Bay of Tafts

Westray was our only island hop - it has the best puffin place so the choice was a no brainer! After a 90 minute ferry from Kirkwall, we caught a bus up to the main town, Pierowall. Town is a stretch as a description but it had what we needed (shop with crisps and a hotel serving fish and chips...). We set off to walk to Noup Head and we struck by how incredibly quiet the place was - we only saw a few cars and people and most were tourists we'd seen on the boat! The bird colonies on the cliffs were fantastic and Andy braved his fear of heights to take a look. Although we apparently missed a pod of dolphins passing by while we were looking at the cliffs!! No puffins yet either. We walked back and took a quick peak in the castle - completely unmanned and a bit creepy in the dark passageways! Quick stop at the pub for fish and chips and then back on the bus to the south of the island. We walked a short way to Castle O'Burrian - a rocky outcrop - and settled down to watch for puffins. We were rewarded within minutes and ended up seeing loads of them! We walked back to the ferry terminal an hour or later and put our feet up. Perfect day for it, but we ended up tired and sunburnt after walking about 15 miles in the sun!Read more