast just a little too late to take the ferry we had intended, the sky was clearing, and it went on to be another beautiful day. But never mind, all the better to enjoy our drive to the South Isles. We started with a visit to the Italian Chapel, which continues to charm, despite the presence of Other People (some of them in groups, with guides). Then across the sequence of Churchill Barriers, causeways slung across the darkly glittering sea, ringed by low green hills on all sides, and just the shadow of the higher hills beyond. We stopped in St Margaret's Hope, and saw that The Creel is on the market again - and so is the Old Bank House, across the road. Such stuff as dreams are made on... The Community Garden is still looking good, too; and we lunched on lentil soup at Robertsons.
We weren't quite ready to call it a day, so we detoured to the beach at Scapa:
Bright still, if not as bright, and getting breezier; those clouds must mean something. We'll see what tomorrow brings.
