While I am writing this new retrospective Orkney journal entry, it is the start of summer where I currently live in Victoria and the temperature has reached 32 degrees celsius. Needless to say I am very pleased! The winter and spring have been pretty miserable here this year with stacks of rain and cold (note that rain is a good thing but if prolonged it can get on my nerves), so I am happy to see the sun making an appearance at last. Looking at the late spring weather forecast my travelling pal sent me last year for Orkney, an expected high of 11 degrees celsius with 70% rain was forecast for Wednesday 11 May 2022. On Westray that day I remember a little rain in the morning and blustery winds with grey skies. We decided to head to Grobust Beach, a beach recommended by the Westray locals. The directions given were pretty spot on and after a little bit of a bumpy road for the car, we arrived. The wind had whipped up the sea into choppy waves and also appeared to have whipped up the local turnstones into a frenzy. To my delight, there were loads of turnstones, running here and there in big strides with their little legs across the windy beach. I had only ever seen a few turnstones down at Trinity near Wardie Bay in Edinburgh, so it was an absolute joy to see them in abundance.

I thought I would sketch a double page of the turnstones to give a better visual of the beach that morning. For those of you who don’t know, turnstones can actually turn stones, hence their name. I once watched in fascination in Edinburgh as these cute little birds turned pebbles over as (I assume) they were looking for food on the rocky shore.

Having explored Grobust Beach, we took an early ferry from Westray to Kirkwall on the Orkney Mainland. We had initially planned to stay longer on Westray as we had made a bit of a silly mistake in our itinerary and thought that the Rackwick my pal drooled over with its dramatic cliffs and iconic Scottish houses was on Westray but was in fact on the Isle of Hoy. We later found out that Rackwick means “wreckage bay” and hence there are a few places scattered about with that name. Hopefully my pal can make it to Rackwick on the Isle of Hoy one day when the drama of sea and coastal cliffs combine at their best, whether that be sun shining or storm breaking.

Unfortunately on the ferry back from Westray I was feeling just a tad sea sick. We had sat outside all the way on the ferry to Westray, but on the return the waves got a bit high for us to sit outside on the deck. I lay down on the benches inside for a little bit to see if that would help the nausea (not sure it did…). At some point in the journey, the sun broke free and we got back on the deck for a looksee and some beautiful views greeted us.

*Ferry Westray to Kirkwall (Orkney Mainland)*

We arrived in Kirkwall and drove to Stennness for our accommodation, stopping by The Kirk Gallery & Cafe (Sheila Fleet Jewellery) for lunch. Being the immature people we are, we had wanted to book accommodation in Twatt, but were unable to. Our schoolgirl giggles surfaced each time we joked about it. Our accommodation in Stenness however was a good choice, being nice and cosy inside, with a good place to sit near the window to have a cup of tea or go outside and watch the starlings hanging about in the trees in the garden. The sunset wasn’t far away by the time we arrived at Stennness, so with the little time we had left we decided to go to Yesnaby cliffs on the west of the Orkney Mainland. The views were stunning and the wind was out.

I, like the risk adverse person I am, mostly stayed in the shelter / hide that was present as we approached the cliffs and decided to stay and sketch there. I worry about being blown off the cliffs. My pal is more the adventurer and explored the paths (she tells me she is smart and always careful around cliffs which is good as I want her around for years to come, she’s like a little sister to me). After sketching a while, I eventually got up the courage to explore a bit more, staying as far away from the edge as possible, and discovered a beautiful rocky inlet at the bottom of a path where I gazed out for a while. I am not sure why I didn’t take a photo of this. Sometimes I just like to enjoy the view and refuse to take a snap to have a record. When I left and walked to the top again, my pal’s friendly face popped into view and we were happily reunited. It was then time to go back to Stenness to chill at our accommodation and get some rest from the travels.

Turnstones & Yesnaby, Orkney

Caterpillars & Stones, Orkney

Puffins, Westray