All the way up the A9 on Friday we were warned that there would be high winds on Sunday and Monday. The weather forecasts said that there would be storms; even Simon (the owner of the cottage we are staying in) said as much when we arrived on Saturday. So today we have braced ourselves and every time we have seen a large grey cloud we have assumed that we would be in for a rough time. Simon said that the interesting weather would come from the west – the Brough of Birsay being the furthest west … so guess where we went!

The Brough itself is a small island off the headland with a lighthouse; it is linked by a causeway that is passable for two hours each side of low tide – not when we were there, though.

On the beach we found an example of dry stone walling … like we hope to see more of (but genuine remains) over the next couple of weeks.



Earlier in the day we had a wander around Stromness, enjoying an Orkney crab salad at Julia’s Bistro (definitely to be recommended). Next time we are in Stromness, I’ll try to take some pictures.