Stromness

One thing you notice about Orkney is the lack of colour.  The buildings are almost all drab, a product of the sort of weather that they have to endure, particularly in the winter, which would soon make any fancy paintwork look well worn.  It therefore comes as quite a shock to see this brightly painted bar front, a welcome splash of colour on a grey and miserable day.  One lady we passed commented it was 'dreich'; it's a word I loathe but it suited the weather this morning.

We didn't go far.  We got soaked walking round the town so headed back.  The owner had sorted out the boiler problem; seems the oil tank was empty so a delivery was arranged and we have heat again.  It brightened up in the afternoon so we did another walk around town, getting up into some of the older areas.  I seem to be using a lot of my extras so I've made a collage of three shots taken around town and added it as a single extra.

Last full day here tomorrow and there are still places we want to see, so we're hoping the weather is better.