The story of our second trip begins a month ago. There are five of us this time: in addition to the original Orkney travelers Lynn, Jill, Michael and I, we have added Jill’s daughter Jen. We’ve decided that along with knitting projects we will also try sketching and to that end we have all bought watercolors or watercolor pencils, notebooks and other paraphernalia and some of us have been trying to hone our skills. The 18 months of anticipation finally ends, we’ve all packed and repacked a dozen times in order to have the fewest but most useful clothes for the Orkney spring weather. We don’t want to check our bags so we won’t have to worry about lost luggage.
And we’re off…
Lynn and I at the still barricaded Heath Rd bridge
27 April 2017
We’re on the road to Bradley Airport (Hartford/Springfield) about 2 o’clock, Jen’s husband Neil driving us down I-91. Our Aer Lingus flight is at 6 o’clock. Going through security is easy enough and we’ve left ourselves plenty of time. No one has said “Oh my God, I forgot…”
The plane is full, cramped and for those of us who didn’t bring our own earphones (me, for example) the movies are all unintelligible. Dinner is adequate–a choice of cheese pasta or beef stew–but the free glass of wine has become a luxury of the past for us Economy Class folks. Luckily I have my Kindle which keeps me entertained, mostly. At the Dublin airport we have to slog our luggage miles and miles, up and down stairs, with no time to buy drinks or food.
Flight number two to Edinburgh is aboard a creaky old plane with a flight attendant who must be Mr Bean‘s brother, a twin perhaps? We are invited to purchase snacks and drinks which look like they have circulated through the cabin far too many times. We don’t take him up on the offer. Another interminable trek up and down and through the Edinburgh airport to our waiting Flybe plane–even smaller–to Kirkwall, Orkney. At last we arrive and the very pleasant and knowledgeable car hire man is waiting for us. We get our beautiful Citroen Picasso stick shift and Jen takes to the car like a duck to water and is instantly expert navigating the narrow roads and streets of Kirkwall. (Jill is delighted to relinquish her role as driver!)
At the car hire
We check into the Kirkwall Hotel right down by the harbor and while Michael and Jill take naps (we’ve been up for about 36 hours) Jen, Lynn and I decide to drive out to Stromness, see our cottage which will be ready for us tomorrow,
Our first visit to No. 18 South End
and make a quick visit to the Ring of Brodgar.
The weather is as predicted (turns out it’s about the same back home) cool, grey and windy. We stop and buy beremeal biscuits, various cheeses and a couple Orkney beers. (Beremeal, if you don’t remember, is an ancient type of barley grown on Orkney. We plan to revisit the Barony Mill which still grinds this delicious grain.)
After we’ve eaten–no one is very hungry–we play several games of Spite and Malice before retiring to bed about 9:30. Jill and Jen share one room, Michael, Lynn and I the other.