Reset search
Scotland, Faroes, Romania 2024Scotland, Faroes, Romania 2024
SatelliteEdit route
A 39-day adventure by Darren and Janet Read more
  • 36footprints
  • 5countries
  • 39days
  • 306photos
  • 1videos
  • 38.4kkilometers
Follow Calendar Share Bucket list
Date ascending
  • Darren and JanetScotland, Faroes, Romania 2024
    1
    3311
    Day 11

    To Pitlochry

    May 16 in Scotland ⋅ ⛅ 20 °C

    We departed Fort William after a visit to the supermarket and a couple of caches, on the road to Pitlochry for the night.

    Our first stop was Spean Bridge, and the Commando Memorial. It was a popular stop for the tour buses, and had the obligatory busking bagpiper setting the mood.

    Next stop was Cille Choirill, a 15th-century Roman Catholic church situated in Roy Bridge, a picturesque setting on the side of a hill overlooking Glen Spean.

    We stopped for lunch at the local pub and were the only patrons in the bar.

    We arrived in Pitlochry around 3pm, checked into our hotel and walked down the hill into town to visit the dam and fish ladder.

    The fish ladder is a series of 34 pools over 310 metres which allow the salmon to travel upstream during breeding season, bypassing the dam.

    Dinner was at a local cafe, before the walk back to our hotel.    Read more

  • Darren and JanetScotland, Faroes, Romania 2024
    1
    333113
    Day 12

    Ell of a good time

    May 17 in Scotland ⋅ ☀️ 17 °C

    We farewelled Pitlochry at our usual time of 9am, meandering south for the next few days, back towards Edinburgh.

    First stop was Dunkeld, one of the most complete 18th-century towns in Scotland, having been almost entirely rebuilt after most of the original town was destroyed during the Battle of Dunkeld in 1689.

    We did a cache-guided walking tour of the town, visiting the cathedral, riverfront and market square. Close to the market square is the Ell Shop (1757), which has an ell-stick attached to one corner, once used to measure cloth and other commodities in the marketplace. An ell is a now obsolete unit of measure which was mainly used in the tailoring business, and was originally the distance from the elbow to the tip of the middle finger. To standardise it, Edward I of England required that every town have one official ell-stick, and Dunkeld's is still on display.
    (the word ell literally means "arm", and survives in the form of the word "elbow" (arm-bend)).

    Lunch was in a cafe in the village of Spittalfield, before continuing on to Dundee for the night.

    We drove up to the highest point of the city, known as Dundee Law. (law is Scottish for hill). It has a large war memorial at it's peak and provides panoramic 360 degree views of the city and waterfront.    Read more

  • Darren and JanetScotland, Faroes, Romania 2024
    1
    322
    Day 13

    Fife Coast Road

    May 18 in Scotland ⋅ ☀️ 18 °C

    We only had 80km to travel today, so took the scenic route via the Fife Coast Road.

    First stop was St Andrews, the home of golf. It's remarkably open and easy to access the famous Old Course, even allowing spectators to walk across the 18th fairway between groups. It's open to the public to play a round, but can't be booked - players must enter a lottery, and pay the green fee if they are successful - currently £320 ($600) 😮

    The rest of the coast road was unremarkable, passing through many villages, but with very few views of the coast, so we didn't make any stops until Aberdour, our destination for the night.

    We walked around town in bright sunshine, stopping for ice-cream in the main street. We visited St Fillans Church (built in the 1100's), who claim that Robert the Bruce, who was a leper, visited the church to give thanks after the Battle of Bannockburn. He did so through the leper squint, a vertical slot cut into the outside wall to allow lepers to see the service without mixing with the rest of the congregation.

    Next door is Aberdour Castle, thought to be the oldest standing castle in Scotland (also built in the 1100's). The west side of the castle is ruined, but the east side is remarkably intact.

    After checking into our hotel, our late afternoon drive took us to St Bridget's Church, a ruined medieval church with views across the bay to Edinburgh, then onto Silver Sands, the most popular swimming beach in town.    Read more

  • Darren and JanetScotland, Faroes, Romania 2024
    3
    1
    Day 14

    Lallybroch and Edinburgh

    May 19 in Scotland ⋅ ☁️ 15 °C

    Final day of the car hire today, and we have a short drive into Edinburgh.

    On the way we visited Midhope Castle, better known to Outlander fans as Lallybroch. The interior of the house is derelict and can't be accessed, but they're raising plenty of funds for restoration by charging £7.50 view it from the outside.

    We drove into the city centre to drop our bags at our hotel, before heading back out to the suburbs to drop the hire car off.

    We caught the tram back into town and had a walk through Princes Street Gardens, then wandered back to our hotel to check in.

