Keeping the Home Fires burning

The light in these Northern Isles is cool and crystal clear on days like today when the sun shines and the sky is a vast expanse of blue from the mountains of Hoy to the horizon with the sea at Birsay.

With the destination of Birsay by bike scheduled for today, we were saddled and ready to go before 9am and had the roads seemingly to ourselves.
We arrived too early for tea at The Birsay palace tea room so we had an ice cream from the village shop sitting on the grass verge outside watching the world go by.

We made a small detour to revisit the Kirbuster Museum in order to get a blip of the central peat fire used for cooking and drying fish from the late 16th century onwards.

Home via Dounby , the Ring of Brodgar and Stenness, 35+ miles of pure delight:-

The delight of near empty roads and the sound of swishing tyres on tarmac.

The delight in passing fields of buttercups and daisies

The delight in the smell of freshly cut grass ready for silage

The delight in seeing ink black cattle in green fields, and the sight of a murder of black crows feeding on the shorn stalks of grass in the adjoining field

The delight in seeing herds of brown and cream dairy cattle lying enjoying the warmth of the sun on their backs, with the sentinel bulls surveying their ladies - no need for artificial insemination here.

The delight in passing verges full of wild flowers with the red of blowsy poppies reigning supreme

The delight in the calls of the curlews and oyster catchers swooping low over our path

The delight in seeing the looming hills of Hoy, a hazy blue today, as we turn a corner in the road and know we are nearly home .

But Finally, the delight in being able to do this on two wheels while our bus passes remain behind.