A day in town

Spent the day in Kirkwall and Stromness yesterday. The boat pictures are of the “Golden Marianna” which is in service to Graemsay and Hoy until our own ferry comes back from it’s annual testing and refit. Fortunately there was little wind yesterday as getting on and off the ferry requires to hands and some agility, so not handy if you have shopping.

It was a bright Spring morning when I set out but the weather changed at lunch time to dark clouds, heavy squally showers and the temperature dropped. Fortunately I had done most of my shopping by then and was heading back to Stromness to meet friends for lunch.

As the weather was poor yesterday I seemed to work my way around the various cafes – starting off at Trenabies in Kirkwall for the best crispy bacon rolls in Orkney (in my opinon anyway), Coffee at the St Magnus café across from the Cathedral and ending up with a late lunch in Julia’s Bistro in Stromness.

However I enjoyed pottering around a few shops, including my favourite "Scarth Centre" to get shower sealant, rodent control measures for the hen house and some gardening tools, then on to catch up with friends. Since the end of February I’ve only been working three days a week but that increases to five again next week with the start of a new project. So my trips “abroad” will be curtailed a little, though I will still probably make weekly visits to town. But I shall have to get back to better planning of visits and shopping again.

In May our ferry schedules switch to “summer time” and we get boats every day including all weekends so that makes things easier. We also get a mid-morning boat at 10.45 straight to Stromness which is very popular with islanders. I love that boat as it gives me a chance to have a leisurely breakfast before heading off to town, rather than the alarm going off at 7am to catch the 8.25 ferry.

Anyway after a rather rainy day yesterday the evening brightened up and there was a beautiful sunset. Below is a photo of the Hamnavoe ferry returning to Stromness from Scrabster (North of Scotland) just as the sun was setting (click on photo to see larger image).