A trip to the Northern Isles of Scotland on my Motorcycle. I crammed as much in as I could! Read more

List of countries

  • Scotland
Categories
Beach, Camping, Motorbike, Nature, Photography, Sightseeing, Solo travel
  • 242miles traveled
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  • 10footprints
  • 11days
  • 137photos
  • 0likes
  • Day 1

    Day 1

    August 12, 2023 in Scotland ⋅ ☁️ 14 °C

    I boarded the Northlink Ferry at 5:30pm, leaving Aberdeen shortly after. I had a calm sailing up to Orkney, which got me in after 11pm. The ferry surprised me with entertainment by drunk man snoring in the corridor 😄. It was a sight for sure!
    I got off the Ferry in Kirkwall at 11:15pm and it was pitch black... Couldn't see a damn thing! I made my way to Yesnaby, and a spot that would do me and camped up for the night. Nothing like total darkness, the sound of waves crashing, dodgy world war 2 gun batteries and rolling haar to make pitching a tent interesting 😄😬.
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  • Day 2

    Day 2 -

    August 13, 2023 in Scotland ⋅ ☁️ 15 °C

    My morning started at Yesnaby. I was planning on leaving early to start my adventure, but a local whale watcher and his friend pulled up at 7:20am blasting Rammstein at full volume. This was clearly to annoy me, but sadly the guy didn't know I was already up and a mosher who loves Rammstein LOL. It became even clearer he was being a dick to me when I spotted his van parked right against my bike. No other vehicles there, just him and his friends car, and he parked right against me. I started packing up the bike and asked him if he hated tourists but he didn't say a lot. His friend said no, but the Rammstein guy ended up saying he doesn't like arseholes like me. I honestly didn't expect this kind of aggression considering I arrived at nearly midnight and planned to be gone by 8. Welcome to Orkney.
    I was taking my time now, because of the rude guy lol, and a woman parked up and took her parrot for a walk lol. It was great to see. It would do loops and come right back to her. She was having so much fun lol. We had a wee chat and it cheered me up again.

    Then I stopped by Scara Brae and Marwick Head. I thought I was pushing my luck, but all the puffins seem to be gone... Boooo ☹️.

    I popped into twatt, but there was no sign to prove this. I went to twatt church to see the twatt chair, but couldn't find it. Not a twatt in sight! Turns out people keep stealing the sign so the council gave up replacing it lol.

    I stopped by Birsay and saw this absolutely knackered looking tractor on the beach. Hard to believe that thing still runs 😄, but I've video to prove it! I walked up to the Pictish / viking settlement here with the island only accessible when the tides down. It's a really cool area. I was trying to imagine vikings living here 1000 + years ago (and picts before that!).

    I headed east and ended up in a cute wee village called St Margaret's Hope. They're not certain who this is named after but it's either a viking woman who fell ill there, or Queen Margaret that we know from Forfars history... King Malcom's wife (St Margaret's inch). That's pretty cool if so! They used to spend a lot of time in Forfar when it was a royal residence, and apparently up here too!

    Finally I set up camp at a beach called Sands of Wright. Great camp spot! I'm sitting here enjoying the sound of gentle waves after a nice sunset.
    Life's no bad.
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  • Day 3

    Day 3 - Rackwick

    August 14, 2023 in Scotland ⋅ ⛅ 16 °C

    Today started with a trip over Churchills barriers and to the Italian Chapel. I had no idea the chapel was all painted inside and not actual brick work! 😄. I guess ww2 POW can't be too choosey. They did a fantastic job with what they had (2 nissen huts).

    Then I took the ferry to Hoy. This was the highlight of Orkney for me. What an island! If only I got to see everything I wanted 😄. Midges beat me into submission and I hid in my tent most of the night. Gives me an excuse to go back (missed old man of hoy too! 😭).

    On Hoy I visited the scapa flow museum and the Lyness Naval Cemetery. The cemetery is a sad but beautiful place. Poor souls from many different ships, including HMS Vanguard and HMS Hampshire.

    I stopped to see the grave of Betty Corrigall. What a sad story. She fell pregnant and unmarried in the 1770s, and the father left her, running away to sea. The shame and condemnation by the local community became too much and she tried to kill herself by drowning. She was rescued, but a few days later she hung herself. Suicide meant she wasn't allowed to be buried properly, or on local land, so she ended up in an unmarked grave between the 2 boundaries. She was accidentally dug up several times in the 1900s, until 200 years after her death, she was finally given a grave stone and her final resting place. Poor lass.

    Eventually I made it to Rackwick... My camp spot for the night. What a view it is too! It was well worth the 2km I had to walk getting camping gear there 😄. I had a lovely dog with dementia escort me in. She used to stay by her owners side, but now she wanders about forgetting that fact lol. 16 years old! What an age.

    Rackwick is brilliant, I just wish the midges didn't ruin it.
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  • Day 4

    Day 4

    August 15, 2023 in Scotland ⋅ ☁️ 13 °C

    Preparing to leave Rackwick this morning, I got back to the bike to see I had a flat rear tyre. Nightmare! I have a small rechargeable tyre pump that saved the day and managed to get me somewhere to fix it. The adventure is not over! Lol.

