Day 11 Marcch 30th Oban



view from the boat

We had arrived at our anchorage off Oban before we were up and ready.  We eventually breakfasted and took the tender into the town as we had not booked to go on an excursion.  It was a calm, bright, sunny day and noticeably warmer than Stornoway.
  

High Street with McCaig tower

We had been to Oban on a previous holiday and had been impressed with the seaside town.  We took a tender at about 1000 and were soon at the quay and immediately in the middle of the town.  We wandered along the main street looking at the interesting shops and could see the McCaig tower which overlooked the town from the top of the hill. 



approaching the tower

We decided to climb to the

ferry and fishing boat from tower 

 tower and although fairly steep it did not take too long. The views from the top made the climb worthwhile.  We could see the town, the Astoria anchored in Loch Linnhe and the island of Mull beyond.  We took some photos and admired the 

Kerrera and Mull islands from tower

flowers and plants growing in quite a mild climate.  We 

cathedral and Astoria from tower

eventually descended and found a nice coffee shop for a hot chocolate.  After exploring a bit more of the town we rejoined the tender just after 1300 and made the short journey back to the Astoria.   



the terminal building from promenade

The ship weighed anchor at about 1500 and we spent some time on deck admiring the picturesque landscapes on either side as we exited the loch.  A short visit but well worth it.  We then relaxed and read as the boat made its way into open sea with the next stop Dublin tomorrow.  Our evening was spent eating, enjoying the company of shipmates and reading.



Day 10 March 29th Stornoway

The day began overcast, dry but fairly cool.  We were due to arrive in the Outer Hebrides in the early morning but because the sea was fairly rough on the route from Kirkwall we did not get to our anchorage until about midday.  This meant we had missed our allocated start time for our tour on the island but eventually we left the boat at about 1330. The sea was slightly wavy and care had to be taken boarding the tender.

We had made use of the morning by reading and blogging.  When it came to leave the boat we added all our clothing layers because it felt that way.  We soon met our guide after the 30 minute trip into the quay.  The reception centre was modern and impressive.  We boarded the coach, the young French lady guide introduced herself and we were on our way.  We went through the small town and were in open moorland style countryside with 

typical moorland/sea

peat bogs very much everywhere which are still in use.  Our first stop was at Arnol blackhouse which was an example of the traditional crofting houses.

exterior of blackhouse

  The last one was evacuated in the 1960s and this one was recreated to show how the crofters lived.  It was well insulated, it had a room for animals, a living room/kitchen with a peat fire burning continually 

kitchen of blackhouse with spinning wheel

and a bedroom.  There was a store room at the back where

bedroom of blackhouse

 peat, animal feed and other stores were kept.  It was an interesting look into this traditional way of life.



whalebone arch

We carried on and passed a whalebone arch at the side of the road which was a reminder of one of the traditional industries of this part of the world.  It was the huge jaw bones of a blue whale.

Our next venue was the Broch at

the broch

 Carloway.  An ancient, huge, three story structure and attempts to establish the original occupants have so far failed.  It dates back over 2000 years and must have been an impressive home.  Nearby 

the ruined other side of broch

were the remains of some abandoned blackhouses.



ruined blackhouse with sheep



Callanish standing stones

Our last visit was to standing

Centre megalith with carn

 stones at Callanish.  It is one the most significant megalithic complexes in Europe.  It consists of lines of standing stones arranged in a cross shape, a circle of stones at the cross centre, a large standing stone in the middle of the circle and more recently a burial carn with two chambers had been added to the centre.  All very remarkable, we had a good look round although it was drizzling 

Canada geese near the visitor centre

and then retired to the very good tea room at the visitor centre.    

We then drove across more 

Tenders in operation

moorland on the way back to the boat.  Our excellent guide told us about Harris Tweed on the way back to the quay.  We soon caught our tender and were back on board the Astoria.  After our dinner we were looking forward to a Rock ‘n’ Roll show by the boat entertainers.



