Public Transport in Scotland, a guide for boaters

Tuesday 9^th April

It’s time to go home. Bonzo will be missing us.

Up at 0545, 3 minute walk to ferry terminal.

The Scrabster – Stromness  ferry is, like all things Orkadian, very pleasant.

Here is a picture of Stromness’ very pleasant harbour.

The very pleasant harbour of Stromness

Photo A.J.Edwards

Bus to Inverness.

As we had a 90 minute break in Inverness, we decide to visit a friendly café just nearby.

I think I now understand why Inverness is listed as a World Heritage Site for Atherosclerosis. We had coffees.

Bus to Perth.

Bus to Glasgow.

(At this point we expected to get a very pleasant train to Troon, but, no, the one bus from Glasgow to Troon Marina was due to leave in just ten minutes.)

Bus to Troon.

Chat with very nice staff at Troon Marina.

A lovely dinner, sleep and breakfast in the wonderful South Beach Hotel.

We like the South Beach Hotel in Troon

Wednesday 10^th April

We drove home.

Bonzo had been missing us. 

Orkney, archaeology and being a tourist

Stromness is lovely.  People smile and say “Hello”.

First things first.

Albatross was leaking in the bog department. We needed some valves.

The Master Boat Builder not only supplied us with all the spares we needed but also gave up half his morning  showing us the beautiful wooden boats he was making.

We explored the narrow paved streets of Stromness, found the Co-op, fixed the loo and greeted Al at  the ferry terminal.  Newcastle to Stromness by public transport, it appears, it only slightly less worrying than Troon to Stromness in the boating equivalent of a Renault 5 (aka "Albatross").

Stromness .. from the ferry

Thursday 4^th April

We took a bus to the Standing Stones of Stenness.

This is part of the World Heritage Neolithic site on Orkney. 

Truly wonderful.

The Standing Stones of Stenness

Half a mile up the road lies The Ring of Brodgar.

4500 years old.

Awesome.

We joined a wonderful  (free) tour.

The Ring of Brodgar

Supper in the Ferry Inn.

What a good day !

Friday 5^th April

It was sunny as usual.

We took the ferry to Hoy.

Hoy is beautiful, very sparsely inhabited, mountainous, great for walking.

Walking on Hoy

We walked over to the other site of the island.

This school on Hoy wasn't shut till 1953.

We walked back through a different valley and past Dwarfie Stane.

Dwarfie Stane

This is a 5000 year old megalithic tomb. Apparently carved out of a single block of stone by Trolls.

Dwarfie Stane ... this is the view from inside the stone

Ferry back to the boat.

Fish and chips for supper.

Saturday 6^th April.

We hired a car.

First stop  Maeshowe. A Spectacular Neolithic Chambered Cairn built 5,000 years ago.  

Outside Maeshowe (no photography allowed inside)

Eat your heart out Ramesses II,  this  was built nearly 2000 years before your time in Egypt.  

Remarkably, Maeshowe contains genuine Viking graffiti, carved in the stone by a group of marauding visitors who took shelter there one winter about 700 years ago.

Next off, Skara Brae.

Skara Brae

Orkney’s (well, northern Europe’s, actually) oldest Neolithic settlement.  Complete with stone beds, stone kitchen dressers and well, .. stone most things.  We had a look around the visitors’ centre, the local stately home and then off to The Brock of Gurness.

Al and Jean explore The Brock of Gurness

The Broch of Gurness is an Iron Age broch village on the northwest coast of Mainland Orkney in Scotland overlooking Eynhallow Sound.  It was discovered in 1929 by an artist whose stool leg penetrated  through the sand, revealing the structures below..

We wandered through the village. Quite amazing (again)..

Done in after fascinating day of Orkney Archaeology we headed back to the boat, where I fixed the loo (again) and Al cooked the supper.

Sunday 7^th April

We drove down to the southern tip of Orkney.  

Several of the islands are joined by “Churchill Barriers”.  These were built in 1939 between the islands in an attempt to keep the German U-boats out of Scapa Sound where the British fleet was parked.  

We had a wander on South Ronaldsay, then drove up to St Margaret’s Hope, which has a pub. 

Jean looking south to Scotland from South Ronaldsay

St Margaret’s Hope, with a population of 550, is Orkney’s third largest settlement.  

It wasn't crowded.  

The pub, its food and its beer were excellent.

Next stop, the magnificent cathedral of St Magnus and the Bishop's and Earl's Palaces (all in Kirkwall).

St Magnus Cathedral

Home again, but via Kirkwall Marina (to suss it out for future adventures). 

Kirkwall has a Tesco’s so we went there. 

It was pretty to similar to most other Tesco’s really..

Monday 8^th April

The Stromness Museum (excellent).

A walk along the coast to The Citadel and Brinkie’s Brae. 

Some bird watching. 

Dinner in the Stromness Hotel.  All excellent ... of course.

Tuesday 9^th April

We all went home.

Coming soon “ How to get home, a guide to bus travel in Scotland”.

