2011 holiday pt.3 Orkney

It's was a 6 hour ferry ride to Kirkwall, the capital of the Orkney Islands. I wish I could say it was peaceful but it was not, there was a group of teenagers returning to Orkney, making mayhem on the floor above - bang crash, bang etc. The guys on reception had to go up a few times to tell them to calm down. I was following our route occasionally on Viewranger and I went outside as we passed the Fair Isle, famous (or rather, not famous) for it's woollen knitting.

When we arrived in Kirkwall it was still light and when the taxi eventually arrived and took me to the hostel around 23:30 it was still light. I was tired and didn't stay up to see if it got dark, but I would presume not. The next day I got up and strolled down to Kirwall, I was going to pick up my tickets for the St. Magnus Festival (I was going to hear, if not see the Scottish Chamber Orchestra Strings) and made a quick dash around the museum before my island tour started at 10:50. I went walking down the main pedestrian street in Kirwall and it's even worse than in Sheltand, clogged and blocked with cars and vans. At least here it prohibits vehicles between 11 and 3. I'm not sure why this prohibition started so late in the morning - not much seemed to open before 10:30, perhaps all their tourists are late risers? I got to the festival office to find they didn't have my tickets, they would be on the door that evening, fair enough.

I only went to the museum for one thing, to see how they described the transfer of the islands from Denmark to Scotland. It said "After Norway became united with Denmark under the Danish Crown, Orkney and Shetland were pawned to Scotland as part of a Royal dowry in 1468. They were formally annexed by Scotland in 1471. So in Orkney's museum they were "pawned" and in Shetland, they were "mortgaged". Isn't that funny?

Desk Officer: So, what did you find?
Field Operative: Their flags; they're not very British...
Desk Officer: What do you mean "not British"?
Field Operative: it's basically the flag of Denmark and they seem to be operating out of this building, looks like some kind of front
Desk Officer: it's the Centre for Nordic Studies you dolt!
Field Officer: it's got the flags on the windows, it's quite openly Nordic - nod nod, wink wink
Desk Officer: this isn't the Spanish Inquisition and Norway is a friend - not significant... Put it on file, just in case.

I lost all my photos from my last visit to Orkney in 2001, so I just wanted to retrace my steps. The proper guided tour available didn't quite do that, it had a bit more focus on wildlife than I was interested in, but the alternate would have been unviable, too far and the roads too dangerous to cycle on and maybe too far to walk. Anyway the actual commentary was really good and knowledgeable so I cant complain too much. We drove out to Birdsay and then Marwick head nature reserves. Marwick in particular reminded me of Shetland with bird colonies on the cliffs. At Marwick there was also a memorial tower to Lord Kitchener. He is the man on that famous "Your country wants YOU" recruitment poster from World War 1. He was going to Russia when his ship hit a German mine a sank. The memorial says that he drowned, but since he reportedly feared drowning and no body was found, my guide suggested that he shot himself. Speaking of which you can't climb the tower now because locals kept jumping off to their deaths. A sobering aspect of the flip side of long summer days is the depressive effect of never-ending darkness in winter. As he said, "some people can cope, and some people can't."

Again, thousands of birds nesting on the cliffs and soaring around the sky. Apparently there were many fewer birds here now than previously and there were no puffins to be seen anywhere. Apparently the puffins eat sand eels and these are efficiently dredged up by fishermen to make protein meal for the cattle on the island. Sustainability fail, I think, especially when the Puffin features so much on Orkney's tourist literature.

Next we went to Scara Brae, the remarkable neolithic settlement. It was a town, but climate change had washed most of it away, so all that remained was a deserted remnant and a large bay full of sea water. The settlement was covered in sand for thousands of years and only uncovered in a freak storm, whence digging revealed a remarkable preserved set of houses with furniture in tact.

This was not the Scara Brae I remembered. Where there was just the settlement before, there was now a large and featured visitor centre and hundreds of day trippers and a recreated full house and 4 min video. We didn't need the video as our guide explained everything to us. There were only 2 of us on the tour but around 20 others listening in eagerly to his description. The main things I remember are about the position of the "dresser" directly opposite the front door so that you could display your wealth to visitors and the beds to the side and built in sewerage system and sliding front doors.