    We enjoyed another walk late afternoon, and the streets were even more crowded than earlier, mostly with tourists. Our route took us along the Royal Mile and past Edinburgh Castle, before returning to our hotel for a welcome dinner before starting our cruise tomorrow.    Read more

  • Darren and JanetScotland, Faroes, Romania 2024
    1
    1111
    Day 15

    Sunshine on Leith

    May 20 in Scotland ⋅ ⛅ 15 °C

    We have most of the day in Edinburgh, before boarding our ship late afternoon at Leith, the port area of Edinburgh.

    We began with a city tour of Edinburgh, first touring the new town (not particularly new, it was planned in 1776 to relieve overcrowding in the old town), and finishing up in the old town.

    The old town is best explored by foot, and having seen much of the area along the Royal Mile yesterday, we chose to visit the National Museum of Scotland, and had lunch in the cafe there.

    At 12.45pm we visited Edinburgh Castle, just in time for the 1 o'clock gun to go off. It's been fired 6 days a week since 1861, initially so ships in Leith harbour could set their clocks by it, but now mainly for the tourists. Edinburgh Castle has 360 degree views over the city and is the city's premier tourist attraction, with tickets often sold out far in advance.

    At 4pm we made our way to the ship, leaving port at 6.30pm, headed north...    Read more

  • Darren and JanetScotland, Faroes, Romania 2024
    1
    11
    Day 16

    Orkney

    May 21 in Scotland ⋅ ☀️ 14 °C

    After sailing all night, we were woken at 7am to the sound of an Arctic Tern over the ships PA system. We were a few hours south of the Orkney Islands, so had time for a leisurely breakfast before docking.

    First event of the day was a briefing about the day's activities, followed by a presentation about Artic sea birds we are likely to see. The expedition staff consists of an historian, botanist, ornithologist, geologist, marine biologist and wildlife photographer, so we'll have lectures on a variety of subjects during our sailing days. The ship isn't quite full, with 87 passengers (capacity is 114) and 84 staff and crew, so almost a 1:1 ratio.

    Our arrival port is the capital Kirkwall, on the largest island, Mainland. The Orkney's are made up of 70 islands, with only 14 inhabited. Kirkwall has 10,000 residents and a cathedral, so is classed as a city.

    We were scheduled to leave on the last bus, so we had time for a walk around the city, and some caching, before our tour.

    We drove across to the west coast to Skara Brae, a stone built Neolithic settlement, older than Stonehenge and the Great Pryamids. It was only uncovered in 1850, so is very well preserved.

    On the way back to Kirkwall we stopped at the Ring of Brodgar, a large standing stone circle, like Stonehenge. It originally contained 60 stones, but only 27 are still standing.

    Dinner was back onboard the ship, due to set sail at 11pm tonight.    Read more

  • Darren and JanetScotland, Faroes, Romania 2024
    1
    11111113
    Day 17

    A circus of puffins

    May 22 in Scotland ⋅ ☁️ 12 °C

    Our wake-up call this morning was the sound of clanking chains as the anchors were dropped off the coast of Fair Isle.

    Fair Isle is the most remote inhabited island in the UK, halfway between Orkney and Shetland. The island is 4.8km long and 2.4 km wide and is home to 40 people.

    We were ferried to shore by zodiac, with the promise of seeing puffins... and we weren't disappointed! It's currently breeding season and they were busy furnishing their burrows with fresh grass, making multiple trips back and forth to sea to rest. They are much more at home on the ocean, and prefer to spend minimal time on land.

    Fun puffin fact - they only have their bright beaks during breeding season, the rest of the year it is grey.

    After observing the puffins for a while we walked almost to the other end of the island to the Community Hall, where the locals had put on a spread of morning tea for us. They were also selling their famous Fair Isle knitwear, and souvenirs made by the school. Currently the school has 5 children, but will go down to 2 in the new school year in July.

    We walked on a bit further and collected the only cache on Fair Isle, then walked back to the harbour. In total today we walked 11 km.

    After lunch on the ship, we returned back to shore for free time. We chose to watch the puffins again, and with far less people this time, the puffins were more active and more numerous, much to Oliver's delight.    Read more

  • Darren and JanetScotland, Faroes, Romania 2024
    1
    111
    Day 18

    Shetland

    May 23 in Scotland ⋅ ☁️ 13 °C

    We woke this morning as we were arriving in Lerwick, the capital and only town in Shetland, on the largest island, Mainland.

    Shetland is made up of 100 islands, only 15 are permanently inhabited.
    From speaking with our guide, the island group should be referred to as Shetland or The Shetland Islands, but never The Shetlands - the locals are very thingy about that! While we're on pronunciation, the capital is pronounced Ler-wick, not Lerrick. A wick is a square shaped bay, so the W needs to be pronounced.. another advice from the guide!