    I got the ferry back to the mainland of Orkney and went to get my tyre fixed in Kirkwall. Happy days!

    I didn't do a lot today, a wee visit to the standings stones of Stenness and Ring of Brogdar.

    I stopped by Stromness and fell in love with the place. It's amazing! It has a wee street running through it that felt like I was driving through a wee village in Italy or something. If Italy and a Scottish fishy village had a baby, that was Stromness. Where houses and lodberries are built into the ocean.

    Last was a trip to Yesnaby where I enjoyed a walk to see some of the amazing cliffs and arches with views of Hoy beyond. Great way to end a crappy starting day.

    I headed to Kirkwall for my ferry which was leaving around midnight. I was just settling down at my sleeping pod when 2 drunk pensioners came falling into the pod lounge, stumbling around, the woman fell down, yapping and shouting 😄. At 1am! You're meant to be quiet. And of course their seats are the ones on front of me. Where else would they be? 😂. The pair of them are reeking of drink and snoring away now 🤣😭

    The Aberdeen ferry pod lounge was ruined when someone took their shoes off and stunk the room out with cheesy feet 😂, now this one's ruined by snoring, smelly drunks lol.
    Not sure I'll bother with a pod again 😄.

    Shetland tomorrow!
    The ferry gets me in first thing.
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  • Day 5

    Day 5 - Arriving on Shetland

    August 16, 2023 in Scotland ⋅ ☁️ 14 °C

    On the ferry I was woken up by a life raft being lowered off the side of the ferry with a lad on it waving at us 😄. Random! They must have been testing it or something, I dunno.
    The ferry arrived into Lerwick for 7:30am. I had a wee look around, taking in an old torpedo launcher and yapping to some locals. If anyone watches the show Shetland, Lerwick is where the lead characters house is. It's an amazing lodberry right in the heart of a very authentic area.

    I had a run to the Tronda and East & West Burra. What a beautiful area! Twisty roads, cliffs and islands, dramatic coastline and a scattering of cute houses. I've barely touched the surface of Shetland and I'm seriously impressed.

    I went to Meal Beach and Minn Beach. Both stunning! I made friends with some local Shetland ponies (as you do). On the walk out to Meal Beach, people had a line of painted stones sitting. All rainbows, NHS, family etc... Then someone made a BSA Bantam stone 😂. Random! Worth a photo! 😄

    I rode back north again and visited the Scalloway museum. This is the museum that displays info on the Shetland Bus. Scalloway played a big part in the wars, and the Shetland bus was a secret boat journey going between Shetland and Norway with supplies and taking back people for refuge. These people were hero's. Worth a Google.

    I made a quick stop at the 60°N sign! Places like Alaska, Russia and Norway also sit on the 60th parallel.

    I made a visit to St Ninians beach. What a place! It's because the ocean hits the island so the waves go round both directions, and when they meet at the other side, they create this beautiful beach.

    Lastly was a stop at Spiggie Beach and my camp spot for the night Scousburgh Beach.

    It's been a busy day on 4 or so hours sleep! So far Shetland has been absolutely beautiful.
    I'm so happy that Shetland actually does have lots of Shetland ponies 😄
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  • Day 6

    Day 6

    August 17, 2023 in Scotland ⋅ 🌙 11 °C

    I got up and packed today then started my journey north to central west chunk of Shetland. It admittedly took longer than planned to adventure here, so I totally missed Deepdale.
    I finally found a Twatt sign! I looked around but I couldn't see anyone familiar here 😄.
    Both Shetland and Orkney have a village called Twatt... I only knew of 1 before this trip.
    I visited Raewick Beach which has unusually red sand. This was fine stone crumbled off the red cliffs and seabed in the area. Never seen such red beaches before.
    Then I headed on to Culswick and the cliff area of Wester Skeld. The coastlines are so dramatic on Shetland! There's a fair bit of walking involved though. I'm averaging around 8 miles walking per day 😮.
    Finally a rode up to Eshaness and my wigwam at Braewick. I have the best view from up here! The wigwam looks right onto the impressive stacks and cliffs of Eshaness. LOVE IT!
    Can't wait to explore this area over the next 2 days, it's amazing.
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  • Day 7

