I just saw the Old Man of Hoy. I’m on the ferry and we’ve just passed Orkney’s most iconic landmark, a 450′ tall sea stack. I’ve lived here five months but every time I’ve been on this ferry, it’s either been nightime, or I’ve been seasick, or in most cases, both. So this is exciting.
I haven’t been to the island of Hoy yet; I’m saving that for when visitors come, so I’m quite pleased about this. (I’m more pleased about not wanting to upchuck my breakfast, to be honest.)
The next sight was surfers. I knew there was good surfing in Cornwall, and the southwest coast of Scotland, but I was surprised to see two surfers riding the waves in Thurso – who knew the North Sea was just like Malibu. Dude.
Then, I was driving through the highlands and suddenly, just like in the movies, I saw a stag outlined against the sky. Now this would never normally happen – when I am driving the roads of Scotland, I am NOT admiring the scenery, my eyes are firmly on the road. But we were at a full stop waiting for construction; I happened to catch some movement out of the corner of my eye – it was a large deer (the antlers weren’t that big – I have no idea what that says about age, gender, time of year). But it was standing on a ridge, outlined by the sky – my first highland stag.