Last week I headed out for yet another trip south to Scotland and England. I was catching the 7:45 am ferry from St Margaret’s Hope. It’s about a 25 minute drive (less if you drive like the eejit who overtook me doing 70+ mph on a curve – after all that idiocy he ended up being exactly one car ahead of me as we boarded – way to go, genius), and my drive goes over the Churchill Barriers. The barriers are straight and narrow with no shoulders, just one car lane each way, massive concrete blocks, then the sea; and the speed limit is 60mph. Imagine my reaction when an orca jumped straight out of the water just ahead and to the right of my car, before plunging back under the waves. Yes, I shouted, which woke Scout up, but despite all instincts to the contrary, I didn’t swerve and more to the point, I didn’t drive into the sea.
My first Orcadian Orca.