Yes sliding doors made from stone only about 1 meter high. They filled their stone walls with rubbish to block draughts and each house was surrounded by a sunken alley. You could see a public square and a workshop. Remarkable living for 5000 years ago. Moving on we saw two sets of standing stones. The second was smaller that the first. It seems that tribes across the islands had cooperated, bringing their own stones to this central place. As arranged they had a remarkable echoing property which the guide demonstrated. He would speak and his voice echoed back louder. Useful for public gatherings back then I guess.

Driving back to Kirwall was a little unsettling. At one roundabout he nearly drove into a car coming round. He said "I don't like those roundabouts, some people don't know how to use them," uh-huh, I thought. I saw the car coming, why didn't he? Then in Kirwall, around another roundabout a tourist was crossing the road we were tuning into. Now she should have walked 10 meters to the zebra crossing, but again I clearly saw her crossing as we entered the roundabout. But he had to do an emergency stop right in front of her. And he said "why didn't she use the crossing just there", but I'm thinking "get an eye test mate". Not good.

I got back in good time To visit the ruins of the Earls Palace and Bishops palace. This cruel and wicked Earl used slave labour to build his house, so to match the bishop's next door. He was eventually deposed and beheaded, and that was that. In the Cathedral across the road the chamber orchestra were rehearsing. I took a few photos and crept around. I overheard a church person later saying that it was very Nordic inside and that really Orkney was Norwegian for many for many more years than it was ever Scottish. Noted.

Later that evening I was back in town for the concert. The first half was wonderful. I had a partial view of the stage, I could only see the 2nd strings and very expressive double-bass player. The second half was modern music. Modern classical, which sadly seems to mean dissonant, jarring, misery. I could hear a snap of nice chords and then a shrill of discord. What feeling is producing such music? It seemed so unhappy, however excellently they played it. Mixed feelings about that.

Walking back to the hostel I went to the big Tesco to get food for the long journey the next day. It was next to a Lidl. Each had a slightly different focus, Tesco was proudly serving local produce to Orkney (I think they had a shelf or an aisle, I didn't see it) while Lidl proclaimed "one country one price", implying that food in the islands was more expensive that the mainland. Take your pick of priorities I guess.

A curious thing at the bus stop the next morning for my my journey to Edinburgh. A lady traveling to the mainland with no idea which ferry she was taking. How were we meant to know where she should go for the 9am ferry when she didn't even know which port in Scotland she was going to. I'm pretty sure she missed her connection. I however got to Edinburgh at 20:24, exactly on time. There's some benefit to extreme planning. or put another way, this why I do it; to avoid the fear of being lost and bewildered in a strange place.

2011 holiday pt.2 Shetland

It was a smooth sailing from Aberdeen. On the open observation deck a bird spotter type said to me that he had just seen a whale. That's kind of gobsmackingly rare and sadly although I looked and looked I didn't see it. I booked a cabin in advance for this overnight ferry and it was small but modern and comfortable. It was a 4-man cabin with no window but each bunk had a thick curtain for privacy. In the ship's reception area, tv screens were advertising Paul, a sic-fi comedy about an alien showing in the ship's cinema. Super I thought, but when I went to the cinema it wasn't listed. So I asked in the shop and she said that the tv showed the sort of films that the cinema would show. Ok, so is Paul showing tonight? No. I'm writing this on the ferry down to Orkney and it's not showing tonight either. Ho hum.

I decided to go to bed early, around 9 pm and I found I woke up again at 11. I think I was awoken by the sudden stillness of the sea (the boat had stopped in Kirwall, capital of the Orkney Islands). I woke again later in the night and then slept in fits and starts through to 6:30 when I decided to get up (in time for docking at port at 07:30). So I got up at 06:30 which was a lesson learned from the mad rush last year in Brittanny where everyone was expected off so that the next load could get on. This time Sod's law dictated that as I was walking off the gangway I heard an announcement telling car drivers that once off they could come back in for breakfast and please to leave the cabins by 09:30. So the rush was a waste of time. I got off anyway and stood outside the nearby Coop in the cold, (it was only 57 degrees C) waiting for it to open at 08:00 for breakfast, then on getting to Lerwick I waited another hour for my tour. It's a good thing I had podcasts to listen to.

