Haggis Day Two - Carbisdale to the Orkney Islands

After getting our stuff together and packing back on to the bus, we made our merry way north towards John O’ Groats and the ferry to the Orkneys. First stop was Wick, to get some groceries for the next few days. This also happens to be where some of Hamish’s family came from, before they moved to NZ.

The Scots love their oats. Orkney oatcakes! They’re good too, we just ate them plain but apparently you have them with cheese and pate and the like.

We went to visit land’s end, aka the most northerly point of mainland Scotland.

Me at Duncansby Head lighthouse - the most northern tip of Scotland!

Then we headed to our ferry, which is supposedly the most notorious crossing of the British Isles. The ferry leaves from Gill's Bay on mainland Scotland and gets in to St Margaret’s Hope on ‘mainland’ Orkney. Luckily for us (and Hamish’s stomach), we had a lovely still day and only a few people saw their lunch come back again.

Our big yellow bus on the ferry

Heather put in the grill of a car brings luck :)

Mish arrives in Orkney

For dinner we went to a local ‘chippie’ or fish n chip shop. Kenny loves to barter for a ‘discy’, so he managed to get a group special for some good ol’ fish n chips (with salt n vinegar of course). Then we all sat on the curb and ate our own wee parcel. The locals loved it, because as they drove past there were 30 people sitting on a curb outside the chippie eating their product.

We got lots of waves and toots, everyone was really friendly. Orcadian accents are also really lovely – quite soft and a bit easier to understand than the stronger Scottish accents.

After dinner we headed to a local pub for some live band music. It was really neat because the band played some celtic-style music, and some pop/rock sort of stuff. They also had a cello, violin, flute and mandolin. Once they figured out that we were a bunch of 30 Aussies, NZers and Canadians, they started playing great stuff like Crowded House and even the Bird Dance. It was nuts, but totally awesome. But it was a Sunday night so the pub closed early (fair nuff).