I want to visit ten of Orkney’s islands by the end of the year – that was one of my New Year’s Resolutions, along with cook more types of seafood (doing pretty well there so far), and swear less (bit of a fail there, dammit) – so LL & I headed off to the isle of Westray on the early morning ferry for a two-night stay in the town (village? hamlet? string of 25 buildings?) of Pierowall.
Slightly questionable start to the trip – could not find an open cafe or coffee shop anywhere. We saw the outside of a few, but none were open on a Monday morning. Finally, at 10 o’clock, we stepped into what was going to be our gastronomic home for the next 60 hours: the Pierowall Hotel. Good coffee and fresh scones baked by the waitress’s mother that morning.
I hadn’t really done a lot of planning – everyone said check out Westray as it is known for its farms producing amazing cheeses and meats, so I figured it would become obvious what to do once we arrived. But it really wasn’t all that obvious and we started debating only staying the one night, because what else were we going to do?
I did have a couple of guide books, and it was a sunny day, so we started driving. OMG, what a beautiful island! Rolling hills, rocky shores, white, white sandy beaches, and cattle, sheep, ducks, & farms dotted about the countryside. We wandered through the ruined Noltland Castle (its original owner sounded a real treat – jailed at least twice for plotting royal assassinations in at least two countries), a lighthouse, and a salmon farm, all before lunch. Maybe we should stay the full two & a half days after all.