Last day

I’m out and about by myself today. Catch the bus from Stromness which goes quite a long way, enabling me to see several parts of Orkney. We go to Kirkwall first and everyone but me gets off. A few more get on. We drive across the Churchill barriers (1)- originally built to make Scapa Flow unreachable by sea from the east, while the fleet was based there in WW2. Now they are effectively bridges, enabling travel from one island to another. Eventually we get to South Ronaldsay, and I get out at St Margaret Hope (pronounced hup!) I walked along Front Street by the sea, admiring people’s efforts to grow plants in gardens and pots in such a difficult climate. The house with the Norwegian flag (2) reminded me of Jimmy Perez’s house in Shetland. My friends had told me to be sure to look at the Marengo Community Garden, (3), which was so pretty, beautifully cared for, and full of flowers still. After visiting a very busy cafe for cake and coffee, I waited for the bus back. Apparently you can request them to stop anywhere. I really enjoyed looking out of the window - it’s mostly farmland (crops and animals) with scattered famous sites like Maes Howe and the Ring of Brodgar en route. Pic 4 is out of the slighty-sprayed-by -waves bus window, cows, hills, sea, wonderful sky. How I think of Orkney. After I got home and thought a bit about packing and tidying, I went for a late afternoon walk by the shore, the same way I went with M on Sunday. I looked back at Stromness with evening light shining on it (5), and then snapped the ever present Hamnavoe heading into the sunset and towards Scrabster. (6)
In the evening I went to my friend’s, we had gorgeous homemade pizza, and a fabulous vegan cheesecake with their garden blackcurrants. Then we watched a film Kedi, a documentary about Istanbul street cats, which is a beautiful film for cat fans. So many people in the city take very good care of them. But somehow the cats remain noble and dignified. It was the first time the Friday film club has taken place with all 3 participants in the same room