But the tour was worth waiting for. This was called seabirds and seals. If you ever get the chance to go to Shetland you must take this tour on the boat Dunter 3. We sailed out in this jet boat (because propellers can't operate in shallow water) across the seal and bird breeding grounds in Bressay island (I see now why some seals are speckled, it's because in their natural habits the rocks are speckled, it is very effective camouflage) and then jetted across to the island of Noss which is a national park, and what a park! The steep and stepped cliffs are home to around 10,000 Gannets and thousands of other sea birds. It is an awesome sight to see all these gracious birds swirling overhead and squawking at the tops of their voices. We were warned to cover our head in case they spat at us for fear of risk to their young. I'm not entirely sure what spitting means, but these birds were able to projectile shit quite menacingly.

I think I was the youngest on board by about 20 years but the others on-board were just as excited and awed by the spectacle. We got so close to the cliff that they really towered above us and the birds were only a few meters away. We went from nesting site to nesting site. The only way I can think to describe it is that it was like one of those Attenborough tv programs life of birds or whatever, and you're right in the middle of it. And there was more, because we could go in shallow waters, we were taken under natural rock arches and into caves, actual caves! In the second cave they got out the mini submarine. This was a small remote control submersible with propulsion and a tv camera. This broadcast live video back to the boat so we could see what was under the water and what a contrast to the stark sandstone above! It was completely alive with green, cabbage and red seaweeds; starfish, anemones, squid, krill, plankton and lots of coral animals.

After that, it was time for lunch. What else but fish and chips? But when I went to the fish bar I saw, there was no fish, everything but fish. Maybe Shetland is out of fish? So I had a smoked sausage and chips. Very tasty and sustainable. I'd have had haggis and chips if they had offered it though. The town centre in Lerwick has a pedestrian zone with shops and... cars. That's nuts, cars just drove through the pedestrians all the time. For access only, apparently but I saw a few tour vehicles going through there. Anyway, I rang ahead to book a taxi from Kirkwall in Orkney to my hostel so I'd arrive before it closed (1of2 taxis on this trip) and then walked to the Museum.

Shetland Museum and Archives is ok. It tells the story of Shetland in a fairly straightforward way. So, it was Pictish and Celtic before the Vikings came and chucked all the existing British Isles inhabitants into the sea. That appears to be the gist of things. So Shetland joined the lands that became Norway, which became part of Denmark. Fast forward a few hundred years and the King of Denmark wants his daughter to marry the Scottish King. Fine but he doesn't have any money for a dowry. So he mortgages Shetland to Scotland to pay for it. A mortgage. This meant it was Scotland's until Denmark could pay for it back. It then said that Denmark tried several times to buy it back but failed each time - and it leaves it at that. What? I need to look this up because this sounds fishy and a bit unjust to Britain unless we really did screw Denmark, in which case why wasn't there a Falklands style war? I got a hint of ever so slight ambivalence to the British having sovereignty here. Only a hint. Who opened the Shetland Museum? Looking at the plaque outside, first listed is none other than the Queen of Norway and second fiddle below is Charles and Camilla. Fair enough, she out ranks our heir, but the situation of Shetland being British was described to me by a museum guide as a historical accident. Providence surely? No? LOL. Shetland retains strong family links to Norway, who are the second most common visitors. Oh and both the flags of Shetland and Orkney are in the Scandinavian cross style although both include saltire blue to throw a bone to Scotland. Nod, wink I get you, ok. They ain't getting it back though (too much oil).

Anyway shortly after this I was accosted politely by a museum guide, did I know about "Fair Isle" wool? No (of course not). I was then given a personal and passionate tour of the museums wollen artifacts. Did you know you can make lace from wool? It was a firm favorite of Queen Victoria and the fair isle pattern on jumpers was made popular by, erm King Edward the abdicator, whose pattern included a swastika. No kidding. A key feature of 'Fair Isle' (which is a southerly Sheland island) is only 2 colours per pattern row. Fair isle is inspired by other patterns (looks a bit Ikea/Scandinavian - surprise!) but is ripped off with many foreign goods describing themselves as Shetland wool. I was a shown a poster for the US market which said English Shetland wool jumpers made with Australian wool. She didn't say it but I felt insulted for her. I tried to explain and ask about EU protection (which is all the rage these days) but she didn't seem to understand. Maybe the Scandinavian influence would undermine any claim for originality. But the wool itself does appear to be original in that all the animals are adapted for the Shetland climate. The sheep have different finer wool to other sheep. They are not sheared but, essentially combed.

