Orkney 03/06/25

Westray, Tuesday 3rd June

A very windy night on the Kirkwall campsite but a bit better in the morning with sunshine for a while but it soon produced a heavy burst of rain before settling down to a steady gale with scattered showers.

St Magnus Cathedral Kirkwall 

There was a ferry to Westray at 07.00 but I was in no hurry so decided not to get up at silly o'clock and opted for the 13.00 boat.

On the way, note the angle of the ferry due to the wind making it heel

The wind was now a steady 40 mph from the south west but the sea was relatively calm as it is sheltered by the islands.

Green at Pierowall 

I had thought about walking up the island to Pierowall but didn't fancy the long, straight, exposed road so I got on the waiting bus.

Whale bones at the heritage centre 

My original plan was to go to Papa Westray but the ferry was cancelled for both today and tomorrow due to the weather so I settled into the good hostel at Pierowall where I got a room to myself with facilities almost as good as any hotel for less than half the price.

Pierowall pier

A walk around Pierowall and a visit to the heritage centre convinced me to stay here tomorrow as well, there are some interesting things to see and some good walks if the weather isn't too bad.

Hotel dining room 

A nice old-fashioned hotel for dinner and there was a concert at the venue adjoining the hostel in the evening.

A good night

Orkney 02/06/25

Hoy Monday 2nd June

It was a dry morning but still windy and grey, one of the windows in the bothy blew in overnight it didn't even break the glass just pushed the whole window frame in.

Road from Rackwick 

I wanted to see the Dwarfie Stane, a Neolithic rock-cut tomb with some nice legends, so I set off up the road through the glen. Miles of nothing and a nearly empty road.

The Dwarfie Stane 

The Dwarfie Stane was suitably impressive and I enjoyed some time there before a minibus group arrived.

Information board

I had thought of going over the hills to Lyness but the look of the heather and bog put me off and judging by the amount of traffic on the road I decided to just stay on the road and walk down the coast.

Across Scapa Flow 

There was almost no traffic and it was a very pleasant walk apart from some rather annoying back pain.

Steam crane at the Scapa Museum 

Arriving at the Lyness ferry terminal I found the Scapa Flow Museum. Even better, it had a café. I didn't have much time before the ferry but had a quick look round at the boilers and steam pumps that were used to move vast quantities of oil for the ships in Scapa Flow.

Pumps and engines

Across to Mainland and a bus to Kirkwall campsite which I knew from my end to end walk. 

Hoy from the ferry 

Ferry to Westray tomorrow?

Orkney 01/06/25

Hoy Sun 1st June

I was supposed to get the train from Elgin to Thurso yesterday but it was late getting to Inverness so I missed the connection. Claimed for the delay and got my money back and decided to take the bus (free bus pass) as it is actually quicker than the train and takes you right to the ferry terminal.

The Old Man of Hoy from the ferry

I stayed on the campsite at Stromness and when I was packing up to get the Hoy ferry I met the chap in the next tent who happened to be my neighbour the last time I camped here, he even remembered my name and that I was planning to talk the GR 11 last year! It was a pity that I had to go to catch the boat.

Approaching Hoy

A short walk up the road from the ferry and I found a little café and it was open! First stop of the day.

Tasty 

Second stop was Hoy church that is now a community centre and has a display of various things about Hoy. It also has a kitchen to make tea etc for a donation.

Hoy church interior

A bit of hill climbing then to the top of Cuilags at 435 meters it is the second highest hill in Orkney. It was very windy but after some early showers the rain held off until the evening.

Cuilags

On then to the west coast and a rough path along the cliff tops to the Old Man of Hoy. The cliffs are up to 1000ft high along this side of Hoy with some impressive views.

Hendry's Holes

The old man is also impressive, unfortunately the wind stopped me getting close to the cliff edge and also made holding the camera steady almost impossible.

The Old Man

A good path took me round and down to Rackwick where there is a bothy that is maintained by the local community as well as a free campervan park, both with toilets.

Rackwick bay

It was early but threatening to rain so I put up my tent behind the old wall by the bothy and went in and made a cup of tea as the squally shower came through.

Burnmouth cottage (bothy)

That was the last of the rain and I had a good windy night.

Bergen 29/05/25

 Home today but time to visit the galleries I missed yesterday. It didn't actually rain until I was crossing to the aircraft from the terminal.

Central Bergen

Back through the city centre to the gallery but it wasn't open yet so I went back to the centre for a coffee.

Ivory figure 

The first museum was fascinating with exhibits about the figures derived from different places in Norway and made from everything from very early wooden dolls through carved ivory, porcelain and sandstone carvings that are somewhere that I can't remember at a Royal palace in Denmark.

