War-time Orkney

We awoke the 13th to milder wind and mist, drove in to John O'Groats, looked at the forecast, and decided to go for it. The boat ride—45 minutes—was fine, with increasingly better weather as we got to the islands, and then better entirely as the day progressed. We debarked at the southernmost island and port, whose names escape me, then boarded the turbuss and proceeded on, first through the ChurchillBarriers, then to the Italian Chapel, then to St. Margaret's, then to Kirkwall, then to Stromness for lunch, a dreary wet gray place, then to a western cliff overlook from we could the Old Man of Hoy, then to Skara Brae, then to Ring of Brogdar, then back Kirkwall. At Kirkwall we debarked and, having carefully checked arrangments with the driver, walked to the B&B, the Lerona, on Cromwell Crescent. The place was fine, the hostess hilariously Scottish, the yard decorated with ceramic gnomes and ducks and the rest. We had a very decent dinner at the Kirkwall Hotel, roast beast for Vicki, scallops—very fresh—for me, plus the mixed seafood appetizer.

Yes, we were on a turbuss

After the incident with the U-boat, the Royal Navy erected huge concrete 
barriers connecting four of the islands and blocking eastern access to Scapa 
Flow, their war-time fleet anchorage; they are now called the "Churchill 
Barriers"; most interestingly, they cause the tides to hit the eastern side of 
the islands two hours later than Scapa Flow, with a  differential as high as 
four meters, which we witnessed

The buoy marks the Royal Oak site, now a national cemetery--800 men died

A bit further down the Flow is where the German High Seas Fleet scuttled itself, 
74 ships, during armistice negotiations in 1919; they were probably getting tired of 
haggis, neeps and taddies; it is now a scuba-diving paradise; bring wet suits