Day 9 March 28th., 2019 Orkney Islands

The day dawned brighter than yesterday and somewhat calmer and completely dry.  We docked on time and we were up and breakfasted in time to catch our tour at 0915 to Skara Brae, the Ring of Brodgar and Scapa Flow.  In other words some history of the island both ancient and more modern.



typical Orkney landscape

We boarded our coach, crossed through the small capital town of Kirkwall and were 

Ring of Brodgar

soon out in the countryside.  It was immediately obvious that this island is more fertile and greener than Shetland with more farming and less moorland.  It wasn’t long before we arrived at our first stop the Ring of 

Ring of Brodgar

Brodgar – a magnificent, large megalithic standing stone circle.  When we emerged

primroses

 from the coach we were grateful for our fleeces, coats, hats and gloves as it was pretty cool but we stayed warm.  No one at the moment knows the exact age of the circle but the huge ditch round the 

huge monolith in the ring

perimeter ditch had some evidence of the excavation which is about 4000 to 4500 years old.  The stones came from different areas on Orkney mainland.  Our guide was very informative and jollied us through what could have been a very staid subject.  After a walk round including some primroses growing on the spoil heap from the ditch digging we made our way back to the coach for our next stop.



Skara Brae home

We were soon at the major tour highlight of the village of Skara Brae.  It is a prehistoric village which was uncovered by a huge storm in the 1920s.  Excavations took place soon after and the true significance of the site gradually was realised.  It has been described as the stone age Pompeii – an efficient, working 

Skara Brae home with sideboard



Another Skara brae home

village which predates Stonehenge and the Egyptian pyramids.  The houses had insulation, plumbing with running water and drainage, heating and defence systems.  We had a really good explanation from our guide and enjoyed spending some time wandering around the truly remarkable site.  The photos do not do it justice and it is well worth a visit.  After our time looking we went to the visitor centre for a welcome hot chocolate and scone.

On our way back to Kirkwall we passed the sea area in Orkney known as Scapa Flow which played a significant part as an anchorage/port for the Royal Navy in both WW1 and WW2.  It was from here the fleet set sail for the Battle of Jutland in 1916 and it was here that the Royal Oak was sunk by a U-boat in 1940 with the loss of over 800 lives.  We saw all the main features of the site and then were soon back to port after a really good tour with an exceptional guide.

We had some lunch and then took a shuttle bus into the town. We visited the interesting Cathedral and had a look round the charming shopping centre with its many individual 

leaving Orkney

shops.  Orkney was very welcoming and we were impressed with the way that visitors were catered for.  After returning to the Astoria we had some relaxation before getting ready for dinner and an early night in preparation for a long day in Stornaway tomorrow..

Day 8 Lerwick and the Shetland Isles

Today we woke up to the sound of my phone ringing and it was our friend Jeremy Dare arranging to meet us for the visit to Shetland.  We were still moving and although we were in sight of land we were not due to dock until another 1½ hours at 0830.  We arranged to call him just before when we thought we could be picked up.



misty Shetland scenery

We sorted ourselves out and breakfasted before getting off soon after docking on time.  It was misty, drizzly, quite cold and with quite a strong wind.  The worst weather we had experienced.  Jeremy and Sheila soon arrived and picked us up in the nearby Coop car park.  We then had a personal tour of the west side of the “mainland” including a short walk to the Burn of Lunklet 

the Burn of Lunklet

with its waterfall.  The roads were very well kept, even the smaller ones, a result of oil and military investment into the local economy.  The landscape (what we could see) was mostly moorland with lots of heather which should look spectacular later in the year. We were 

Yell ferry

then taken to the ferry across to Yell where Jeremy and Sheila are developing their retirement home.  The crossing was short, smooth and cheap in a ro-ro ferry. We visited the house 

ferry bow beginning to open

and were impressed with the work being carried out but there was quite a lot more to complete.  After a cup of coffee we went back again across to the mainland.