They had some boats in the Museum and I had a quick look but my time was up so I left for the ferry. There's not much else in Lerwick anyway, Lerwick is really all about eco tours, occasional festivals and bird watching. On the way there I turned on the phone to see voice messages telling me that my guided tour around Orkney was on so that's what I'll be doing tomorrow (I had been on the waiting list). As I was on the phone one of the huge gulls "spat" on my shoulder. I didn't deserve that, as I did buy some souvenirs. Bah.

2011 holiday pt.1 Glasgow and Aberdeen

Greetings from Aberdeen (typing this at sea)!

Well it wasn't exactly the best preparation for an early start. I have been trying for the past few months to see Adam Buxton at a BUG music video event and each time I visit the booking page I find it already sold out. So when a comedy night turned up on the night before my departure I jumped at the chance. And it was great, but it went on quite a bit longer than I had imagined. I didn't get home till 1 am and I had to do the dishes, complete my packing check-list (I did the checklist to avoid my calamity last year where I absent-mindedly forgot my wash bag) and take a shower (to avoid a rush in the morning). I finished at 3 am. I woke up at 5 and left at 05:30. I didn't feel too bad though and the the journey went to clockwork. I got on the train at Euston and sat in a unreserved first class seat. The conductor came and collected £15 for a Weekend First upgrade (meaning the total cost to me was £13 cheaper than buying an advance first class ticket). Then there was a line fatality...

The conductor was very sorry but we all had to get off at Preston. Well that ruined my half-sleep. I had sufficient wits though to get off and got to the alternate train as directed. I looked for found the first class section. Given that when I found it it wasn't packed, I guess that most first class passengers went to the nearest standard seat. So I got a nice wide seat on this new Class 185 Trans-Pennine Express and that took us, gradually, to Carlisle. There, we were told, we would have to de-train and get a bus to Glasgow. Thankfully this was erroneous. Some people looked and jumped in the first Glasgow bound train. Bad mistake as that was a slow stopper going via Dumfries. There another direct train a few minutes later, well really just a minute or two so I hot footed it, but when I got on the platform there was no train. And the estimate time boards started shifting about, was it coming or not? Well it came a few minutes later and lo, it was another Virgin Pendolino. Perhaps the same one we got off before? No idea but I guess not, because they said the crew was in different locations so there would be no shop and no tea or coffee for first class. Drat.

Despite the hullabaloo we got in to Glasgow only 30 minutes late. I looked at the sky - not too bad, and made my way to...Leeds Building Society. I had looked at my current account and decided I needed to top up from my savings for peace of mind. That done it was time for lunch. I was going to get some sort of bake from Greggs, but out of the corner of my eye I saw something that looked Scottish. Potato Scones for £1. Well why not. There were 6 in the pack. I put one in my mouth and... yuk. It didn't taste bad, but it was horribly bland. I did a Google to find what it was and it's called "tattie", which is potato and butter and flour I think. Never again.

It was starting to rain so I hot-footed it over to an underground station. Glasgow has a small circle line and it runs trains that look like sleeker versions of those that run on the Bakerloo line in London. Plenty of spare seats on this shopping Saturday so I guess it's not popular. I got off at the station for the science centre, my intention was to ascend the Glasgow Tower to get a birds eye vista of the city. I could see it from afar when I got out but I couldn't see any people through the glass windows. Hmm. I decided to check online. The last time I had checked this thing was going to be open. But the website now said "closed for essential maintenance". What a waste of a journey, and I wasn't interested in the science museum. I was flummoxed what to do. I had heard on a Guardian travel podcast that the Transport Museum was a good visit, but that was closed too. I went back to Central Station and there didn't seem to be many actual attractions for adults in Glasgow apart from Art Galleries. Eventually I saw a leaflet for the Mackintosh house at the Glasgow University. The university does itself no favours having different leaflets for their different attractions. I was rather confused, but pleased to see that the university was just across the park from my hostel. So off I went and the house is great. The art gallery attached was, well I find them all sort of dull, and the university tour was at 2 pm so in the faff of leaflets I had missed it. I would have liked to go on the tour because the architecture at the university is rather nice.