Something about the Stromness Marina

We like Stromness Marina.

We came into Stromness Harbour via Hoy Sound.  

In Hoy Sound it is a good idea to have the tide behind you and not too much wind over tide. 

We had 5 knots of tide and came in nice and fast.

The marina is at the top of the harbour, just past the ferry terminal with ample depth.

Stromness Maruina

The marina was nearly empty when we arrived and we were the “first visitors of the year” on 2^nd April.

The marina is well sheltered, easy to get into and secure. 

Like all of Orkney, it is very friendly. 

It is run in winter by volunteers. 

There is diesel and water by hose, electricity (by wire .. which is reassuring), plus showers and washing machines etc. at the ferry terminal next door.

Oban to Orkney

26th March

We sadly said "Goodbye" to David in Oban and planned the next stage of our epic adventure (i.e. had a day off from sailing).

27th March

To Tobermory 

Tobermory does, we understand, have baronial connections with a viking by the name of Uncle Bulgarius.
It is a nice place with easy pontoons, gas, water, diesel, food and alcohol.  I had a shower.
We had 2 knots of tide up the Sound of Mull and sailed most of the way the bright sunshine (while the rest of you - Dear Readers - shivered).

 

Tobermory  is pretty

 

Jean likes sailing in the winter

28th March

To Mallaig

Originally we had planned that, having passed by the terrors of Ardnamurchan point, we would overnight in Arisaig.  However, a nice chap in Tobermory said that Mallaig was now a "very nice place"  with a new marina and there was no longer any risk of yachts being crushed by  mightly whaling vessels full of vikings whilst visiting.
It was yet another lovely sunny day, with flat sea etc., so we went for it.
Mallaig was indeed entirely as promised.  Friendly, easy ... and with a Co-op.

 

Mallaig .. we like Mallaig

29th March

Today (for the astronomically minded reader) was Equinoctal Springs.  This has nothing to do with horse jumping after dusk and something to do with being the highest tide of the year.  Obviously a very good day to navigate through Kyle Rhea (not a Scottish bowel complaint, more a Scottish water feature).  All went so swimmingly that we decided not to stop at the Kyle of Lochalsh but to wizz on (yes, in bright Spring sunshine) under the bridge to Skye and on to the town of Plocton.
We anchored on Plocton under the stars and slept well.
There may have been a little frost on the top of our duvet by sunrise.

30th March

This was getting silly.  It was another beautiful sunny day.  Flat seas and a breeze on the beam.  We sped on to Loch Gairloch and having established that the "yatching pontoon" at Flowerdale was
1. full
2. too shallow
3. inaccesible
opted to anchor (under the stars) in Loch Sheidaig.

N.B. For those who don't entirely remember the exact geography of the West Coast of Scotland and The Isles, try not to worry, neither do I, but we do have a great supply of out of date charts under a mattress somewhere and a clever little plotter that knows where we are. In addition, I have Jean, who as you all know, is wonderful.  In general Jean knows not only, where we are, but where we have been, whilst I specialise more in knowing where we would like to be if we knew where we were starting from.  Navigation is a complex matter.

Loch Gairloch, where we eventually anchored

 

Loch Gairloch sunset

Easter Day.
Summer time starts today.
Yes, it was sunny, the sea was flat, there was a pleasant easterly breeze. Truly, not a cloud in the sky.
We pressed on towards Ullapool, decided to miss it out, on  towards Lochiver, but didn't stop there either.

An old man

Eventually arrived in Kinlochbervie.

KLB -Ice plant

Kinlockbervie is the last place on the left hand side of Scotland before you get to Cape Wrath.
KLB is a pleasant fishing port.  We berthed in the marina next to the Ice Plant.
Everyone is so friendly and helpful up here.
We discussed "the rounding of Cape Wrath" with a helpful local sailor who pointed ou that if single-handed fishermen in open dinghies could check their lobster pots up there in winter without any bother, there was obviously nothing to worry about when we did it in our mighty-white-french-plastic-boat-with-a-keel).
We went out to supper and listened to a 6 foot 6, shaven-headed salor with an earring describing (in a mixture of anglo-saxon and norse) his experiences of the weather off Cape Wrath. I hadn't previously been aware of quite how many expletives there are in our combined languages for the accurate description of weather.  Judging by his appearance, I thought his chap may have been from Burgess Hill ... but I didn't ask.

 Jean likes high latitude sailing in winter

Easter Monday.

We sailed around Cape Wrath.  We were 90 mintes late for the ideal tidal gate but it was a nice sunny day and the waves were not a probblem.

 

Approaching Cape Wrath

We tacked our way up to The Kyle of Tongue, where we anchored under a beautiful half moon.

A family of elephants marching across the Kyle of Tongue (for Lizzy)

Tuesday 2nd March

Up at 0545.  Weighed anchor 0614.  Motored in a flat calm to Orkney.  Arrived Stromness 1230.

The Old Man of Hoy (did you bring your ropes Tim?)

We've made it !!!