The Turning Point

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We arrived back at our favourite Stromness once again on Monday 8th August and tied up in the marina, to find that our friends on another yacht - the stretched Twister, Althea (a wooden Kim Holman 36ft design) were also in harbour.

Luckily, we just managed to beat the rain showers that started up in the afternoon.  However, these were not going to spoil our excitement at having all the comforts of harbour once again on our doorstep!

Stromness Marina - with all the comforts!

We decided that our time in the Orkneys would soon have to come to an end as time was catching up with us and Stromness was to be our base for the remaining days.  
The forecast showed a series of heavy winds from the SW heading our way and this would make travel back here hard if we decided to sail to the northern islands.

We had a few places we really wanted to see once again, so on Tuesday we took the bus to Kirkwall to enjoy this lovely town and its amazing St Magnus Cathedral.  

St Magnus Cathedral in its distinctive red and yellow sandstone

This was founded in 1137 by the Viking, Earl Rognvald, in honour of his uncle St Magnus, who was martyred (axe chopped through his head) by the joint ruler of the Orkneys, Earl Hakon (actually it was Hakon's cook who dealt the deadly blow but he was acting on orders!).

It's an amazing place and we enjoyed looking round it again.

Doug inspecting this colourful doorway

Part of a set of plaques about the cathedral made by local schoolchildren

The following day, in bright (if blustery) sunshine we took a walk along the coastline from Stromness to see the WW1 & WW2 coastal batteries and also to admire the impressive standing waves (3m high and more) that set up in the entry channel between Stromness and Hoy during the outflowing, ebb tide.  This is where we would be sailing in a few days time!

Leaving Stromness, Doug stops to admire the cannon that was recovered from the American pirate ship Liberty in 1813 that was captured on the island of "Calf of Eday"

The coastal path with the high island of Hoy in the background

The ferry to Stromness, Hamnavoe coming through Hoy Sound

Those ebb tide waves in Hoy Sound

Next day at 0900, we took Rapport to the slipway in Stromness, where we had arranged to dry out for the day to clean and inspect our hull - ready for the journey home.

Rapport, securely attached to the local guardrails, waiting for the tide to fall

And now ready for us to clean her and remove barnacles

We were rather surprised to find that her hull was almost clear of weed and had only minimal slime.  The few barnacles that were present came off easily with a stiff brush.  

We had expected to see hairy fronds of weed all around the waterline and sets of hard-to-remove barnacles.

We could only think that our week in the fresh water of the Caledonian Canal had caused this dramatic turn-around for our salt water loving hangers-on!

The weather forecast looks OK for a Saturday departure, so we are spending Friday stocking up on food, doing laundry, cleaning and generally preparing the boat for the next passage to Cape Wrath that will be the start of our journey southwards and homewards.


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