And another

The exhibition upstairs was a very impressive collection of paintings by Harriet Bakker many depicting fascinating interiors.

Harriet Bakker

The final Gallery was an exhibition of art and installations by a contemporary Norwegian artist, Lotte Konow Lund, interesting but maybe not quite my thing.

Exhibition poster

A walk round the old touristy part of Bergen that was overrun by Americans off a cruise ship before I decided that I had enough of the tourist thing and found the light railway to the airport.

Bryggen

Little to say about the flight other than it was raining in Bergen and sunny in Aberdeen with some fine views of the lighthouse where I finished the Challenge last week when we came in to land.

Bergen Airport 

The mouth of the Dee, Aberdeen 

I will definitely go back to Norway but I will be a bit more careful with the time of year.

Aberdeen airport 

Off to Orkney on Saturday.

Bergen 28/05/25

Only one rain shower today and that was in the evening and didn't get me wet.

The centre of Bergen 

I had a day in the city doing the sights and a couple of museums. The first, after wandering across to the other side of the city, was the maritime museum.

Model Viking Ship

There is a fascinating display of shipping through the ages, mainly with beautifully made models, starting with the early viking longships and ending with modern commercial vessels.

A beautiful motor boat

The early longships are all modelled at the same scale 1:6 which makes comparison easy, and there are some beautiful small full size boats.

Model shipbuilding yard

I spent ages looking at all the exhibits and then walked through the university district, which was a delight, on the way to see where the venue for tonight's jazz concert was.

Bergen street

The next venue after a 'traditional' fish burger for lunch was again on the other side of the city. The advantage of continually crossing the city was that there were usually a group of musicians on the outdoor stage performing something Norwegian.

Pianist on the outdoor stage 

The Kobe Gallery is in four separate buildings but I only managed to visit one before I ran out of time.

Kobe gallery

A wonderful exhibition of paintings by Norwegian artists including many by Edvard Munch.

Munch, self portrait 

Hans Heyerdal, Girl with kitten

It was time then to head back to the hostel for a shower and get to the Natt Jazz venue.

Munch,Inger on the beach

The venue is an old sardine factory by the harbour and has three stages with a big roofed space outside where the first performance took place with Ola Kvernberg and his sextet performing his composition "STEAMDOME III" with the full Kristiansand Symphony Orchestra. Incredible!

Symphony orchestra and jazz band

The night continued with performances by another six groups of musicians on the three smaller stages. 

Alogte Oho and his sounds of joy

Altogether a fantastic night and when I emerged in the early hours for the walk back to the hostel the rain had stopped and of course at this latitude it wasn't really dark.

Bergen at night

Bergen 27/04/25

Rain again today, sometimes heavy but there were times when it almost stopped.

A road tunnel from the coach

I became a proper tourist today and booked onto a coach, boat, rail and coach tour of fiords.

View from the coach

An excellent drive to Gudvangen, via a quick stop at a waterfall, where there is a reconstruction of a Viking village complete with vikings, some of whom live there year round.

Reindeer skins getting wet 

We were given the tour in cold, heavy rain but it was interesting to listen to our 'viking' guide explaining the history behind it all.

On the water

On the boat then for a trip through the fiords to Flam. A wet cold trip in a specially designed electric catamaran with a good warm cabin area but also well designed so that everyone can get out to see the scenery in decent weather.

Approaching Flåm

The doors were well used as everyone nipped out for a look and a photograph before retreating to the warm and dry again until the next good view made it happen again.

An early locomotive in the little museum at Flåm

 

At Flåm we boarded the famous train which winds its way from sea level to 866 meters in 20 miles and 20 tunnels through the Flåm valley with a stop to look at the Kjosfossen waterfall, amazing!

Rainy railway view

We changed to the main Oslo - Bergen train at Myrdal for the journey to Voss where we met our bus again for the return drive to Bergen.

Village from the coach

There was a lot of snow on the heights and when I saw the conditions I wasn't that unhappy not to be walking in it! The views from the train were hampered by the rain on the windows and I think by that time we had enough photos anyway.

Bergen again

The sun nearly appeared for a moment or two as we approached Bergen at the end of a 10.5 hour trip.

For most of the pictures today I used my camera and can't transfer them to the blog

We went through 120 road tunnels in the bus today ( no I didn't count them) ranging in length from about 100 meters to 2.8 kilometres. An excellent day, pity about the weather but it could have been worse, at least the visibility was reasonable.

Back to Bergen