[Photos] UK 26 - The Ferry to Orkney

[moonvoice]

I have never been on a car ferry before, and Glen and I were both pretty nervous (I think it's one thing to do it with your own car, and quite another to do it with a hire car). Tbh, boarding was super easy on the ship Hamnavoe which was a very nice ship, and honestly the whole process was extremely smooth and easy from start to finish.

Because I get pretty bad motion sickness, I ended up staying on the outer deck once we took off and hadn't really dressed for this. (I was warmly dressed, but that wasn't really enough to deal with the Firth between Orkney and Scotland, and my hands went numb as I took photos). Even so, it was worth it. The trip is fairly short (only about 45 minutes from Thurso to Stromness), we had a mild swell on the way there (and even milder on the way back) and it was relatively quiet on the ship as we were travelling in on Easter Sunday.

Orkney was honestly like something out of a Studio Ghibli movie, and I've never had that experience before. I'm sure I will attempt to explain some of it in the next few posts and I'm sure I'll fail to convey it, but anyway, here is the trip in.



This mild fallstreak hole phenomenon appearing in the altocumulus made me extremely happy.




Leaving Scotland







Approaching Orkney







I found it amusing to track our trip across the ocean on Google Maps. Small things amuse me. (Likewise opening Pokemon Go to watch my little guy walk across water.)



The main lounge on the ship.



Kittiwakes flew alongside us for much of the journey.



The island of Hoy





The jutting stone pillar is the Old Man of Hoy





Leaving the Old Man of Hoy behind as we approach Mainland



Homesteads appear.



If we saw anyone on the coast, they generally waved.



And here we have Stromness. We sadly spent no time here (except to get our car from the ferry and drive away from it, which is a shame as it is a very picturesque place (though that seems pretty typical for Orkney, honestly). If/when I go back, I'd like to spend longer in Orkney overall.




Next up...ho boy, we're going to be in Orkney for a while, aren't we.

Comments

[cmcmck]

So,so familiar!

I'm so glad you made it to Orkney- we're just back from a couple of weeks there ourselves! :o)

Stromness is a delight- indeed, if we hadn't fetched up living here in Shropshire we'd have fetched up living there.

[wendelah1]

So beautiful.

[halfmoon_mollie1]

all your photos from the trip have been extraordinary. sounds as though it was the trip of a lifetime! How fortunate you took it.

[moonvoice]

I'm so glad we made it too, it was the highest priority on my list of places to visit, and I'm glad I was well enough to do things, but also glad everything was so close that I didn't have to tax myself too much. Next time I'd like to make it to some of the other islands though!

(And I confess to looking at real estate prices while I was there kldsajfds but sadly it is not viable with my health stuff).

[moonvoice]

I wish I could show it to everyone in person!

[moonvoice]

It really was the trip of a last time and I'm so glad that we did it. While it was exhausting, I won't experience anything quite like this again. <3

[silverjackal]

All of your photos of Orkney are magical, thank you for sharing them. I will hopefully make my own way there at some point, and until then I appreciate the opportunity to live vicariously. As a species of thanks (though the melancholic tone does not match your photos) I thought I would link you to this thematically appropriate song which you may not be familiar with. :)

[moonvoice]

I hope you do make it there one day (though I also think Shetland and the Faroe Islands would be equally incredible in their own ways; Glen is still determined to go to the Faroe Islands one day).

And ooo thank you for the song! O.O

[silverjackal]

It's great that Glenn finds these remote northern places wondrous. Has he considered Norway, Sweden, Lithuania etc.? You're welcome re: the Loreena McKennitt song. Also when you mention the Faroes I must recommend recommend other music sung in Faroese.