Saturday, May 30, 2015

Pretty flowers in North Ronaldsay

People mostly come here for the birds.  As I walked along I took photos of the small flowers.  About six weeks ago all the roads were lined with daffodils but they have nearly all died off now.





Friday, May 29, 2015

Good bye to Shetland and Fair Isle

Tonight we sail to Kirkwall in the Orkney Islands and then tomorrow I fly to North Ronaldsay bird observatory.  This morning at the B&B we were chatting with the owner.  It turns out she was an extra on the television series Shetland and series two will begin filming next week!  I will need to re-watch the whole series especially episode 4 set on Fair Isle.

We arrived in Lerwick on Tuesday.  Lovely old grey buildings like a toy town.  We flew from Fair Isle ... Just our little group.  We drove over to see our first guide Phil and his photographer wife.  Take a look at her amazing web site. http://www.rebeccanason.com. They have such a cute original house and a large old world garden.

We had a delicious dinner at the Lerwick Hotel.  The next day we drove to Sumburgh Head lighthouse and I photographed some more puffins.  We also spent time at Jarlsof which is an amazing archeological site.  The audio commentary was excellent.

On Thursday we took a boat trip to Noss.  This was another trip highlight.  Amazing cliffs and getting close to the gannets and other sea birds.

Friday we explored more of Lerwick down town and had another session in their brilliant museum.  We arrive in Kirkwall at 11pm...


Sunday, May 24, 2015

Be prepared in Fair Isle

Here are boots in the boot room at the bird observatory. The terrain is okay but you need to do a lot of walking to see things.  It rains a lot so the land can be quite boggy. And there are rabbit droppings, and sheep droppings etc everywhere. We have been so lucky with the weather for the last two days. This afternoon two cruise ships called in.  Over 100 tourists descended on the island.  The locals set up a craft fair and yummy afternoon tea and the cruise people all wore red jackets.  On the hill where we saw puffins yesterday today all you could see were red coats!  Very funny.  We also went to that South lighthouse.  I loved this ... I am here to see lighthouses.




Friday, May 22, 2015

Unst customs

There are some cute customs here.  There is a decorated bus stop.  No one knows who does it.  It changes every few months and has been going on for years.  Luckily today it was a puffin theme complete with puffin picture books, puffin bunting, cushions, pictures, wildlife books and even a telephone.

The other custom is when people are getting married they set up figures of them in a field.  I saw this on the tv show Shetland.

Tuesday, May 19, 2015

Aberdeen it is Spring



It took a long time to get here... 34 hours of total travel time but I have not stopped smiling.

As I walked back from my first city exploration the church bells chimed at the Kirk.

My hotel is quite near the main part of the city and unbelievably very close to the city library which I plan to visit tomorrow. Near the library is a lion statue like the one in the new Margaret Wild book.  I took a photo but it turned out to be of my finger. I will try again tomorrow.
I found Marks and Spencer with their huge food hall. I have Kent strawberries and clotted cream for tonight.  I also had to buy a new watch.  Mine just couldn't handle all those time zone changes.

This morning when I arrived in Frankfurt I was able to use the business lounge for a shower.... Bliss.

I am enjoying the Scottish voices.  The taxi driver was terrific.  Aberdeen has 250,000 people.  I will walk to see the beach tomorrow.  It is not cold so far but I was caught in a brief rain shower.  I haven't seen anyone with an umbrella.

I adore tulips.  How lovely to see them today.  This park has a huge statue of William Wallace.






Duthie Gardens Aberdeen

Today I walked a long way using GPS for the very first time to find Duthie Gardens. The man in the telco shop recommended the winter gardens. He was married there. So beautiful. It is Scotland's third most visited garden and one of the largest indoor gardens in Europe. The cactus part was amazing and the hydrangeas were huge. The White ones amazed me. I had a friendly chat with a couple of older ladies who live in a rural town south of the city. On the way back I visited another cute public library. One lucky thing today. My pants developed a split on the seam. Across the road is a clothing alteration repair man... £4 one hour and all fixed. Just came home for a little rest and I am watching Keeping up appearances on tv. A blast from the past.

It is a long process but I found a way to add my photos.





Monday, May 18, 2015

First full day in Aberdeen

Four seasons in one day.  Sunny morning, heavy rain in middle of the day and now it is cloudy and quite cool.

First full day :
Many technical challenges, a couple of disasters, yummy food and a treat tonight.

Challenges and disasters. Please laugh

Turning on the shower!  Almost had to take a cold one
Open the window but how does it close?
Cereal packet ... Spilled the small pack all over the floor
Tea... At breakfast.  First cup fine, second cup I picked up the coffee in error and yes poured it over the tea bag
Dropped my iPad mini and while it works and cover is slightly smashed
Can't take photos so am now considering a camera

High points

Walked to the beach... A very long way in heavy rain
Enjoyed sausages, eggs, tomato, toast and hot chocolate
A lovely young man installed my 4G SIM card
Found a terrific second hand bookshop.  Bought 2 kids books for 70p
Spent half an hour in the children's library.  Lovely, large, light filled, well stocked space. I read two Katie Morag books.  They had an Elmer floor rug.
I went into a little coffee shop and the lady called me m'dear so charming
M&S food hall is a delight.  Soup and sandwiches tonight and a large mince pie
Washing all done for free, even the powder was free and such a clean space.  This hotel / serviced apartment is very impressive.

Treat

Tickets for Wicked tonight

Sorry I can't add photos.  I will send them in an email.