Rough Seas. Watercolor, ink, colored pencil, and digital mixed media.
The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails. ― William Arthur Ward
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Filed under Art, Color, Colored Pencil, Ink, Mixed Media, Mixed Media Monday, Ocean, Painting, Prompts, Quotes, Sea, Seascape, Watercolor
Coastline. Pastel, ink, and watercolor, with digital postwork.
The breeze at dawn has secrets to tell you. Don’t go back to sleep. ― Rumi
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Filed under Art, Color, Creativity, Ink, Landscape, Mixed Media, Mixed Media Monday, Ocean, Painting, Pastel, Prompts, Quotes, Sea, Seascape, Watercolor
Winter Cove. Watercolor, pencil, and water-soluble pastel, with digital postwork.
Learn to get in touch with the silence within yourself and know that everything in this life has a purpose. ― Elisabeth Kübler-Ross
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Filed under Art, Color, KarPaiTwenMo, Landscape, Mixed Media, Painting, Pastel, Pencil, Prompts, Quotes, Seascape, Watercolor
Noup Head is a dramatic and simply-beyond-stunning coastal area to hike, explore, and birdwatch. It’s worth the extra ferry to Westray from Kirkwall if you ever happen to be in Orkney.
According to the Northern Lighthouse Board, the name noup is derived from gnupr, meaning ‘headland locality’.
Noup Cliffs is the nesting home to thousands of birds: gannets, guillemots, kittiwakes, puffins, and other seabirds. It can be a bit of a challenge to snap photos of the birds unless you have the right camera gear―especially if you happen to be fearful of heights (I admit, I was nervous at the edge).
Noup Head Lighthouse is impressively seated above the sea cliffs. It’s automated now―solar, as you can see by the panels―but is well over a century old.
June was a lovely time to visit the area; the birds were in great numbers and the cliff tops were decked out in wildflowers.
It’s truly one my favorite views now that I’ve seen it for myself, and a place I hope to return to again soon.
Well, that’s it for the photos from our Scotland trip. For this trip to Scotland, at least―we’re already planning a trip back, although it won’t be right away. Next time, we’ll tackle the western coast on our travel northward.
Hope you’ve enjoyed our photos (most were taken by my husband David) and my ramblings! If you missed any part… here are links to previous related posts:
Our First Day in Glasgow
Glasgow Botanic Gardens
Our Day in Edinburgh
Scotland: Glasgow to Gills Bay
On a Ferry to Orkney
Orkney Wanderings
St Magnus Cathedral
Skara Brae
Standing Stones in Orkney
Westray, Orkney: Part 1
Westray, Orkney: Noltland Castle
Westray, Orkney: Lady Kirk, Pierowall
After looking over the photos from our time in Orkney, I realized that some things had enough photos to be a post of their own. This post is for a few of the miscellaneous ones. I’m no travel blogger, but I figured it was good place to start.
The top photo is the causeway between Burray and Glims Holm. This causeway is one of the Churchhill Barriers. Check out some panoramas on 360Cities.
As we stayed in St Margaret’s Hope, we did a lot of driving over the causeways to get around (and get groceries, since we were self-catering). Driving over the causeways was a lot of fun―as long as a tour bus wasn’t coming the other way.
We got to see so many boats, from cruise ships and ferries to fishing boats and half-sunken blockships… and even a tall ship!
This photo was one I took with my phone, since I loved the look of it:
Our self-catering (for those not familiar with term: a rental home where you can cook for yourself, which worked perfectly for us) flat was more of a house, and was a part of The Creel. The Creel is run by a lovely man named David who went out of his way for us the moment we arrived, even giving us some veggies to cook when we arrived too late to get to a grocery. His sons, who arrived while we were there, were friendly and as brilliant as their father when it came to conversation. While we didn’t join them for breakfast, we stopped down―The Creel has a sitting area next to the restaurant―for drinks and chit-chat with David and sons, plus some of the B&B guests.
