Settled in Kirkwall

There is a lot to do in and around Kirkwall, so after our long day to reach here we've settled down to stay for at least three nights. Our Orkney Explorer tickets include entry to the Broch of Gurness, so that was our first expedition. After our day cycling from Stromness we decided to use the bus from Kirkwall, so Julian looked up the times. We had hoped to get a cooked breakfast (we always get hungry after a fast day), but we were up late so after a quick shower and a cereal breakfast we headed for Evie on the half nine bus.

We got off where we saw a sign post to the Broch, and from there it was a forty minute walk on a quiet single track road through farmland with attractive cattle and interesting scenary. The sun did not shine for long, but the cloud was light and we enjoyed our bracing walk!

I was dreaming of lunch, and Julian mentioned second breakfast. There might be a cafe at the Broch, as there had been at Skara Brae, or if not we could have an early lunch at Evie...

There was no cafe at the Broch and the wind was very cold, but it was easy to see why the place as built; the stone provided a lot of wind shelter! We had a good look round, and found it well worth the visit, then asked the custodian if there was somewhere to eat at Evie.

No. Nothing closer than Kirkwall or Birsay.

In a car this would not be a problem, but the next bus from Evie was not until 1434... We had assumed we would fill the time with lunch, but it did not look as though that would happen.

Julian mentioned hitchhiking as we walked away from the site, and it seemed like a sensible idea in these conditions, so I approached a couple in the car park that we had seen looking round the Broch. Lovely people that they were they agreed to take us with them, and where did we want to go? They were on their way to see the Kitchener memorial, so we got a lift as far as Birsay. They dropped us right outside the Birsay Tearoom.

After ordering lunch Julian looked up the bus to get us back to Kirkwall. There was one at 1256 which gave us plenty of time to have our very satisfying lunch of soup and salad/toasted sandwich. Since it was the only bus from Birsay to Kirkwall of the day we decided not to miss it!

We spent the rest of the day looking round Kirkwall, before spending the evening in the Reel, listening to local musicians play. Scapa Special has a wonderful tag line.

A good end to a good day.