Reaching FAR to the North

We fortified ourselves with a lovely Scottish breakfast (beans, eggs, mushrooms, tomatoes, toast, bacon and sausage) at the Greenland Guest House in Thurso this morning, and I had my first black pudding which, I have to admit, was pretty tasty...that is, as long as I ignored what it was I was eating. Probably couldn't handle it with a skooshy texture, but crispy fried as this was, I rather liked it.

Once fed, we paid for our rooms and drove to the Northlink Ferry to head over the firth to Orkney. The booking and 90-minute ride today went fairly smoothly and we immediately got off the boat and drove to see Skara Brae, a breathtaking and humbling neolithic dwelling from 3100 BC. To see that kind of history up close is just astounding. The wind got pretty intense though (dad's canes were whistling!) so we had to cut our walk around the ruins short and get back into the car. But I was so thankful they had a motorized cart for Dad to use to get out there (just as they did at Loch Ness), since it was a long walk from the visitor's center to the actual site of the excavation.

We are staying at the Kirkwall Hotel which is pretty deluxe (VERY cool old style hotel with an old school lift for Dad), and their wireless coverage is a little wonky, but as long as I plant myself in the Sitting Room at the end of the hall (as I have now), there should be no problems.

More after we eat...I think I burned the last of the black pudding calories while hunting for a mocha with Dad. Time to fortify myself with some fresh seafood and a pint.

ALSO, in case you haven't noticed, I've been steadily uploading photos to my Flickr feed at the right. Please feel free to browse, and know there are tons more where those came from. I'll try to add a half dozen or so every time I get online.