This left me in a slight grump to a went straight so the hostel to get some sleep. The park, it turned out was on a steep hill and the hostel was at the top of it, so that was a bit of a work out to end the day. I was helped up the hill by the bangra beats behind me from a mela being held in the park. It didn't look too busy to me, perhaps understandable given the drizzle.

I woke up two hours later and went walking for some dinner from the local Co-op, read a little (I was surprised to see two others in the common room with iPads) and ended the evening watching tv. The SYHA hostel was in ahuge and marvellous old town house in perhaps the poshest part of Glasgow, Park Circle, high above both the city centre and the West End. Despite the hint of a student vibe from the nearby university, the West End seemed unnaturally quiet given the proximity to the centre. Apparently this is due to the effect of the M8 motorway cutting the city in two.

The next morning and I found a leaflet for a Mackintosh and Glasgow self-led walking tour. This was great, as I was going to spend the morning walking around town clueless. the tour started at the Central Station and ended near the hostel so I did it in reverse, which was a bit confusing (e.g turn left when it says turn right). The most interesting buildings I saw were Mackintosh's Art School and Daily Record building and a red office block that at ground level is conservative and at the top is wildly imaginative. Because I was stopping and reading, I used up all my time and got to Queen Street Station for my train out of town with 15 mins to spare.

A nasty problem had become apparent on my walkabout. I bought an 8GB sd card for the trip and although it was really fast in operation, the start up time of the camera with it in was really slow. I mean REALLY slow, 20 seconds before I could take a picture. This meant taking a pic, turning it off to save battery and then turning it on again to take a pic was a interminable wait. I'm going to take the photos off and format the card tonight to see if that fixes it. If not I need to get to a camera shop. From a train, for example in 20 seconds, the moment is gone. Drat. At least I have a spare 2gb card that works fine so I don't need to hurry. [update - I did a full format of the card and that fixed it! Phew, but I would have thought I wouldn't need to do that with a Fujifilm branded card and a Fujifilm camera...]

The scenery on the train to Aberdeen was stunning. Perhaps this is a good point to set out my itinery:

London-Glasgow
Glasgow-Aberdeen
Aberdeen-Shetland (1day)
Shetland-Orkney (1day)
Orkney-Edinburgh (where I stay 3 day)
3 day guided tour to the Isle of Skye
Edinburgh to Bergen (flight to Norway)
Bergen to Flåm, heart of the Fjjords (4 days)
Flåm to Oslo (1 day)
Oslo to Gothenburg
Gothenburg to Berlin (3 days)
Berlin to Paris
Paris to London.

In summary, I'm going to Norway via Scotland and coming back via land.

So the lowlands of Scotland was all rolling hills and valleys and rivers and coast. I didn't have a window seat and the camera situation made it hard to take pics, but I got a couple. At Aberdeen it was spitting train but I bet and won that it wouldn't last. I had a self-led walking tour for Aberdeen too and set to it. This time I unintentionally went the wrong way and started at the end point of the tour again. This tour was was much harder to read in reverse because the directions were written in paragraphs with a series of turns in each. But I did it, and although the "granite city" was small in area, it was pretty spectacular, in particular the Marischal College was stunning. With time to spare I went to M&S to buy dinner for the boat and suddenly it was nearly 4pm, check-in time. I made my way down to the harbour but the pedestrian signs ended some way before it. In sight, but not at the terminal. A slightly drunk man outside a nearby man set me the right way and I eventually followed a family dragging suitcases. Inside the harbour gates it started to rain so I decided to hot foot it, and here I am at sea. The boat arrives at 07:30 so I'll be having an early night tonight I think. Just need to figure out how to upload this...

Test of Blogsy

This is a test blog from my iPad...

I don't know why I didn't think of doing this before. I moved my extension cord from in front of my wardrobe where I could step on the cable, to under the bed and the sockets by the window. Neat.

Neater still is this blog editor Blogsy. I'm still getting my head around it, but what I've learned so far has made one decision for me. This iPad is coming on holiday with me for light blog writing duties. If I use it for an hour every couple of days, say when I'm on the train between destinations, I wonder, I might not to charge it at all. Hmm, well I'll take the charger anyway.

A good test, I think, tonight I'll see if I can complete the blogging about my last holiday. I suspect that may be doable, just writing this entry has been so friction free. I had no idea that writing on a glass screen could be so easy and so fast.