Thursday update

SO WHAT HAVE BEEN THE BEST AND WORST THINGS?

BEST
Kath: Scotland, camping, being outdoors all day, seeing lots of wildlife.
Nigel: Discovering how little you actually need, being part of the weather, freedom, new places.

WORST
Kath: Rough water paddling (I have been VERY scared). Wet days when you get back soaked to the skin and you only have a little damp, cold tent to go to.
Nigel: Clutter in the car. We’ve brought three times too much stuff.

NIGEL’S TRANGIA RECIPES:

TUNA BURGERS

Mix mashed potato or Smash with butter, a crumbled bread bun, 1 egg and a tin if tuna. Pat into chunky discs with floured hands. Shallow fry a few minutes each side till crispy. Serve with veg.

ANOTHER PADDLE?

Two fine days in a row? We couldn’t believe it, so went paddling round The Churchill Barriers. These are four causeways which link islands at the Eastern end of Scapa Flow, built mainly by Italian POWs in World War Two as anti-submarine barriers. In front of them are the blockships which were deliberately sunk as an added barrier. There’s one or two pics of them in photos.

THE NEXT BIT IS FOR ROCK-CLIMBERS…..
:
We went to Hoy and looked across at all 137m of the Old Man with jelly knees. We met three men who were going to do it. You have to abseil down high cliffs to get started, it’s generally about 5A and takes 6-7 hours. We’ve posted its photo to tempt you.

SCARY PHENOMENON!

Last night we went up to the stone circles of the Ring of Brodgar and the Stones of Stenness at sunset. There were quite a few people there with cameras taking pictures of the alignment of the stones with the rising moon. We then witnessed a weird phenomenon: the alignment of sea kayaks on a car roof with the moon. You too can see this event posted in photos.