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We will just miss you as we will be on Shetland then and not arriving in Orkney until the 28th. We are going with Northlink as I manged to blag a deal where we only pay for the Aberdeen/Lerwick & Lerwick/Kirkwall bit so got the Stromness/Scrabster bit free)

We plan to do a Sunday ferry trip to North Ronaldsay/Papa Westry I just wondered if its worth it. 3hours on a ferry each way for 4hours on the islands but the OH seems very keen.

We are booked at pickaquoy for 10 days but I fancy visiting Hoy, but if we go as foot passengers we will only get 4 hours on the island (barely enough for the naval museum) so it might be better to take the camper over but there aren't any campsites. Does anyone know of places to stay? Is wild camping alright there? Any info welcome.

www.visitorkney.com

Pretty good website.

Lots of information.

Order the "free"" brochure.

Wild camping will be fine in Hoy, but I'll try and find one or two spots to recommend.

Weather great this morning.

Ten things to do in Orkney:

When some of you come to Orkney there will a lot of liners and bus tours taking the passengers on very predictable destinations like the world famous sites such as Skara Brae, Ring of Brodgar and so on. Great but avoid them when the bus tours from the liners are about. You might be sharing them with 500 others at the same time.

1. Buy a copy of Ordnance Survey Landranger Map No.6 Orkney Mainland.

2.Visit Cathedral.

3.Visit Round church Orphir.

4.Park vehicle at Stromness and walk around town

5.Visit the "Gloup" at Deerness.

6.Go to top of Wideford Hill for the best view in Orkney and probably the world.Truly awesome.(You have taken camera?)If you can't manage the walk, you can drive to the top.( But that's cheating!)

7.Visit Scapa Distillery. Everyone visits Highland Park Distillery but Scapa a little bit offbeat. Near Kirkwall.

8.Visit Hoy from Stromness( better than from Houton) and just have a lazy day.

9. Visit Palace of Birsay on the North of the Orkney mainland( Used to be the capital)

10.Buy some Orkney fudge, cheese, and have an Orkney ice cream.Yum Yum!

Most of all, don't rush your excursions, just enjoy.

PS I'm off camping shortly

Making a note of all those Ian!   Thanks.

Jana, are you staying at Pikaquoy? Or are you wild-camping?   We are crossing on 12/6 and returning 20/6. Staying at Pikaquoy site, pitch number 1.   Hoping to book for one or two events at the music festival.  If you are staying at the same place come and say hello.

I have to say that in my opinion the Point of Ness site in Stromness is much nicer than the Kirkwall (Pikaquoy) site. The position in beautiful and although the facilities are fairly basic it's a lovely site. I'd highly recommend it. We'll be heading there in July for our third visit.

We always used to go to Orkney with Pentland because they're such good value but we were spoilt by a cheap afternoon trip with Northlink. The ferry is so much nicer. Last year we went on the Pentlalina B but returned on Northlink's Hamnavoe and the trip back was really enjoyable.Wonderful views of Hoy which you don't get with Pentland. A lot less bumpy too! This year we've been saving and we're going both ways on the Hamnavoe.

Orkney's a wondeful place, so relaxing and peaceful. It really feels like being away. There's loads of interesting places to visit and we always find going out for a meal cheaper than mainland Scotland too.

We're off to Scotland at the end of the month - not sure where yet, see where the mood takes us and we can't wait for Orkney in July.

Hope everyone has a fantastic time.

Deb

Well we're off on Saturday morning, ferry booked for Monday morning returning Friday 5pm.  Packing to be done tomorrow.

We have the map as recommended by Ian.  But apart from that we have nothing planned. Well organised lol.

If you see us in a blue transit Duetto give a wave as very few people know we are a camper van.