Breakfast on the Ferry
A cup of tea. A bacon roll. A Tunnock’s Caramel Wafer. On the Orkney Ferry to Westray. £2.80. Breakfast.
Waiting in the Westray queue
Westray.
Long evening shadows
Long evening shadows at the Bay of Tafts with the sound of bike tyres grinding on shell sand as my tires slip …
The Dark Island is so very close
So very close and so very far away. It’s 8:40am and it’s not legal to buy alcohol before 10:00am here. My ferry …
Sleeping in my car
Sleeping in my car overlooking Kirkwall bay – waking to watch the world turn.
Crunching boots on empty tracks
Our boots crunch as I walk along the farm track with Fitty Hill behind and the silver sea ahead.
Sometimes a picture is enough
Fitty Hill from East Kirbest
Sailing Westray down.
Leaving the Island is always a wrench. As I leave the Island, I watch as the ferry sails and Westray begins to …
Playing in a big space
A photo-shoot with Chris from the band Ippykak at our nearest beach. It’s a glorious Westray day and the Bay of Tafts is calm and blue. Perfect for a quick kayak.
The sun shines out of his guitar
There’s just time on a glorious day to see my friend Chris and record a video for one of the songs from his album with his band Ippykak.
Deceptive
A new day and a new beach to explore. This one is hidden behind long kelp drying walls. Over shattered rock and …
Buried Treasure
When I was a child I played on the beach all summer holiday and one day, when I was very young, I …
Grace and poise
Cycling past the Skello shop I see a vision in white, a stunningly beautiful, windswept and magnificent white horse. She has grace …
Capturing the emptiness
There’s only one road from Einar and in the wind it’s tough cycling. I stop for a breather and capture the emptiness.
Snuffle, oink, scratch
The pig needs a scratch so bicycles are stopped, bristles are rumpled. What a fine looking pig.
Spring light
It’s a beautiful time of year as low spring light gives the view from my field a golden glow and sheep graze …
Middle of the road
Middle of the road; that’s something you could never accuse Westray of being.
Lambing
Lambing is a wonderful time; quivering tails and wobbly legs are always a pleasure at this time of year. Cycling past the …
The truth at last about Westray tourists
So this is what happens to visitors? Spotted in a glass cabinet of curiosities at the Museum in Kirkwall.
Noltland Panorama
Noltland Castle is a wonderful castle with panoramic views of Pierowall and its bay. Here’s a 360 panorama taken with a Spinner …
Mice nibble… #2
Slippers Just when I was thinking I’d like to get my cold feet into some snug slippers in this Orkney Summer I …
Sugar and spice and everything nice…
… that’s what Westray is made of. Slugs and snails. That’s what my house is made of. Here’s an adventurous slug who …
Sunrise through broken windows
In art classes when I was a teenager I used to love using blue with red, orange and yellow. It is a stunning combination. No more so than in nature, and there’s nothing that my dirty, broken windows can do to dull the spectacle. In Orkney, just a sunrise is so spectacular it’s as exciting as an eclipse.
Is that on the inside or the outside?
Is that fly on the inside or the outside of the window? I really can’t tell. If it’s on the inside, then …
10 minutes after dawn
I’m up early because it’s dawn at 6:07 and I want to see the sun appear on the horizon. It’s ten minutes …
20 minutes before dawn
It’s light in my window and it’s not yet 6 am . The sky is bright and the walls reflect the early …
Turnips like melons
Living on a small island gives people a different mentality. Living on Westray ranks somewhere between living on the main islands of …
Megrim
Mmmm… Megrim is on the menu at Helgi’s tonight: Megrim Vierge – steamed Megrim fillets on crushed new tatties with herby citrus …
Cockles on the beach
Cockles on the shell-sand beach in Pierowall.
For Want of a Nail, the Ship Was Lost
In dazzling sunshine I step off the grassy bank and onto the beach, ending sock-deep in something black and congealed. It’s the …