Old Man of Hoy

Haggis starter of the Northlink ferry

Helmsdale

Overnight at Helmsdale

 

Our final day on The Orkney Islands. As usual we did not book a return ferry crossing until we were sure that we were on our way home. We learned early in our motorhome travels that a reservation for the return crossing to the UK can be a mixed blessing. We had to drive almost non-stop from the middle of Germany to Calais, so now we leave the return open to give ourselves as much flexibility as possible. That is one of the benefits of being retired!

Today is a leisurely day, or so we expect. We are up early and ready to leave Burwick Harbour for the journey back to Stromness and an afternoon ferry back to Thurso on the mainland. The drive is not as quick as we expected because there is thick fog on the upper parts of the Orkney Islands. This slows us down a lot because the Hymer is a large vehicle and wide.

We skirted around Kirkwall, then back to Stromness where we called off at the Point of Ness campsite to empty our toilet cassette and fill up with water before the ferry crossing. The route to the campsite at the Point of Ness is much longer than you expect because there is a very narrow street in Stromness that is now closed the traffic, that means a detour through a housing estate.

It's an uneventful ferry crossing, not many vehicles or people being carried. We opted for the 3-course meal at £17.50 each which was actually very good value for money, but too much food for us. The Haggis starter was almost a meal in itself with whisky sauce. Main course haddock, chips and peas, followed by a huge piece of Orkney fudge cheesecake, and that really was a big piece. It just reminded us that we don't really eat large meals any longer.

We decided to travel a reasonable distance once back on the mainland, so opted for overnight at Helmsdale Harbour, about an hour's drive away and south of Wick. We arrived early evening to find the whole of the harbour parking spots taken by motorhomes but were fortunate because one of them was about to leave and waved us over to take his place. Many of the people were eating fish and chips, but there didn't appear to be a shop in the area so we guessed that a travelling seller had been there earlier.

We sat and watched the tide advance until it filled a channel opposite where we were parked, played games then went to bed.

Summary of motorhome journey