Orkney and North Coast - Day 2

In the morning we drove into Stromness and parked near the ferry terminal. We walked through the port. The boat we'd came on last night, MV Hamnavoe, was just coming back in from its morning trip.

The plan was to do a walk uphill out of town, go to a reservoir, then circle back to the south end of the town.

First we had a quick look at the main street in Stromness, it's paved with flagstones.

We walked to the top of Brinkies Brae, with good views back down to the port.

We tried to carry on to the reservoir, but found our way blocked by roadworks wherever we tried. It seems they're laying a data cable across the whole bottom of the island, and many paths are temporarily blocked.

The only option was to head for the coast, then walk back round into Stromness. The weather alternated with wind, showers and sunshine.

We saw a bit more of the town as we walked all the way through it. 

We bought some cakes and Orkney fudge from the bakers.

There are lots of neolithic sites all over the Orkney Islands, not just the famous ones like Skara Brae. We drove to Unstan Chambered Cairn which is just up a track not far from Stromness. It's a burial cairn estimated to be about 5,000 years old, older than the pyramids.

You can crawl inside it.

From there we went to our next wild camping spot, a car park with toilets nearby at Skaill Bay. We went for a short walk onto the beach.

For dinner we had pasta with pesto, bacon and cherry tomatoes.

Orkney and North Coast - Day 1

We left the house in the campervan about 11am, and drove up the A9. We stopped just past the Kessock Bridge at Inverness to give Oscar a short walk. We drove on to Thurso, and went to Blue Door Burgers for our dinner, sitting in. The burgers and chips were pretty good, Shirley had the Classic and Scott had a Slaw Dawg (with coleslaw).

After dinner we checked in for the ferry at Scrabster and joined the queue. The ferry was due to leave at 7pm and started boarding about 6.30.

We left Oscar in the van as it's only a 90 minute crossing to Stromness. We went out on deck for a bit but it was quite windy, so we mainly sat inside.

As we passed the island of Hoy we could see the sea stack known as the Old Man of Hoy.

For our first night we stopped at a wild camping spot just outside Stromness, next to the Links Battery, a World War installation.

Cowal Peninsula - Day 4

We packed up and left the site, and drove a short distance down the road to the Kilmun Arboretum. We had a walk round there, where there are lots of trees from various parts of the world that have been planted here over the last 100 years or so.

We continued round the coast road until it turned inland and went up over the top of a pass and back down to the main road.

We drove into Dunoon and went to a baker for rolls and pastries for lunch.

After this we drove home, and of course later had our takeaway curry to celebrate Shirley's birthday.

Cowal Peninsula - Day 3

Today we visited Benmore Botanic Garden, which is within walking distance just up the road. We've actually been here before, about 10 years ago. It's part of the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh organisation.

It's set on a hillside plot and has a wide variety of different regional habitats. It seems to specialise in rhododendrons and various pine trees.

It has an avenue of giant redwood trees.

Benmore House has some large rhododendrons around it.

We went in the fernery.

We spent a good few hours walking round all the site, it's very impressive and colourful at this time of year.

Another visitor pointed out a goldcrest to us.

After leaving we did a walk outside the gardens, along the banks of the River Eachaig and the River Massan, before heading back to the campsite.

We watched the wildlife for a bit. Oscar is of course transfixed by the squirrels.

Later for dinner we had tuna pasta.

Cowal Peninsula - Day 2

It's Shirley's birthday today, so we decided to do a really tough climb up Beinn Mhor, the mountain that gives its name to the nearby Benmore Botanic Garden.

First we drove up Glen Massan as far as the public is allowed, and parked at the parking spot there.

We then walked along the road for a bit, seeing some highland cows and calves on the way.

We then started the climb, first up a newly surfaced stony forest track which wasn't very easy to walk on.

It eventually became a more pleasant path through the woods, then emerged onto the hillside. It remained steep all the way though. At the top there were good views all around.

We found some shelter from the wind and had our lunch there, before making our way back down the same route.

On the way back we heard our first cuckoos of the year.

Back at the site the owner came over to us and suggested we change pitch to a better one, which backed on to a gorge where there were bird and squirrel feeders on the trees. We saw loads of birds and up to about six red squirrels at a time.

Later we had some prosecco to celebrate Shirley's birthday, and quiche, salad and new potatoes for dinner. (We plan to have a takeaway curry to celebrate properly when we get home.)