Sunday, 25 February 2024

A Grand Day Out.

 And totally unexpected too. 

The weather was lovely yesterday. A bit brisk and with the occasional short and gentle shower, but  in general the sun was shining, the sky was blue  and it was a day for being outside. Well some of the time. 

When I suggested to the OH that we go out he ran through our usual gamut of local walks but I said, No it's lovely why don;t we drive over to Birsay? So we did. 

On the way we saw three hares in a filed and a white rabbit with very short ears (which I think must have been an escaped pet) and we parked in Birsay village where the council recently provided a small car park, and walked along to the mainland end of the causeway over to the Brough. The tide was out and we could have gone over but we hadn't checked the times because we weren't really expecting them to be right, and we had no idea where it was in relation to its turn. We certainly didn't want to be trapped on the Brough - the weather wasn't that nice. We walked back  to the village where we saw, much to our surprise, a sign saying that what we persist in thinking of as Bob Nelson's tearoom, although Bob Nelson sold it many moons ago, was open. In Orkney, and in  February. A huge but welcome surprise. So we had lunch out. Readers with good memories may remember we were less than thrilled when we visited this place last summer, when scouting out a route for our American friends who were visiting for a day. Glad to say this was a much happier experience. I wouldn't go back in the summer when it will be totally rammed and very noisy, but at least at this time of the year there's nothing on the menu  threatening you with removal after 45 minutes. 

A few photos. 






We are catching the boat tonight to have a couple of days in the Highland Spa town of Strathpeffer, mainly to see Scottish Opera's Opera Highlights 2024 spring tour, but also to catch up with 'our' SO  emerging artist, the amazing Lea Shaw.  There seems to be plenty to do in the area if the weather is good; what we'll do if it rains is anyone's guess.


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