windswept Jeremy, Sheila and Chris

We then travelled across the island to the home of their daughter Marianne and family who have settled in Shetland.  Their house is a 

showing road and moorland nature

redevelopment of a croft house and is modern, roomy and in an ideal location above a beach.  We had a local food lunch with all of them except George who was at the nearby school.  After spending time with Marianne, Craig and Amos we were invited to tour the island more.



rugged cliffs

The weather was better by

the drinking horse

 now and were able to see more of the countryside, the rugged cliffs, lighthouses etc.  We stopped for a cliff walk and saw a dramatic coastline with fascinating rocks and there were kittiwakes sheltering against the cliff wall.  It was now time to return to Lerwick after a 

kittiwakes

memorable, special day for us with much catching-up and the benefit of having the guided tour of the island and the family homes.  We said our farewells and returned to the ship for dinner.



Day 7 March 26th Invergordon



Invergordon and snow

When we woke up we were off the coast of Scotland 

The Astoria

and as we had been told we did not arrive in the Murray Firth at Invergordon until about 1300.  It was overcast, not too cold but dry.  We breakfasted and relaxed, wrote blog etc in the morning.  When we came to a halt we could see snow in the distance on the mountains.  We had an early lunch and got ready for the excursion we had booked to visit Loch Ness and Urquhart Castle and places in between.  We loaded into the coach and were soon on our way towards Inverness. 



fisherman in river Ness

The River Ness flows through Inverness and there was a fisherman trying to catch salmon in the traditional way.  After about 40 minutes driving we arrived at the loch and 

Loch Ness

embarked on our Jacobite launch to go “Nessie “ observing and to travel to the castle.  If you look at the lake views you may find a strange water born creature lurking below the surface or a ripple caused by something other than the wind but unfortunately we were unable to find either.  After the ½ hour cruise we landed at the ruins of 

approaching Urquhart Castle

Urquhart Castle and wandered round the extensive area 

the castle grounds

and rooms covered plus climbed the steps to the top of the keep.  We spent some time here (it was now nearly 1600) and decided to make our way to the visitor centre and café.  We were disappointed to find that by the time we got there the café had closed and so there was a coach load 

looking through a top window

of not very happy people.

 

the keep



Not very good but we soldiered on and got in the coach for the journey home.

Our guide was keen to tell us about all things Scottish and we heard about the history and clans of the various settlements we went through.  It was impossible to retain the huge amount of info directed at us!  Eventually we drove through the 

mural on Invergordon house

town of Invergordon which had some house murals along the walls of the High Street which depicted various features of the town’s history. Very colourful and after this we were soon back at the boat.

We sorted ourselves out and prepared for dinner as the boat began to leave the quay side.

Day 6 Monday, March 25th At Sea

Not too much to report today as we were at sea.  The day was grey, windy and overcast as we awoke with the boat pitching a little as we headed into the northerly winds.  Some people did not make breakfast but we were OK and not affected by the swell.  We ended up having a lazy day.  Christine had a haircut, I went to a lecture on the “dambuster” raids and in the afternoon we went to three port lectures encompassing all the ports we are visiting including St Mary’s.  We did have a brief walk on the deck but it was blowing to hard to complete the perimeter safely.



platform and coastal boat

We thought we were travelling 

stern of the Astoria

slowly and it turned out that for the morning we were not going at full speed and the announcement was eventually made that there was a technical problem which means we will be arriving in Invergordon later than predicted.  We did 

rolling near the stern

pass some wind farms, oil/gas platforms and some shipping.  The waves and 

on our brief walk round the deck

white water kept us indoors a lot.

Being a sea day, dinner was formal in the evening and so we dressed up and were introduced to the captain. After dinner we attended an Abba tribute show which was quite good.  Thus ended a fairly uneventful day.