Old Beacon

What a day to visit North Ronaldsay. We are so comfortable at the Bird Observatory and were well fed last night. Slept well and when I looked out this morning at about 06:30 there was a huge flock of golden plovers in the field. 

After breakfast we set off for the lighthouse at the north end of the island. There had been a heavy squally shower but by the time we started out the rain had stopped and it's been sunny more or less all day. Windy though! 

The main is the Old Beacon, the third lighthouse to be built in Scotland. The extra is the present day lighthouse. You can read about both of them here and it's an interesting account. 

We'd booked a tour of the Stevenson lighthouse. It's the tallest land based lighthouse in Britain. The tour was marvellous. We were inside the light at one point - a Fresnel system. I'd love to see it at night. We learned a lot from our guide and from Billy Muir the redoubtable last keeper of the light. He still works for the Northern Lighthouse Board making sure that the North Ronaldsay light is in good condition. 

Couldn't see Fair Isle today - a wee bit murky to the north. 

Then we had a snack in the visitor centre and walked out to the Old Beacon. A wonderful structure. 

We saw many shore dwelling, seaweed eating North Ronaldsay sheep and the stone dyke round the island which keeps them on the beach. We saw ragged robin, swathes of grass-of-Parnassus flowers, vetch, hawkweed and other flowers. We walked 9.5 miles and took our time about it. 

Now back in the bird observatory. We will do a minor walk later to the pier where the ferry from Kirkwall comes in. Haven't seen it yet but we did spot the morning plane.