Angus

Despite the dismal weather at 8am this morning, we decided nevertheless to take the boat to North Ronaldsay, a 3+ hour's trip to the most northerly of the Orkney Islands.

The last time I visited this island 30 years ago and I flew in from Kirkwall on one of those tiny inter island planes, so this was my first arrival by boat.

North Ronaldsay is famous for its seaweed eating sheep which are kept on the shore by a stone dyke running all the way round the island, but allowed in to special enclosures for lambing. They are small, thin, dainty sheep, quite unlike their mainland chubby cousins.

The island is also famous for its flatness, its bird life with its observatory, its lighthouse, but more importantly for being the home for almost 50 years of another of my mislaid friends: a school friend who married a local boy and moved north from Edinburgh to bring up four children and become well known for her many talents, not least of these being a writer.

We had hoped to surprise her with a phone call once on the island, but the surprise was tempered by finding her husband on the quayside ready to take the passengers up to the lighthouse for lunch and a tour of the island.

We opted for the lunch and a visit to Christine to condense 30 years of news into an hour before having to leave for the return journey.
We promised not to mislay each other again- life is too short now for that.

Despite the wind and rain, the sea passage was remarkably smooth, and no sick bags needed to be involved in the journey.

I decided to forego for today the ' I love Orkney ' blip and post instead a portrait of Angus, a fellow passenger willing to have his mug shot on Blipfoto.

All in all, a day not worth missing.