    Day 7

    August 18, 2023 in Scotland ⋅ 🌙 12 °C

    Today was my day to explore Eshaness on Shetland. This meant quite a bit of walking and less riding the bike.
    I started with a visit to the Tangwick Haa Museum, which is a local museum about Shetland life, in a house built in the 17th century. It had such tiny windows and a lot of character! There was a lot of yapping in here! I enjoy a yap with interesting people.
    Next I headed along to Eshaness Lighthouse, and the starting point of a big walk. This is probably the most dramatic coastline I've ever seen. It was cloudy half the day too, so I got some dramatic skies with the massive cliffs and stacks.
    This location is home to uk's biggest cave.
    For some reason I got 2 messages here from EE. One saying I'd changed to maritime / aircraft / zone E network??? Then another saying I was abroad and needed roaming turned on 😄. I mean, I know Shetland's quite a journey, but c'mon!😂
    How are these insane cliffs created? 395 million years ago the Eshaness coast was on the flank of quite a violent volcano. Lots of spewing rocks, ash and lava. The cliffs show layer upon layer of lava. When the lava cooled and shrank, it caused these dramatic rocky inlets, stacks and blowholes. The volcano eroded away and left a small island just off the coast called Muckle Ossa, which you see in my photos.
    On the return walk I went to the remains of the iron age Broch of Houlland.
    After that it was a trip to Frankie's chip shop, then back to the wigwam to eat it.
    I've enjoyed my day!
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  • Day 9

    Day 9

    August 20, 2023 in Scotland ⋅ ☁️ 14 °C

    Am I that teuchter I sound like an islander? That's twice I've been asked if I'm a Shetlander now 😄. Wouldn't be so bad, but their dialects pretty thick!
    I got on the road again and made my way to the ferry over the the island of Yell. I didn't spend too long here as my main goal on limited time was the next island Unst.
    I stopped to take a photo of the most haunted house in Shetland. Well that's what the story says anyway. There's a ghost of a dog, a child, a tall man, a lady in silk, a tax man and more! I was too scared (lazy) to climb the hill and experience the ghosty atmosphere. It's quite a house on the horizon though, demanding attention.
    Then I had a quick visit to Breckon Sands. What a bonnie beach it is! And I had it to myself for 20 minutes while I waited on the next ferry.
    Over to Unst next, the most northern inhabited island. This was a wee ferry and they squeezed me in between 2 cars, where I had to sit on my bike as we went, like a sardine 😄. My panniers were resting on the left car, they must have been over the moon about that 😄.
    On arrival I went up to the famous Bobby's shelter. Years ago now, this shelter was at risk of being removed. A young lad decided to try save it and he decorated the shelter with all kinds of ornaments. This became a yearly thing, where the bus shelter would get decorated. It never did get removed.
    Norwick beach was an interesting stop. It lies where the continental earth's crust (left) collided with the oceanic earth's crust (right), and pushed everything up. The mound that splits the beach has a different type of rock on each side, from the different crusts. Mind boggling!
    Nearby I made a stop to see the new Saxa Vord space port. I didn't know this was even a thing prior to researching the trip, but they're building a place to launch supply rockets up into space. I assume to the ISS but don't actually know. Kinda cool! The buildings well under construction, and what I assume is the rocket launchpad is there too.
    A trip here wouldn't be complete without a visit to the UKs most northern house. They must get endless people taking photos of their home 😄
    A unexpected delight was a visit to the Viking Unst Project, where they have built a replica Viking longhouse and Skidblander (longship). This was actually really cool, and I didn't expect to get all geeky love for it 😄.
    Unst has the most Viking history uncovered in Europe.
    I made a quick stop to the statue of the White Wife of Watlee. After a fight with her husband she drowned herself, and now she haunts the area! Often sitting in the passenger seat of red cars as they pass 😮😄
    My last stop was to St Olaf's kirk and Lund. This area is full of remains from viking long houses and brochs.
    The kirk itself is medieval 12th century and has evidence of viking history.
    I set up camp in this area, my last night in Shetland.
    Awwwwww.
    It didn't feel like a busy day, but that's some list above!
    Thank you if you stayed to read it all lol.
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  • Day 10

    Day 10

    August 21, 2023 in Scotland ⋅ ☁️ 13 °C

    My day on Shetland was mostly spent tackling 3 ferries. 1 to get off Unst, 1 to get off Yell, and 1 to get off Shetland lol. I did see a few things before my final departure though.
    A total highlight today, and I think the best bit of Unst for me, is seeing 4 viking graves. Viking graves! I didn't know we had any viking grave stones. At St Olafs kirk i saw them but didn't recognise what I was looking at. It wasn't until I went back to read my info on the area that it came to light. They're in my photos. Pretty cool!
    I packed up my stuff and headed up to Burrafirth viewpoint for a quick visit, then off to catch the ferry. While waiting on the ferry I walked up the hill to see the ruins of a viking longhouse at Belmont. Well I think I did. I don't know. It was up there somewhere close by and it was a structure of some kind haha. Who knows!
    2 ferries later, and back to the mainland, I just headed to Lerwick where the ferry departs from and wasted a couple hours there. Lerwick is busy for a wee town! I keep seeing cruise ships everywhere in Scotland now. Is this the future? Swarms of people flooding tourist spots for a brief spell each day lol. Great.
    I spent my last hour on Shetland at Sands Of Sound, which is a beach on the edge of Lerwick. Gannets, plovers, terns, sandpipers and a seal were all busy nearby. Colourful houses were up on the hill, and several Shetland ponies were around the area too. Pretty nice end to a lovely trip to Orkney and Shetland.
    The ferry left at 5:30pm and gets into Aberdeen at 7am. 13.5 hours! Fun! 😄
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