    Our morning tour was a bus trip to Sumburgh Head, for whale and bird spotting near the lighthouse . 3 orcas have been seen this week, but the mist and low cloud made it impossible to see anything!

    The weather had cleared slightly when we visited Jarshof, a prehistoric and Norse settlement, but this time there was a range of building remains dating from 2500 BC up to the 17th century AD, all on the same small site.

    After lunch on the ship we had a walking tour of Lerwick, mostly in the rain. We visited the museum, town hall and shopping precinct, before breaking off for some shopping and caching of our own.    Read more

  • Darren and JanetScotland, Faroes, Romania 2024
    3
    111111
    Day 19

    Papa Stour and Foula

    May 24 in Scotland ⋅ ⛅ 11 °C

    The ship sailed overnight and we arrived at the north end of the island of Papa Stour at 7am.

    Papa Stour is the most westerly island of the main Shetland group, and has a small permanent population of approximately 15. It's coastline has a wide variety of caves, stacks, blowholes, arches and cliffs. It is among these features we spent to morning cruising in zodiacs and spotting bird and seals.

    Our zodiac driver for the morning was Falcon Scott, grandson of Robert Falcon Scott (of the Antarctic), who is the resident historian on our cruise. When we visited Antarctica a few years ago the resident historian was Jonathan Shackleton (cousin of Ernest), so all we needed on our next trip is a relative of Roald Amundsen and we have the Antarctic explorers trifecta!

    We returned to the ship for lunch as the ship relocated to Foula Island, 28km west of the main group of Shetland Islands. It is privately owned and has a population of 30.

    We anchored off shore and used zodiacs to ferry us to the main harbour, Ham Voe. When we arrived the island was under heavy cloud, but as the afternoon went on, the sun came out and we stripped off layers of clothes until we were down to t-shirts... and wishing we had worn shorts!

    We walked around the coastal path as far as the airport , and returned via the main road to the school where the children were selling items to support the school of 5 students.

    The swell began to rise as we returned to the ship and we had a particularly hairy (and wet) transfer from the zodiac to the ship.

    We set sail just after 5pm for our journey to The Faroes.    Read more

  • Darren and JanetScotland, Faroes, Romania 2024
    153
    Day 20

    Fun in Funningur

    May 25 in Faroe Islands ⋅ ☁️ 12 °C

    After a full night's sailing we arrived in the northern Faroes at 7am, anchoring off the village of Funningur on Eysturoy (Eastern Island).

    Funningur is a tiny village of 43 residents and 900 sheep, spectacularly nestled at the mouth of a river between two mountains.

    Our first plan was to walk to the top Slættaratindur, the tallest mountain in the Faroes. Unfortunately the cloud was so low the local guides decided it wasn't going to happen today, so we went for a shorter hike along the old track between the villages... which wasn't really a marked track, more just a general direction down the side of a hill!

    The local community had made a huge effort to welcome us to the village (they only get 3 boats a year), and took us on guided walks around town, stopping at the grass roofed wooden church, and a traditional drying house where we sampled Skerpikjøt, mutton which has been wind-dried and fermented for 5 to 9 months (it had an extremely strong flavour, and isn't for the faint hearted)

    The community cooked us lunch at the local school (now closed as there are only 2 children in the village) of fish soup and pancakes (both delicious).

    In the afternoon we had an outdoor demonstration of a Faroese Chain Dance, a traditional dance accompanied by singing of local ballads. We were then invited inside the dance hall to take part ourselves. The local men, women and children enthusiastically joined in and sang the ballads with pride and gusto. It was a fun and moving experience.

    Final event for the day was singing in the wooden church. Accompanied by a violin and piano accordion, we gave it our best singing in Faroese. Again, the locals poured into the church and led the singing, obviously proud of their heritage and keen to share their language.

    The Faroese language has always been a spoken language, but was not written for over 300 years and was banned from church writings (because "God couldn't understand Faroese") and school (because it wasn't considered an academic language).
    In 1937, Faroese replaced Danish as the official school language, in 1938, as the church language, and in 1948, as the national language of the Faroe Islands. However, Faroese did not become the common language of media and advertising until the 1980s.

    Dinner was back on the ship as we sailed towards Tórshavn, the capital, arriving at 8.30pm... ready to hit the ground running in the morning.    Read more

  • 2024© FindPenguins
  • Home
  • About us
  • Blog
  • Group Tracking
  • Press
  • Terms
  • Privacy Policy & Cookies
  • Support
  • Legal notice
  • English