farewell, Carol

And there is a lonely Gander in Shetland (called Robert, For what its worth) . And we think Carol  - the goose that was called Christmas until she decalred her sex -  would make a good 'friend' for Robert. 

So we caught her, and put her in the dog crate ( with some food, of course) and  took her to Hatston

And then to Northlink 

 and for £10.30 she is transported to Lerwick . 

And the crate needs to come back . But now it will be freight - £30 . 

So if someone is comgin back from Shetland to Orkney on the Ferry, and can put a collapsed dog crate in their car we would be very grateful . 

More sheep

So we've been back to Clachtoll for a few more sheep . We went last in September last year . And a few more details here .A couple of months later so its darker later in the morning.

Instead of watching the sunrise whilst waiting for the Stromness to Scrabster at 5.45 am for the  ferry  we were in the dark .

But after the ferry crossing and the drive  we arrived at Clachtoll, in bright sunshine , but a bit windy - after all this is Scotland in November

The sheep we were taking had already been separated.
 

 and caught and then transferred to our  trailer

 An uneventful drive back - Berriedale Braes remains fairyl challenging with a trailer. Heres the tip of Hoy as we came past . it was raining a bit - but then this is Scotland in November

Driving

You can get to Orkney by a number of routes.  

-We've done the long sea crossing from Aberdeen 

-Friends have tried the X99 bus from Inverness .

The other alternative is the drive to the North Coast of Scotland and take the ferry , either Northlink Ferries crossing from Scrabster to Stromness or Andrew Banks's boat , Pentland Ferries  from Gills Bay , just along from John o'Groats to St Margaret's Hope. As the Wikipedia page for Pentland Ferries  points out,  Pentland Ferries is one of only 2 Ferries that receives no Government subsidy (and the other one isn't Northlink).

To drive to the North Coast of Scotland , we reckon that 

• Inverness to the North Coast is 2.5 hours 
• Edinburgh to Inverness is 2.5 hours 
• Newcastle to Edinburgh is 2.5 hours
• Sheffield to Newcastle is 2.5 hours 
• London to Sheffield is 2.5 hours

(allowing for traffic and comfort breaks)  

The first ferry is 845am (Northlink) or  930am  (Pentland) , with car checkin 30-60 mins beforehand. 

So to get the first ferry , you really need to stay overnight somewhere close to the terminal. We've stayed at the Forss House Hotel , a couple of miles from Scrabster, with breakfast at a time that lets you get to the terminal in time to check in for the early crossing. 

Lunchtime crossing is at 1300 or thereabouts for both ferries. So working backwards, car checkin will be at 1200.   And if you are ejected from a B&B  at 10 am ,you will need a drive  for a couple of hours. So the overnight stop needs to be just north of Inverness. We have stayed in Golspie , which is about 70 minutes from Thurso. So its a bit close. better would probably be at Dingwall .

The A9 

The A9 north of Inverness  is  rural dual carriageway , as described on the trip to Sutherland.

Its a very pleasant drive, as long as you don't get stuck behind a truck. Some of the road has snow poles , so I imagine it could be difficult driving in the winter. 

There are a string of villages along the A9 next to the North Sea. We have stopped at a very nice cafe in Helmsdale , one of the villages on the way. And there is still the hairpin at  Berriedale Braes to negotiate.

We've also visited Wick and John o'Groats  and found it to be an underwhelming  experience for both places so at the moment we wouldn't recommend a visit to either. 

Crossing

We've done the long sea route from Kirkwall to Aberdeen, which is overnight so its not too bad.

 Board at about midnight, head down and sleep as soon a possible and then arrive at Aberdeen at 7 am and drive home. 
This time we travelled north from Aberdeen. And here's the ferry,Hjatland as we wait to load

And we got the cars and trailer on the ferry 

Its a calm crossing, the captain said. So seeing as we had missed lunch driving north we went to get something fairly substantial to eat. 

Now is “its a calm crossing “ 
- an accurate statement so you can enjoy a decent meal when the ship leaves
- means the furniture doesn't need to be tied down 
-they always say that.

We assumed the first option.  After a couple of hours we didn't feel or look too great. I spoke to the crew who said it gets a better after the ship rounds Peterhead, sill about 30 mins away.

 Shortly after that we did feel a bit better, having relieved ourselves of the dinner we had eaten earlier. 

And looking around, we weren’t the only ones feeling like this.  But we only felt a bit better. Migrating to the middle of the ship helped and finding a couple of reasonably comfy chairs we managed to doze for the next couple of hours. 
        
Orkney came into sight shortly after 1030pm (daylight lasts a long time this far north at this time of the year), we docked at 1120 and the short drive to the B&B  and proper bed, followed by a proper breakfast.

I would do the Aberdeen crossing again – n=1 isn't usually  a good number on which to base long term decisions, but I certainly wouldn't have burger and chips trusting in a calm crossing. 
Anyway, we arrived