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.
Peeling paint
The paint in the hall has seen better days. Layers upon layers of colours have been applied over the years that Einar …
Lambing
Lambing is a wonderful time; quivering tails and wobbly legs are always a pleasure at this time of year. Cycling past the …
Watching the Wake
Looking back across the sea to mainland Orkney as the ferry journeys to Westray.
Yet More Steps
Earl Sigurd is a wonderful ferry. It’s time to journey to Westray aboard the Earl Sigurd and there are more steps to …
Steps and Stairs
So when does a set of steps on a ladder become a set of stairs? The answer is; on an Orkney Ferry. …
All Aboard
Today it’s all aboard the Earl Sigurd. Thankfully there’s not a magical raven banner in sight. Earl Sigurd is one of the …
Viking traces
Traces of the Vikings are everywhere in Orkney; from the runes carved in the Neolithic chambered cairn at Maeshowe to the Viking …
Mice nibble… #9
Curtain tie-backs.
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… #7
Rubber gloves.
How am I going to look alluring now?
Mice nibble… #6
Shammy leather.
Thanks to the mice my car windows will remain dirty – they’ve eaten my chamois leather. I wasn’t going to clean the windows anyway, but now at least I’ve got an excuse.
Mice nibble… #5
Ear defenders.
What will defend my ears now that the mice have got at them? What will defend me from the mice eating everything I own?
That reminds me…
…I really must trim my beard.
Mice nibble… #4
Draught Excluder. Surely that’s a little self defeating of my mice? I’m not going to be able to make the house a little less breezy for them now.
Mice nibble… #3
Bicycle Innertubes. I should have known by the names of the other houses. Musland is my nearest neighbour. That’s Mouseland to the …
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 …
Mice nibble… #1
Airbeds The house is damp and full of mice in the winter so a traditional mattress isn’t an option for two reasons: …
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.
Messages from the sun
It’s sunset on Westray and the sun is sending me burning orange messages, It is speaking to me. It is writing messages …
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 …
Mice nibble… #8
Sleeping bags. Mice really do knock the stuffing out of you.