Our self-catering home:
…which came with a ‘bonus cat’, whose name was Manky, despite no longer being as manky as he’d been when they found him. Manky was sweet and kept us from missing our own kitties too much―two weeks catless is a long time!
We did a lot of walking in Kirkwall, but were caught in the moment instead of snapping photos. We have lots of photos of specific sites around Orkney, and I’ll give some of them their own posts. While in Kirkwall, we mostly just enjoyed being there. The streets are great for exploring, and we usually left our car in one spot while taking long walks, even when we fetched groceries.
Many people go to Scotland to visit numerous distilleries. While in Scotland, we’d planned to visit one distillery only―and that one was in Orkney: Scapa. Much like our beer obsession with Innis & Gunn, we have a whisky loyalty with Scapa. Hence, we didn’t visit the other distillery in Orkney (which was crawling with tourists anyway). Alas, no photos are allowed on the tasting tour, other than outside of the distillery.
The building holding the casks was truly the angel’s share of heaven scent-wise. We got to go in, but couldn’t take a photo. It was a wee bit like this.
The view from the Scapa distillery is relaxing too, whether you have a glass of whisky in your hand while there or not.
St Margaret’s Hope (and Orkney, in general) at night is a thing of beauty, especially in summertime, when the sun never really sets. I snapped these photos just after midnight. Hours and hours of sunset―just wonderful stuff.
Much more from our Orkney trip as soon as I can organize it!
Links to previous related posts:
Our First Day in Glasgow
Glasgow Botanic Gardens
Our Day in Edinburgh
Scotland: Glasgow to Gills Bay
On a Ferry to Orkney
From Gills Bay, we took the ferry to Orkney, and while a ferry ride isn’t that exciting unless you’re on it (and perhaps even then, depending on how you like ferries―I love boats of all kinds, so I had a great time), I wanted to share some of David’s photos from our ferry crossing. I hope you enjoy!
We brought along our hired car. The cars were parked in a loop on their own deck while passengers hung out on the upper deck or had tea and treats on the lower deck. We spent our time mostly on the upper deck, although it was chilly and windy. We didn’t mind, since it was a clear and dry day with a lovely view.
I’ve been on ferries before, but Orkney offers different scenery than the Staten Island Ferry or Cape May–Lewes. While David didn’t catch a photo, there was even a whale sighting―everyone near me got all excited for a moment, but it was brief. Still, it’s not like we have whales to watch in Arizona! Mostly, gulls followed the ferry; some of them flew close to the upper deck.
Orkney has quite a number of lighthouses. I believe the lighthouse in the next photo is Cantick Head Lighthouse. We only saw that one from afar, as we didn’t get to the island of Hoy on this trip.
Orkney also has many wind turbines. As you’re wandering the Orkney Isles, they stand in the landscape like waving giants.
We planned to stay several nights at a self-catering flat in St. Margaret’s Hope. Since I’d seen pictures, I could spot the building we’d be staying in as we approached the pier. On the right, you’ll see a yellowish building (The Creel. We stayed in the brick building right next to that (which is also part of The Creel―wonderful stay, more on that in another post).
As the ferry moved to dock, David got a cool shot of the end of the pier.
I promise more photos and rambling from me when I have time to go through photos and update. We spent five days―not nearly enough, more than worth a trip back―in Orkney, and I’m lucky that David takes so many photos when I’m mostly the sort to travel with my senses and forget the camera. If you have compliments for any of the photos in this post, previous related posts (below), or ones to follow, I’ll be happy to pass them along to David!
Our First Day in Glasgow
Glasgow Botanic Gardens
Our Day in Edinburgh
Scotland: Glasgow to Gills Bay
Spilled Thought. Acrylic and ink on canvas.
For a print and other items, please click the image.
Water and islands―as they’d look as thoughts floating on the sea of the mind.
A truly happy person is one who can enjoy the scenery while on a detour.
― Unknown
Click here for more about what I do and to view my art galleries.
