A light late morning snooze after the trip across the Pentland Firth,  sees us just about awake and bleary eyed at 2pm.

But the day is bright and sunny (for now…this is Orkney after all), and we head out to revisit some of the places we remember. It seems that not much has changed in the intervening nine years, in fact the place seems positively thriving. There are none of the mass of boarded up shops of Wick and far north Scotland, and people are out and about in the sun, or just sitting and chatting…

The nooks and crannies are brilliant and we spend a happy half hour in a wonderfully old-fashioned hardware and general store of the sort that Giles used to draw, everything from (almost) steamrollers to safety pins…

Nine years ago we spent a raucous evening in the Royal Hotel, watching a group from Shetland called Rack and Ruin. Sadly they are no more, but the Royal still has music on Saturday nights….this is a Monday unfortunately,  so we content ourselves with a couple of local beers in the Ferry Inn….and a local gin…

…before heading back for dinner and some careful planning for the next few days.

Broadly, we had hoped to sail up to Westray, the most northerly of the Orkney islands. We ponder endlessly over weather forecasts and passages, but whatever way we cut things, we can get there OK, but its the getting back which presents a problem.  There are some strong winds forecast for 3 days at the end of the week, and while we can sit them out in Pierowall on Westray, we wonder whether we would be better sitting out in the humming metropolis of Stromness.

OK OK….we know the real sailors out there,  and even Joshua Slocum if the old boy was still alive, would be shaking their heads sadly, and muttering about snowflakes afraid of a bit of rough. However, an 8 hour beat into a F6, with the real possibility of missing a safe tidal gate between Hoy and Orkney mainland, is not appealing if we don’t have to submit ourselves to it.

Back and forth goes our thinking, the clarity of which is not helped by general sleepiness. The best decision….some sightseeing tomorrow based on gin and whisky in Kirkwall, and then see what the weather chooses to throw in our direction.

Tuesday, no alarms,  bliss…just a morning cuppa in bed and a gradual coming to…

Orkney has a brilliant public transport network where busses actually integrate with each other and the many ferries which ply between the islands.  We catch the bus to Kirkwall, but despite being self-evidently old, we don’t pass as Scottish so don’t get a discount off the huge £2 fare!

Before heading too indecently quickly to the distillery, we grab breakfast in what used to be the very grand old townhall…

St Magnus cathedral has a real charm, and the inscriptions of the dead, and even a tapestry presented recently by the King of Norway, all point to the very nordic past and continuing cultural links and ties.

Finally….we can decently head to the Orkney distillery.

A couple of gin flights does the trick, and the rest of the morning passes…

We had intended to trundle out to Scapa distillery,  but noticed that the Orkney also does whisky flights where we can compare not just the two main ones, Highland Park and Scapa, but also their own blends, as they have a new single malt ready in the next year or so. It would be rude not to…

Food is needed before more spirit, so we haul ourselves a good 100m to a Japanese street food kitchen for some Teriyaki…and then back for the whisky.

Nine years ago we met Alan and his friend Ian in Wick and because they had some concerns about the engine in their sailing boat, we agreed to accompany them across the Pentland Firth to their homes in South Ronaldsay. We have kept almost in touch via Christmas cards, and hoped to catch up. As luck would have it, we managed to make contact with Alan and hope to see him where he now lives on Burray.

This has given us some more food for thought….we can easily sail to Burray and back before the weather closes in, and we will then be in Stromness ready for a two day window to leave Orkney and get back to the west coast of Scotland.

Back in Stromness we see this…

Great at one level, but a quick snog behind the multi modal, low carbon and active travel hub will never catch on…

…and the day leaves us with yet another rapid weather change, and a lovely photo…

Orkney has not disappointed. It is every bit as charming, lively and quirky  as before.