The Fram

Orkney is a popular stopping off point for cruise liners and this afternoon the Fram was sitting at Kirkwall pier. She carries maximum of 300 passengers and is a much more reasonable size than the Magnifica, a liner which was here on Saturday with 2,500 passengers and 1,000 crew! Bear in mind that the total population of Orkney is less than 25,000 folk!

The Magnifica dwarfed the whole of the harbour - and most of the town! Other visitors said it caused an awful lot of disruption and all the tourist sights were full of their passengers - coaches everywhere! Three bus loads came down to St Margaret's Hope and into the craft shop, but all they bought were post cards and they could only pay in Euros! The smaller, more intimate and personal, cruise liners are much more geared towards island visits. Some of the folk of that were in the shop on Saturday weren't even sure where they were or where they were going next! One of them thought it was Gourock - is that in Scotland, they asked?!